Microsoft Seemingly Relents on its Default Browser Settings for Windows 11

While the Windows 11 launch has largely gotten off to a relatively decent start (even if the adoption figures might not currently be so positive), there has been one particular aspect of the operating system that has been grinding the gears of many users. Namely, it rather tersely defaults itself to open practically anything browser-related from within ‘Edge’. And worse, the options to get this to default to anything else are exceptionally hard to find.

Following a report via TechSpot, however, it seems that Microsoft may be listening to these complaints as a new update to the ‘preview’ build of Windows 11 shows a reversion to what users could basically do from within Windows 10.

Windows 11 to Fix Annoying Default Browser Insistance!

So, what is the issue exactly? Well, admittedly, this would probably only have been noticed by users who don’t actually use ‘Edge’ as their standard browser. More specifically, those who adamantly don’t want it as their default browser. – Let’s say, just for example, that you want to open an HTML document or a website link within a non-internet-specific document, Windows 11 will only ask you once what you want to open the program with. This then gives you a check-box confirming that you want to use the browser as your default option for this kind of file moving forward.

Sounds fair enough right? Well, here’s the kicker, if you DON’T check that box, Windows 11 will, regardless of your choice, automatically default you in the future to ‘Edge’. And trust me when I say that getting it to revert to anything else is an exceptionally well-hidden option (put simply, like back in the days of Windows 95, you have to go into the Windows Settings and manually reconfigure the default for that specific file extension).

Fortunately, though, it looks like an upcoming update might be on the way to make changing your default browser settings a lot more straightforward.

Help Is Coming!!!

As per the Twitter post above, it does seem that Microsoft is going to finally, at least somewhat, relent on its march towards attempting to make Edge at least somewhat comparable to Google Chrome’s colossally huge market share. And yes, this basically means that it’s going to revert to the largely simple to use menu option found on Windows 10. Make no bones about it though, Microsoft has not won anyone over with this rather brutal tactic to push its Edge browser down users’ throats.

All going well though, if you’ve been getting a bit sick of this, an update, likely for release within the next month or so, should be looking to restore your sanity!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!