Microsoft has made it difficult for users in Windows 10 to define alternative browsers as standard browsers. While your own browser Edge can regain this status with one click from the browser, browsers of all competitors have to change the settings. Mozilla has now recreated this for Firefox.
Reverse engineering solution
As The Verge reports, in August Mozilla gave Firefox 91 the ability to become the default browser without going through the settings in Windows 10. The developers at Mozilla have reconstructed and recreated the function that Edge uses for this purpose (reverse engineering).
Microsoft should hold against it
It must be doubted that this approach will remain functional for a long time. Microsoft has already announced to The Verge that the mechanism in Windows 10 bypasses built-in protection mechanisms that prevent malware from replacing standard applications. The protection of the user has always been Microsoft's argument for the hurdle that the group has set for alternative browsers in Windows 10. The fact that this hurdle does not apply to one's own browser has been criticized for years – in 2015 Mozilla first publicly addressed Microsoft with harsh criticism, followed two years later by Vivaldi.
In Windows 11 it gets even more complicated
Microsoft is not buckled. On the contrary: With Windows 11, the hurdles when switching browsers are even greater. Not only do the new widgets always use Edge regardless of the browser selected, in future users will also have to define the standard app according to file types – i.e. for .htm, .html, .svg or .pdf separately. In the current Insider Preview, however, the “Mozilla Hack” also works at least for htm (l) and http (s) without the user having to select Firefox for one of the four file types in the settings.
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- Operating system market shares on ComputerBase.de 01836547290 Percent 12/200106/200212/200206/200312/200306/200412/200406/200512/200506/200612/200606/200712/200706/200812/200806/200912/200906/201012/201006/201112/201106/201212/201206/201312/201306/201412/201406/201512/201506/201612/201606/201712/201706/201812/201806/201912/201906/202012/202006/2021 Android Bada BlackBerry Chrome OS FreeBSD iOS Linux macOS PlayStation Symbian OS Wii Windows 10/11 Windows 2000 Windows 2003 W indows 7 Windows 8 Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Mobile Windows Me Windows NT Windows Vista Windows XP Xbox