Microsoft reverts outrageous Windows 11 default browser changes for everyone

With the latest Windows 11 update (now available to everyone as a mandatory security update), changing your system’s default browser is now easier than ever. The company has reversed a controversial change it rolled out with Windows 11 in June 2021, a move that angered Chrome and Firefox users.

Since Windows 11 launched last year, Microsoft has been criticized for forcing users to manually register third-party browsers like Firefox for every network protocol and known file extension. This makes it more difficult to easily switch between third-party browsers, as you need to change the default browser for all available options.

In other words, users need to manually register Chrome or Firefox preferences to use web protocols such as HTTP or HTTPS and popular web file extensions such as .HTML, .HTM, etc. While it's still entirely possible to switch to a third-party browser, Microsoft has intentionally made the switch more difficult.

To its credit, the company has at least heeded the criticism, and they have rolled back the complex default browser settings with an April 2022 cumulative update.

Starting with Windows 11 KB5012592, you can now easily switch between Microsoft Edge and other browsers with just one click. As you can see in the screenshot above, there is a new option that lets you change the default browser for all known web protocols and file extensions.

Mozilla welcomes Microsoft’s decision, but more work remains to be done

Mozilla told us in a statement that these changes improve the default browser settings experience and that Microsoft is moving towards moving in the right direction, but "more can be done to respect the default browser selection" on Windows.

For those who don’t know, Windows 11 does not respect the default browser selection for all links in the operating system. Currently, the company pushes all links from its own products, such as the Start Menu and Widgets panel, into Microsoft Edge, so unless you use a third-party app to bypass redirects, your default browser The selection will be ignored.

"People should have the ability to set defaults simply and easily, and all operating systems should have official developer support for default states," a Mozilla spokesperson told us in a statement.

Mozilla wants Microsoft to respect users' default browser preferences everywhere and reduce the steps required to set a browser like Firefox as the default.

The group also wants Microsoft to make the Edge API available to remaining browsers so that they can be used to improve integration with other Microsoft applications.

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