If you have upgraded your PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11, you may have noticed that when you click on a link for a website, PDF document, or a host of other types of files, you are now at Microsoft. Edge browsers get redirected. Microsoft seems to have become particularly aggressive in its new version of Windows by pushing its own applications on the applications installed out of the box before the update.
In other words, Edge suddenly became your default browser. Microsoft makes it harder to change the default browser in Windows 11 Usually the first time you open a different browser other than Edge, for example Google Chrome, the notEdge browser asks if you want it to be the default. However, the process of changing the default settings in Windows 11 has become more complicated than in Windows 10. You may not receive this handy request, or if you do, you could end up on a complicated looking page called “Application> Default Applications”.
Either way, here’s how to change. If you don’t want Edge to be your default browser and your favorite browser doesn’t offer to make the change for you, or if it offered but directed you to the Default Apps page instead, here’s how to change the default server.
- Select Settings> Applications> Default applications
- Under “Set default for applications”, scroll down until your preferred browser appears or enter the name in the “Search applications” field.
- Click on the application.
- Browser change means you assign each file type to your new browser. Browser change means you assign each file type to your new browser.
- You will see a list of files related to the browser and, under each file name, the application it is currently associated with.
- In Windows 11, you can’t just change your default browser with one click, you have to change the assigned browser for each specific file type. Look for the file types assigned to Edge such as .HTM, .HTML, HTTP, HTTPS, and maybe .PDF (unless you have a preferred PDF reader). Click on the ones you want to change.
- The first time you click a file type, Windows may try to prevent changes.
- You may see a “Before switching” pop-up asking you to try Microsoft Edge. Go ahead and click “Change Anyway.” A pop-up window will appear with the option “Continue using this application” at the top and the other installed browsers at the bottom. Go ahead and choose the one you want to use.
- You can change any type of file for a corresponding installed application. Note: By the time you read this, some browsers may have set up a system that makes it easy for you to change your default browser.
