Facepalm: The latest shot in the Chrome vs. Edge browser war has seen Microsoft issue a Windows update that caused a Chrome function to break. Not surprisingly, the borked feature was a button that allowed users to switch their default browser with a single click.
It appears that the April Windows update KB5025221 had an unexpected effect on Chrome browsers, writes Gizmodo. And the impact was even worse for enterprise users.
In July 2022, Google introduced a new button to Chrome (near the top of the screen) that allowed users to change their default browser with a simple click, eliminating the need to find and navigate the Windows settings menus. It was a popular addition for 8 months, until the April Windows update borked it.
While everyday users who installed the update found the Chrome button now only opens the Default App settings without changing anything, enterprise users discovered an even more annoying issue: every time they opened Chrome, the Windows Default App settings page would also open automatically.
"After today's cumulative update for Windows 10 and 11, 2023-04, every time I open Chrome the default app settings of Windows will open," an IT administrator wrote on the Microsoft support forums."I've tried many ways to resolve this without luck. This is happening to all 600 systems with the update."
One person noticed that the Windows settings page only opened alongside Chrome if Google's browser was the default. "It doesn't happen if we change the default browser to Edge," they said.
Gizmodo discovered that consumer versions of Windows could avoid the problem by changing the name of the Chrome app on a Windows desktop, suggesting this wasn't an unintentional bug within the April update. In response, Google has disabled Chrome's one-click default button.
When asked about the issue, Microsoft pointed to its blog post about app pinning and app defaults in Windows.
Firefox, which also has a one-click default button, was not affected by the update. But Mozilla's Chief Product Officer Steve Teixeira said Microsoft isn't averse to playing dirty.
"When using Windows machines, Firefox users routinely encounter these kinds of barriers, such as overriding their selection of default browser, or pop-ups and misleading warnings attempting to persuade them that Edge is somehow safer. It's past time for Microsoft to respect people's preferences and allow them to use whatever browser they wish without interfering with their choice," Teixeira said.
This is far from the first time Microsoft has used underhand tactics to try and steal user share from Chrome. Earlier this year, non-stable versions of Edge temporarily displayed full-sized banner ads on the Chrome website. They informed viewers that Edge runs on the same Chromium engine as Chrome but with the "added trust of Microsoft."
There was also Microsoft's "How do you do, fellow kids?" moment when a popup informed people that Edge was "so 2008!"
