642

Microsoft Edge is apparently usurping Chrome on people’s PCs (arstechnica.com)

submitted 5 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

161 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Users of Google Chrome on Windows 10 and 11 are reporting that they have suddenly found themselves using Microsoft Edge, with their Chrome browsing sessions appearing in Edge.
This may be due to a bug or an accidentally clicked-through dialog box related to a feature in Edge that imports browsing data from Chrome.
The setting, called "Import browsing data from Chrome," continually imports data from Chrome every time Edge is launched, unlike the one-time import offered for Firefox.
There have been concerns about Microsoft's tactics for pushing its own browser, including notifications, pop-ups, and full-screen messages promoting Edge and Bing.
Microsoft has become more aggressive in pushing various subscriptions and features in recent years, making a "clean" Windows install feel less so.
It remains unclear whether the Edge data-import issue is intentional or a bug, highlighting concerns about Microsoft's methods for promoting its own software.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 200 points 5 months ago

I think that governments should be tackling both Edge and Chrome at the same time. One of them for underhanded tactics, another for being a monopoly. Tackling only one of them is not enough.

I also think that Microsoft's strategy is worse than just underhanded - it stinks stupidity from a distance. It's clearly backfiring - this is not the first Browser Wars any more, people nowadays have a good grasp on what a browser is supposed to be. And while some pressure might convert a few users, too much pressure is bound to create resistance, even on users that would be otherwise inclined to follow you like cattle.

[-] admiralteal@kbin.social 103 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Dark patterns.

All the big tech firms do this shit all over the place because the regulators are sound asleep at the wheel.

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 39 points 5 months ago

Yup. In this case

roach motel - it's considerably easier to switch to Edge than from Edge
appeal to emotion + appeal to authority + appeal to false authority* - "we recommend Edge, chrust us"

*those are technically fallacies. However, by trying to convince a user on irrational grounds to do something, they become a dark pattern.

[-] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 55 points 5 months ago

Had to set up a new laptop for someone over the weekend and Jesus they just won't stop begging you not to switch.

Search for another browser in the URL/search bar, gigantic banner that pushes the actual search results off the page: "There's no need to switch browsers, Edge is safe, fast, etc etc etc"

Click the download button for Chrome's installer, a pop-up notification shows up: "Edge is built on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust and security of Microsoft" (fucking lol)

Go to switch the default browser in settings, another pop-up shows up again explaining that Edge is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I have to click either "Try Edge (recommended)" or "switch anyway".

Then I spend 30 minutes navigating their maze of a settings app to change a bunch of ad preferences, etc.

Then I spend another 30 minutes editing registry entries to disable Cortana, Bing search in the search bar, recommended apps.

God damn I'm glad I switched to Linux.

[-] Bizarroland@kbin.social 22 points 5 months ago

And the same for a domain joined PC. Fresh install of Windows 11, open edge, find that you are already signed into edge on a Microsoft account that Windows helpfully created for you that mirrors your domain account.

You told edge that you do not want to transfer over your data. And it says okay but you'll notice a little blue hyperlink that says manage above that.

And if you click that it tells you all the stuff it's going to copy over anyway.

So you sign out of that and you untick all of the boxes and you close edge and you reopen it and you find that you are still signed in to your Microsoft account that was created for you with your domain credentials in Bing search and you have to sign out of that as well.

Edge has created an account for you, signed you in in two separate locations, and automatically set itself to ingest all of your account credentials and it does not even tell you what it has done unless you click through multiple paths to find it.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Nachorella 22 points 5 months ago

And if you need to use Microsoft Teams for work it will ignore your preferences and open links in edge by default, so you'll have to find and disable that, too.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Maven 15 points 5 months ago

And then once a quarter as part of their "feature update" they'll ask if you're suuuure you don't want to change your default browser to Edge instead of your normal browser.

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 9 points 5 months ago

That's awful.

...my mum's laptop being unable to run W10/W11 was a blessing in disguise then. I'm glad that I don't need to manage this sort of junk.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (11 replies)

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 109 points 5 months ago

I love how Outlook opens your links in Edge and gives you a little message about how it knows it's not your default browser but it thought you'd like to open in Edge anyway.

[-] k_rol@lemmy.ca 68 points 5 months ago

I can always count on Microsoft to help me fix my default browser settings which I keep changing by accident. Silly me.

[-] ultranaut@lemmy.world 28 points 5 months ago

This has been annoying the shit out of me recently. I use several different computers so I keep running into this dumb shit. I feel like I'm in an endless fight to not use Edge. Microsoft knows I don't want to use it but they keep shoving it in my face again and again regardless. I really wish regulators would step in and put a stop to this nonsense.

load more comments (11 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] ThePrivacyPolicy@lemmy.ca 94 points 5 months ago

Definitely had this happen. Edge imported all my plugins and tabs and started auto launching when I logged into windows. The auto launching made it obvious they were trying to confuse you into just picking up where you left off without hopefully noticing you weren't actually in chrome anymore. Had been meaning to move to Firefox anyway, this just give me the kick I needed to do it asap.

