Every trick Microsoft pulled to make you browse Edge instead of Chrome

The fight to make Microsoft respect your browser choice.

Microsoft Edge is actually good, way better than the old Internet Explorer — but you wouldn’t think so based on how desperately the company tries to shovel it onto your plate!

It’s the default browser in Windows these days, so it’s the primary way you’d download a different browser onto a new PC. You’d open Microsoft Edge, type the name of your new browser into Microsoft Bing search, and nab Chrome or Firefox or Opera (etc.) that way.

But Microsoft has repeatedly taken advantage of that to redirect you to Edge instead — and some of its Windows Updates have even launched the browser and pinned it to the desktop and taskbar without permission. Windows still doesn’t wholly respect your default browser choices, either.

Basically, Microsoft has used tactics we’d only expect to see from bloatware and spyware developers to promote its web browser, and it stinks.

Here’s an updated list of the dirty tricks Microsoft has played — and the times it’s given up after getting significant pushback.