Windows users slam Microsoft's "anticompetitive" decision to kill Firefox default browser workaround

While Windows is the most popular operating system with running on over 87.56% of PCs worldwide, it is also one of the most hated OS on the planet.

But ever since Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with Windows back in 1998, the United States DoJ filed an anti-trust case against the tech giant on the charges that they were trying to win the browser wars and trying to establish a monopoly.

Eventually, Microsoft lost the case and as a result, lost a huge chunk of market share. Again in 2014, the European Union slammed Microsoft for not giving users the option to use their preferred internet browser, resulting in a $731 million fine.

After paying a hefty fine, many thought that Microsoft had learned its lesson. As it turns out, the company is still indulging in anti-competitive practices. With the launch of Windows 11, they made it harder to switch the default browser.

That being said, many resorted to tools like EdgeDeflector to redirect OS-level URL requests to use browsers other than Edge. Last month, the developer of EdgeDeflector said that Microsoft had indeed patched the vulnerability.

While they were unsure if it would make it to the final version, it looks like tuesday’s Windows update patch has finally killed (1,2,3) the Firefox default browser workaround. Microsoft had earlier termed the workaround as improper in a statement made to The Verge.

Windows openly enables applications and services on its platform, including various web browsers,” says a Microsoft spokesperson. “At the same time, 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.
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While a new tool called MSEdgeRedirect seems to be working, the workaround has to run in the background at all times, which was not the case with EdgeDeflector.

I’m already using Edge as my default browser on Windows 11. But even though I get notifications about having a security issue and when I click on it it tells me that I have to use Bing as my default search engine too. There is a reason why I choose DuckDuckGo over Bing and I am not planning to switch it back. This is just driving me nuts. It’s totally fine as a browser but please stop forcing people to it. Because when I’m forced to do something I usually do the opposite at some point. It’s just a matter of time. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same about it.
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The problem is not an OS restricting apps from designating default apps, sleazy apps in the past have used this to do bad things. The problem is MS pushing Edge when the user chooses another browser and making it very difficult to change default browsers, both of which MS has done. I actually like Edge, but I am liking it less and less the more MS does these crappy things.
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Users are frustrated with the tech giant and wondering why they have to resort to such tactics with many saying that Edge is already good enough.

While there is no word from Microsoft, we hope they revert the decision of shutting down Windows default browser workarounds and let users choose their preferred browsers like Brave, Firefox or Chrome.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Windows Section so be sure to follow them as well.

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