Reports surfaced in August that Microsoft’s upcoming release of Windows 11 will make it harder to switch default browsers. Users would have to choose the default for different file types such as .html, .htm and .pdf, a complicated and unnecessary process.
Back then, Microsoft responded with some typical PR jargon and added that it wanted users to be able to customize and control defaults at a more granular level.
In a latest statement to The Verge, Microsoft said: “In the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22509 released to the Dev Channel on Wednesday, we streamlined the ability for a Windows Insider to set the ‘default browser’ to apps that register for HTTP:, HTTPS:, .HTM, and .HTML”.
“Through the Windows Insider Program, you will continue to see us try new things based on customer feedback and testing,” the company added.
Also see: Microsoft Nudging Windows Users To Stop Downloading Chrome Browser
Rafael Rivera, developer of the EarTrumpet Windows app, first spotted the new Windows 11 changes.
Microsoft is still testing these new Windows 11 alterations that make it easier to switch default apps and browsers.
The tech giant is also displaying new prompts to Windows 10 and Windows 11 users, discouraging them from installing Google’s browser Chrome and install its own Edge browser instead.
Some of the prompts, first reported by Neowin, include messages like “Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft.”