Microsoft back to its old tricks to get an edge on the competition.
-
What if Microsoft put the same effort into improving their Internet Explorer (Edge) browser as they do making it so hard for you to use a different browser on Windows? Vivaldi is not afraid of competing on a level playing field. Why is Microsoft?
Click here to see the full blog post
CEO & Co-founder Vivaldi
-
Love that image of Edge with horns - cheeky!
🎻Volunteer helper · Forum moderator · Sopranos tester 🛠️Troubleshooting 🐛Report a bug 📜Markdown help
🦆"With a rubber duck, one's never alone" -Douglas Adams🦆 -
"Groundhog Day, Browser Edition" HA! So apt. This could be the headline on a "How to change your default browser" splash page, which I'd be more than happy to share on social media.
-
A Tech Radar article on How to remove Microsoft Edge from Windows 10.
I have not felt the need to do this yet, but it is annoying to find that Edge launches to display certain help articles, even though Vivaldi (Snapshot) is set to my default.
Blog • Vivaldi Review • Server Status
Win 10 64-bit build 19045.2486 • Snapshot 7.4.3683.4 (64-bit) -
@pesala: Same, also there are some weird bindings with PDF, ignoring your preferred app to open PDF (which Vivaldi itself unfortunately also suffers from iirc).
-
In reality, there are a lot more places Microsoft is doing this stuff. The keyword is the "Microsoft Recommended". When you click in the search field, there is an Edge ad. You search, you get Edge, which likely will also try to change the default. Click the image text on the login screen? Into Edge again. You are told that you should go back to the Microsoft recommended settings in the default app as well. The push is everywhere.
Feel free to share screenshots of things you experience as well with Microsoft pushing Edge or Microsoft recommended settings, which as a codename for Edge it seems.
-
@jon Get Help from Windows Settings, no longer works, so maybe I did try to remove Edge. It is still in my list of apps.
-
An other bad behaviour by MS is to ask from time to time if we want to open this or that file-type in an other program or to reset some associations.
-
I kept uninstalling Edge every time it got reinstalled with a major OS update. But it kept coming back. And apparently the registry fix to stop it reinstalling no longer works (at least for me). And once I got a Windows Update failure, probably from my too dedicated cleansing of Edge from my system, and had to revert to a backup
So I gave in, can't be bothered. I figure they will make it required for core OS stuff to work soon enough, just like they did with IE.
The really funny thing is, good ol' IE is still very much present in Windows 10 (and probably 11), in the form of core system DLLs. Hell, even Vivaldi uses IE to download its updates (through the BITS service) - anyone had a look in "
AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files\IE" after a Vivaldi update? -
@dude99 said in Not again, Microsoft!:
Me: Click (downloading Vivaldi.64x.exe)
Windows: R u sure? Mate?
Me: Click (again)
Windows: O really? R u really sure about this? Bro?
ME: CLICK! CLICK!! CLICK!!!
WindowS: Huh? Oh? AH? Mehh... LOL
ME: HIT SHUTDOWN BUTTON
WiNDoWs: I'm sorry Dave, I afraid I can't do that...
Also WinDOWs: Reinstalling IE6 in 3, 2, 1...
Now they go one step further by questioning you before you even downloading an .exe?
That's like pre-crime in Minority Report to me... LOL -
So why does Vivaldi support and use the Bing engine. That is Microsoft..
-
With the new Laptop last year I Had this problems too, but only a short time, thanks to 2 small little OpenSource apps, which eliminate this bad habits in Windows and besites made it faster.
https://github.com/modzero/fix-windows-privacy
and
https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer
With these I have full controll over what I permit Windows and what not.
-
I have encountered these same shenanigans way back yonder, that's how I first found out about "Vivaldi" after "Netscape" disappeared for some strange reason, I started looking for another browser around that time. I came across "Vivaldi" in the early creations, and was pleased, however, something went wrong with the browser back then and I had to let it go, and "Chrome" was my go-to at that time. Now I don't even trust "Chrome" any longer. So when I came back to "Vivaldi" I was very pleased with the upgrade and the speed and now "Themes", now that's A+ for me. Thanks, Vivaldi
-
Do you remember this?
https://images.app.goo.gl/pcwJxMGpLqR59Xx57
Probably european Antitrust will have to be advised and ask to reactivate this "select your web browser" again. -
Hey speaking of, can Vivaldi implement that thing that Mozilla reverse engineered from the thing that Microsoft made for forcing Edge as a default browser? It is all open source so there are no issues with licensing.
-
@supra107 That workaround is no longer viable ☛ https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/microsoft-edge-protocol-competition.html
-
@luetage , I would not worry too much, on the one hand I do not think to use W11 before W10 stops receiving support in 2025, and on the other hand, so far for every evil, that Microsoft has introduced, dozens of countermeasures have come out soon that nullified it again.
Naturally it requires being attentive to this, but Microsoft can only deal with users who let themselves be dealt with, due to ignorance or neglect. -
@pesala: With the next OS update, the Edge browser will be re-installed. So this will have to be fought after each update.
-
I have two ways MS is pushing Edge too aggressively:
As detailed here:
microsoftnews.msn.com will redirect you to Microsoft Start if it detects any browser user agent other than Edge. This might be more about pushing Start than Edge, but the fact that only by using Edge (or it's user agent) will you get the site you actually want is still obnoxious.
The second way is that while the fact that Windows 11 breaks Edgedeflector has been well documented, a recent update has broken it in Win 10 now too. I had to switch to another program, and who knows how long it'll work.
-
I know a 100% foolproof undefeatable way to ensure never ever ever encountering this egregious MS misbehaviour...
