More Microsoft Intrusion

[Jaymann]

When I turned on my PC this morning it went directly into MS Edge (which I never use) and insisted that I sign in to my gmail account because it wanted to "link up all my devices." That was bad enough, but it would not let me close the window and I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del out of it.

[LordMortis]

When I turned on my PC this morning it went directly into MS Edge (which I never use) and insisted that I sign in to my gmail account because it wanted to "link up all my devices." That was bad enough, but it would not let me close the window and I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del out of it.

I get the MS Edge start every once in a while but never had it lock so I couldn't close out. That's... Odd. Sounds like it hung up on something it was trying to load on the page/cortana/"News and Interests"/the MS Store, which is one thing I hate about tying it (and Internet connectivity to support those things) all together with the OS and part of why I have never registered OS with and MS Account whenever set and OS up.

[hepcat]

When I turned on my PC this morning it went directly into MS Edge (which I never use) and insisted that I sign in to my gmail account because it wanted to "link up all my devices." That was bad enough, but it would not let me close the window and I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del out of it.

I believe I know which screen you're talking about. There should have been a confirm and skip option. It would have been near the bottom of the page/screen. The option to "x" out of it was missing because it's more of a set up screen.

As for the gmail prompt, that must have been triggered by something else. The edge prompt to sync your accounts would be for a Microsoft account, I believe.

[Sudy]

The intrusiveness has really gotten extreme. I get prompts to do/integrate things that are phrased as if you have no choice. Dark pattern stuff. Every time Edge automatically updates it puts a shortcut on my desktop. Pisses me off so much.

[Carpet_pissr]

I get prompts to do/integrate things that are phrased as if you have no choice. Dark pattern stuff.

Yeah, I don’t know what “dark pattern” means, but I’m quickly tiring of the fake extortion bs messages/windows. Seems to be increasing lately.

[Max Peck]

Dark Pattern:

A dark pattern (also known as a "deceptive design pattern") is "a user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying overpriced insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills". User experience designer Harry Brignull coined the neologism on 28 July 2010 with the registration of darkpatterns.org, a "pattern library with the specific goal of naming and shaming deceptive user interfaces".

[Alefroth]

I'm surprised the cookie acceptance prompts haven't been targeted more. I've only seen one that I can recall, a credit card I believe, that tried to trick me into clicking by looking like a cookie acceptance.

[Anonymous Bosch]

When I turned on my PC this morning it went directly into MS Edge (which I never use) and insisted that I sign in to my gmail account because it wanted to "link up all my devices." That was bad enough, but it would not let me close the window and I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del out of it.

FWIW, here's a simple tutorial that walks you through how to uninstall Microsoft Edge and keep it from coming back:

[Kraken]

I'm surprised the cookie acceptance prompts haven't been targeted more. I've only seen one that I can recall, a credit card I believe, that tried to trick me into clicking by looking like a cookie acceptance.

Just an aside...I have a Firefox plugin called "I don't care about cookies" that swats down almost all of those popups.

I don't currently use Edge, but will consider it if MS requires it to access the AI-enhanced Bing.

[Jaymann]

When I turned on my PC this morning it went directly into MS Edge (which I never use) and insisted that I sign in to my gmail account because it wanted to "link up all my devices." That was bad enough, but it would not let me close the window and I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del out of it.

FWIW, here's a simple tutorial that walks you through how to uninstall Microsoft Edge and keep it from coming back:

Thanks for that. I only used Edge once to get Firefox. Stupid MS keeps loading it on startup.

[hepcat]

I’m actually a fan of edge since they went chromium. I still use other browsers from time to time for various things, but Firefox is becoming more and more unstable as time goes by. I don’t know what they’re doing at Mozilla, but jeebus.

[Daehawk]

My tabs are crashing a lot lately.

[Carpet_pissr]

I’m actually a fan of edge since they went chromium. I still use other browsers from time to time for various things, but Firefox is becoming more and more unstable as time goes by. I don’t know what they’re doing at Mozilla, but jeebus.

I sadly left FF a while ago due to instability and just general slowness. Have been using Chrome at work forever, and on a reinstall of Windows on one of my home laptops, I just started using Edge because I was too lazy to pull everything in from my desktop browser. It's surprisingly great, no probs at all, and speed seems to be at least as good as, if not better than the other various browsers I use.

FWIW I tried using it for several weeks a few years ago, and just did not like it, so I think they have improved it quite a bit since then. What, specifically, I can't say. I think I actually prefer it over Vivaldi, which I use on my desktop. Why? Again, I can't answer that. Got a wild hair a few years ago to change browsers and I guess it won the weeks-long comparo at the time.

