Users are complaining about Edge popup setting Bing as default search engine

The new version of Edge shows a popup that Microsoft tries to make Bing the default search engine. Users are complaining about the popup, which appears to be a dark pattern and is difficult to get rid of.

The popup appears in the stable release of Edge 91, which has been available since last week. Users of version 91.0.864.37 will see a popup when they open the browser for the first time after a restart. A large block will then appear on the screen in which the browser asks to use ‘the recommended browser settings’. Users have a choice between two options, with the first also changing the default search engine to Bing. The other option is to not change the browser settings.

In addition, users who are on Windows 10 21H1 will also see a similar popup in their taskbar. It does not contain an option to reject the default settings, but only the option ‘Maybe later’. It is also striking that the pop-up keeps coming back if users reject the proposal, both via the button and via the cross at the top. Users on Reddit complain about the pop-up, because they find it a dark pattern where they cannot easily communicate their real choice.

It is now possible to no longer show the pop-up, but users must go to the flags of the browser for this. The feature can be blocked via edge: // flags / # edge-show-feature-recommendations.