Do you remember the issue of banners that appeared on Microsoft Edge when trying to download Google Chrome? Well, now the modern “browser war” has been enriched with a new chapter, which not exactly everyone could expect. Indeed, it appears that it is even went so far as to “break” a button.
Yes, you read right: Gizmodo is reporting the story, which also cites user reports linked to the official Microsoft forum and Reddit. In this context, it appears that following Microsoft’s release of theKB5025221 updatereleased in April 2023 for Windows 10, some users have started to experience some “problems” in using Google Chrome.
More precisely, some people claim to have seen appear a pop-up every time the browser was launched. Clearly, as you can well imagine, what according to user reports would have appeared on the screen in this context is the settings screen linked to the default apps. Some users claim to have resolved, at least temporarily, by removing the update involved.
In short, reference is made to an issue that can potentially lead to an “annoying interruption” of the workflow, so it is clear why the issue has certainly not gone unnoticed. This also considering that according to Gizmodo in this way Microsoft would “stuck a new button in Chromethe most popular browser in the world, which allows you to change your default browser with just one click“.
In any case, it seems that the aforementioned continuous pop-ups have been “reserved” for Windows business users and that the matter, which would have lasted for weeks, has been resolved officially, but it would not have been Microsoft, but Google, to settle everything. The latter would in fact have disabled the button referred to, so as not to cause users to run into further issues.
To better understand the story we need to take a step back: the “button of discord” is in fact the one that worked without problems for many months and which allowed change your default Windows browser with a single clickwithout even having to go through the system settings. This key was launched in July 2022 and appeared quietly at the top of the screen, but then the recent KB5025221 update released by Microsoft seems to have made it potentially “problematic”.
The question subsequently became even more “thorny” due to some statements by the source. “We were able to get around this by simply changing the Chrome app name to a Windows desktop. It appears that Microsoft has implemented the block specifically for Chromethe main competitor of its Edge browserreads Gizmodo.
To this were then added the statements of Steve Teixeira, chief product officer of Mozilla: “When using Windows devices, Firefox users regularly encounter these kinds of barriers, such as situations where the default browser selection is ignored or misleading pop-ups and alerts that try to persuade them that Edge is somehow more secure. […] It’s about time Microsoft respected your preferences of people and allows them to use any browser they want without affecting their choice“.
In conclusion, Gizmodo lets it be known that Google would have confirmed the details of the story to its microphones, refusing to comment on it further. There answer provided by the Redmond company instead, it would mostly consist of a link to a post published on the official Windows blog describing “the company’s longstanding approach to putting people in control of their Windows PC experienceA spokesperson would later explain that “Microsoft has nothing more to share“.