Default Browser Change in Windows 11 Now Takes More Effort

Microsoft has unveiled its Windows 11 operating system (OS) with plenty of new and improved features, but it feels like every time we take a few steps forward, we take one backward as well. According to a report from the Verge, Microsoft is making it harder to change your default web browser in Windows 11 OS.

Default browser choice in your OS should be a simple solution. Upon install of Windows OS, Microsoft sets the Edge browser to be your default option until you later choose anything else, usually Chrome or Firefox. And that is how it used to function before the arrival of Windows 11.

In the current Windows 10 OS, to change the default browser application you simply have to navigate to the Start Menu, type Default Apps, find the web browser drop-down menu, and select the desired default browser for all your browsing efforts. However, that is not how it functions in Windows 11.

In Windows 11, if you don't toggle the "Always use this app" box when opening links for the first time, Microsoft will simply default everything to the Edge browser. And changing that is no simple task. Unlike Windows 10, the new Windows 11 doesn't have an option to choose one browser for everything, but rather splits it by files. You have to choose the default application for opening of all files that are in HTM, HTML, PDF, SHTML, SVG, WEBP, XHT, XHTML, FTP, HTTP, and HTTPS format. That means a long process of choosing the default setting and maybe not known to many.

This process is not very friendly, especially for not tech-savvy people. Microsoft has noted that "With Windows 11, we are implementing customer feedback to customize and control defaults at a more granular level, eliminating app categories and elevating all apps to the forefront of the defaults experience," continuing that the company is constantly learning from the community and bettering the Windows 11 experience. 

Following its statement, it is pretty clear that the separation of all this change is imminent, but it would be still nicer to have a simple toggle like we see with Windows 10.