Microsoft is making it tougher to use Chrome or other browsers in Windows 11, here’s how – Times of India

Last month, Microsoft blocked a third-party app called EdgeDeflector for users who are enrolled in the Windows Insider program and now, the tech giant has blocked the app for all Windows 11 users with the latest build 22000.376. For those who don’t know, whenever users search anything through the search box in the Start menu, Microsoft takes them to Edge browser and Bing search engine. Apps like EdgeDeflector help users to avoid these curbs and see the search results in their preferred browser.
According to Microsoft, the move was necessary to support its end-to-end encryption features on the OS. “Windows also offers certain end-to-end customer experiences in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, the search experience from the taskbar is one such example of an end-to-end experience that is not designed to be redirected. When we become aware of improper redirection, we issue a fix.” said a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.
The developer of the EdgeDeflector app, Daniel Aleksandersen, blasted the company’s move to block the app in his blog. “These aren’t the actions of an attentive company that cares about its product anymore. Microsoft isn’t a good steward of the Windows operating system. They’re prioritizing ads, bundleware, and service subscriptions over their users’ productivity,” Aleksandersen wrote in his blog.
With its recent moves, Microsoft has made it clear that it wants Windows users to stick to Edge browser. The tech giant recently stepped up its campaign against Chrome when it started to display prompts such as “That browser is so 2008! Do you know what’s new? Microsoft Edge.” whenever a user visited the Chrome browser download page. However, the company later reverted from the aggressive strategy.
With the launch of Windows 11, the company also changed the way users assign default apps. On the new operating system, users have to set default apps according to the type of file or link type instead of a single switch. This means that for changing the default browser, users have to change the default file type for FTP, HTTPS, HTTP, HTML, HTM, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP, XHT and XHTML.