Microsoft wants you to try Edge

Estimated reading time: 1 minute.

If you’ve ever chosen a default Windows web browser that wasn’t Internet Explorer, you know that Microsoft has an annoying habit of resetting that choice to Internet Explorer when updates are installed.

Microsoft upped the annoyance level with Windows 10, in which changing default applications can no longer be automated. This is good from a security standpoint, but makes it more difficult for competing applications to get a foothold on user systems, and browser developers aren’t exactly thrilled.

A new build of Windows 10 adds another layer of annoyance to this ongoing battle for application dominance: when you try to change the default browser to something other than Edge, you’ll now see a message asking you to give Edge a chance. Granted, that’s much less annoying than unilaterally forcing the default, but it’s still not going to give anyone warm fuzzy feelings.

About jrivett

Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

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