[-] sir_reginald@lemmy.world 19 points 5 months ago

Microsoft can pull the same trickery with Firefox users. It's their OS, after all.

[-] kiagam@lemmy.world 46 points 5 months ago

chrome and edge use chromium, so everything is 1:1 compatible. you can't do the same with firefox: extensions work differently, several options will be different, any custom layouts will be missing so things look different, etc

[-] sir_reginald@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

they can just import bookmarks and open your last session's tabs.

most extensions will be available too. they could check which ones you have in Firefox and install the ones available for Edge.

there would be some things missing, sure, but most people wouldn't notice the difference immediately.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Matriks404@lemmy.world 59 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's 2024 and yet, user programs can still steal data from each other. There should be some kind of permissions system in Windows, like in Android and additionally apps should ask if they can access data of other program.

[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago

I think there is, but 90% of windows apps resolve not to use that framework out of fear of the MS Store, even though you can theoretically install UWP apps outside of it.

[-] Daxtron2@startrek.website 17 points 5 months ago

the fact that a perms system is essentially opt-in for non UWP apps is laughable

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (12 replies)

[-] Kyrinar@lemmy.world 53 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

On my work laptop, Teams has started to ignore my default browser settings. Firefox is still the default, and everywhere else links open there, but from Teams they open in edge anyway. Its really annoying

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago

MSEdgeRedirect will fix that problem.

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] olmium@sh.itjust.works 15 points 5 months ago

Outlook has been doing this for a long time too

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (12 replies)

[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 48 points 5 months ago

Install Linux and be done with this nonsense

[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 months ago

I did. Now my internet doesn't work. Problem solved 👍

load more comments (6 replies)

[-] trailblazer911@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago

Installed Linux Mint. My Bluetooth works. WiFi, Optical Audio Out, My Corsair Fan controller and many other things don't work. I can't find certain render options in Blender also. How to fix all these? Have been trying driver and software updates for hours now. I think I would have been better off using Windows with Chris Titus' debloat tools. Everything worked, and Edge, OneDrive, Cortana etc. could be uninstalled in one go too.

[-] voidMainVoid@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago

I love Linux, but I don't think that Linux users should promote it like it's a free Windows, because it isn't. You should learn Linux because you want to learn Linux, not because you hate Windows.

Frankly, I didn't go 100% Linux right away. I dual-booted for several years first.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (14 replies)

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 38 points 5 months ago

These AI generated article thumbnails are getting out of hand.

load more comments (9 replies)

[-] vojel@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 5 months ago

The only way of interaction with edge I got is at my work computer which runs windows 10 😑 every time after an update the edge logo sits itself back into the taskbar until I remove it again. So annoying and and encroaching. For real fuck Microsoft.

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 29 points 5 months ago

Windows problems 😄

[-] bstix@feddit.dk 28 points 5 months ago

Adobe did something similar. It did an invisible update, but suddenly all downloaded PDFs open in acrobat, even if you have a different default app for that, and you have to dig into some obscure settings to make it fuck off.

"We hope you like the new reader layout" Really? I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing.

[-] ScaNtuRd@lemmy.world 28 points 5 months ago

Well both browsers suck balls, so there's that.

[-] trucy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 5 months ago

L for using chrome honestly

[-] kratoz29@lemm.ee 26 points 5 months ago

Isn't Microsoft Edge spyware though.

[-] xionzui@sh.itjust.works 29 points 5 months ago

Would be difficult for it to be as much as chrome

[-] silverbax@lemmy.world 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It is worse, and Teams is even worse than Edge.

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 20 points 5 months ago

Ken Watanabe as Professor Ishiro in the 2014 American remake Godzilla, watching two monsters battle each other instead of the Human forces and telling the military Commander next to him to simply "Let them fight."

[-] HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 15 points 5 months ago

I'm just saying, I game on a Windows 10 machine, use Firefox for a browser, and have never ever had this problem.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] prettydarknwild@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

yeah, a "bug"

[-] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.de 12 points 5 months ago

Linux

load more comments (4 replies)

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 11 points 5 months ago

“Warren posits that the tab-snatching happened because of a bug or an inadvertently clicked-through dialog box“

so we don’t even know if it was an accidental keysmash or not. i am fully on the side of opposition to ms, but this is a joke of journalism. let’s maybe do our research before posting rage inducing titles next time.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 11 points 5 months ago

As someone who refuses to use windows and who also refuses to use either of these browsers, I find this extremely amusing. Very troubling, of course, but also extremely amazing.

[-] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 10 points 5 months ago

Not an issue if you don't use chromium

[-] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 10 points 5 months ago

Guess if i ever have to use Windows again, my Firefox will be a Portabe App. Can't usurp stuff you don't know about, since it's not in Registry.

Except if they start to use Smartscreen for that...

[-] ardi60@reddthat.com 10 points 5 months ago

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/12/22/msedgeredirects-europe-mode-sets-your-windows-region-to-europe/ this make Edge tamer than usual

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

load more comments

this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024

642 points (96.1% liked)

Technology

55919 readers

2631 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS