Andrew Cunningham
A report from The Verge today has drawn consideration to the way in which present Home windows 11 betas are dealing with third-party Internet browsers like Chrome and Firefox. These tweaks proceed a pattern that has intensified over Home windows 10’s lifecycle—you can use any browser you need on Home windows! However are you certain you would not wish to strive Microsoft Edge as a substitute? Are you certain? Are you actually, actually certain?
There are two practical modifications within the present beta of Home windows 11 that make switching browsers extra annoying. The primary is that the OS not pops up a window asking you if you would like to modify browsers the primary time you click on a hyperlink after putting in a brand new browser. The second is that the “default apps” display screen has eliminated the broad app classes at present out there in Home windows 10. Home windows 10 lets you set the default e mail app, map app, music participant, picture viewer, video participant, and internet browser from the default apps display screen, whereas Home windows 11 makes you select an app first and assign defaults one file extension at a time.
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Home windows 10’s Default Apps settings display screen permits you to change the default apps for a handful of frequent duties, like searching, checking e mail, or taking part in video.
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Home windows 11 at present defaults to a extra granular view, which makes you alter file extensions separately, both by trying to find them or choosing an app that may deal with them after which setting defaults one extension at a time.
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As soon as you’ve got chosen a file extension, you get the identical listing of app choices that exists in Home windows 10.
Andrew Cunningham
While you do try to vary the default app that handles .htm or .html recordsdata from Edge to one thing else, Home windows 11 takes it as yet one more alternative to just be sure you’re completely, positively certain that you simply really need to swap away from Edge.
“I do know you’ve got gone out of your method to swap browsers, however do you REALLY need to do that?”
Andrew Cunningham
Collectively, these modifications symbolize one other escalation in Home windows’ unending quest to remind you that it comes with its personal browser, and Microsoft deserves to be criticized for it. I do not should be advised the Good Information about Edge each time I set up a significant replace, use Edge to obtain Chrome, or go to any of Microsoft’s web sites with a non-Edge browser. However browser-makers could make this course of a bit much less annoying in observe—for instance, once I set up Chrome on Home windows 11 and click on Chrome’s “set as default” button, it kicks me to the Home windows 11 default apps display screen. However once I click on Firefox’s “set as default” button, it simply works, no additional clicking wanted.
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The best way Home windows 11 handles file-extension-level default apps is definitely an enchancment over Home windows 10’s model of the identical characteristic.
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Home windows 10’s model of this display screen is buried and wastes plenty of house, one thing that occurs loads contained in the Home windows 10 Settings app.
Andrew Cunningham
The best way Home windows 11 handles lesser-used (or merely browser-adjacent) file extensions is definitely a bit much less complicated than the way in which Home windows 10 handles them. Altering the default browser setting in Home windows 10 and Home windows 11 leaves Microsoft Edge answerable for opening a bunch of different file extensions, together with .pdf, .svg, and .shtml—you would possibly assume that that is new conduct in Home windows 11, however Home windows 11 simply makes it simpler to see. With the ability to see each file extension that each app in your pc can open and which apps are answerable for opening them is useful, and Home windows 11’s presentation is an enormous enchancment over Home windows 10’s semi-buried model of the identical view.
Reverting the 2 greatest modifications to Home windows 11’s browser conduct—the lacking pop-up and the absent high-level model of the “Default Apps” display screen—could be comparatively trivial and would principally remedy the sensible points right here. Within the meantime, some browser-makers do appear to have found out learn how to make the default-browser-switching course of much less painful.
Itemizing picture by Microsoft
