Mozilla Reverse Engineers Microsoft Edge’s Default Browser Settings Behavior

Making a web browser the default browser wasn’t a big deal until Windows 10 and its Microsoft Edge web browser came along. Microsoft made it more difficult in Windows 10 to change the default programs, including the default browser.

Users who want to create other browsers, any other browser other than Microsoft Edge, the default system browser in Windows 10, must do so manually. Microsoft claims it’s for security, but it’s certainly giving its Edge browser a significant boost as well.

A Chrome user who wants the browser to be the default in Windows 10 should find the option in Settings. One click opens the Default apps section of the Settings app. There you need to find the web browser entry, click on it, and select Chrome as the new default. All browsers, with the exception of Microsoft’s Edge browser, can be set as default, but only by following the steps outlined above.

With Edge, all you need to do is click the “set as default” button in Settings to make it the default system browser right out of the box.

Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 operating system makes things even more difficult, as Microsoft removed common application types from the settings. While all browsers, with the notable exception of Edge, can still load the default app settings page on Windows 11 system, users can no longer click the web browser to configure the new browser with just two clicks. The option is gone.

Now users need to select the browser, for example Brave, and make it the default for each file type and link type supported manually. More work for the user, unless Edge is the desired default browser, as it only takes one click in the browser settings to make it the default.

Microsoft claims it wanted to give users more granular control, but didn’t reveal why it had to remove the option to make a program the default for all supported file types and link types, for that.

Mozilla has found a solution

It’s clear that browser makers, with the exception of Microsoft, are not very happy with the changes Microsoft implemented in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft is giving its own Edge browser an edge over the competition.

Firefox users who install Firefox 91 on Windows 11 and set it as the default system browser may have noticed that they didn’t have to go through the whole test. Instead, Firefox becomes the system browser just like Edge in that version.

Mozilla reverse engineered the functionality that Microsoft reserved for its Edge browser, so that Firefox users can make the browser the default as fast as Edge users can.

Other browser manufacturers can do the same to provide their users with the same level of convenience when it comes to setting the default browser.

It’s probably only a matter of time before Microsoft steps in again and makes changes to the operating system to complicate things again.

Now you: What is your opinion on all this?

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