[Max Peck]

Microsoft will forcibly remove Internet Explorer from most Windows 10 PCs today

Internet Explorer 11 was never Windows 10's primary browser—that would be the old, pre-Chromium version of Microsoft Edge. But IE did continue to ship with Windows 10 for compatibility reasons, and IE11 remained installed and accessible in most versions of Windows 10 even after security updates for the browser ended in June of 2022. That ends today, as Microsoft's support documentation says that a Microsoft Edge browser update will fully disable Internet Explorer in most versions of Windows 10, redirecting users to Edge.

Edge will "automatically" transfer over bookmarks and other browsing data from IE and display a dialogue box letting users know what has happened so that the last few people using Internet Explorer out of habit, ignorance, or spite will be fully aware of what's going on. Clicking any IE icon or attempting to launch it from the Start or Run menus will automatically open Edge instead.

Microsoft never shipped any version of Internet Explorer in Windows 11, so nothing will change if you're already running Microsoft's latest OS.

Internet Explorer still has some small deaths to die. The "visual references" to the app will remain in Windows 10 until they're removed by a security update circa June of 2023, according to Microsoft's support document. And Internet Explorer will remain accessible on Windows Server, non-consumer versions of Windows 10 like the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) versions of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 IoT, and Windows 7 and 8 (which are no longer being supported with new security updates or Edge versions as of last month).

[gilraen]

I thought it has already happened. My work computer has stopped launching IE a while ago (at least a month, maybe longer).

IE still launches if I open a document that has IE assigned as the default app (XML files, mostly). But if you actually click on ieexplore.exe, it flashes IE, kills it and opens Edge instead.

[Max Peck]

I've been using Edge instead of IE for a long time now. If it's still in here, somewhere, I haven't seen it in years.

[LordMortis]

You have been able to type Internet Explorer in the Windows search bar and use IE for all of 10s lifetime. Sometimes it has been the only lifeline during and Edge crap out. Other times it has been the only way to configure some aspects of Edge/Chrome. I wonder what happens when that lifeline/configuration is gone. Good thing I no longer do help desk as part of a profession.

I just tried to run IE to look at certificate configurations to explain what would need to be done and Windows has already locked me out and forced Edge to open. I feel for people with only one machine and only Chrome and Edge the next time there is something off and they can't go to the Internet to go to the MS site to manually download fix X for their browser dysfunction. I will make sure Firefox is on every machine I ever need to review again.

Edit

IE still launches if I open a document that has IE assigned as the default app (XML files, mostly). But if you actually click on ieexplore.exe, it flashes IE, kills it and opens Edge instead.

That worked. I will remember that, though that'd be more of a pain to walk people through over the phone.

[Jaymon]

I've seen that new edge page. it comes up sometimes after a windows 11 update. There is no option to get out of it except for ctl-alt-del. its not even a tab on your taskbar.

[Anonymous Bosch]

You have been able to type Internet Explorer in the Windows search bar and use IE for all of 10s lifetime. Sometimes it has been the only lifeline during and Edge crap out. Other times it has been the only way to configure some aspects of Edge/Chrome. I wonder what happens when that lifeline/configuration is gone. Good thing I no longer do help desk as part of a profession.

I just tried to run IE to look at certificate configurations to explain what would need to be done and Windows has already locked me out and forced Edge to open. I feel for people with only one machine and only Chrome and Edge the next time there is something off and they can't go to the Internet to go to the MS site to manually download fix X for their browser dysfunction. I will make sure Firefox is on every machine I ever need to review again.

Edit

IE still launches if I open a document that has IE assigned as the default app (XML files, mostly). But if you actually click on ieexplore.exe, it flashes IE, kills it and opens Edge instead.

That worked. I will remember that, though that'd be more of a pain to walk people through over the phone.

Using the winget tool is the quickest and easiest method to install your preferred browser directly from a Command Prompt:

Use winget
After App Installer is installed, you can run winget by typing 'winget' from a Command Prompt.

One of the most common usage scenarios is to search for and install a favorite tool.

1. To search for a tool, type winget search <appname>.
2. After you have confirmed that the tool you want is available, you can install the tool by typing winget install <appname>. The winget tool will launch the installer and install the application on your PC.
   
   
3. In addition to install and search, winget provides a number of other commands that enable you to show details on applications, change sources, and validate packages. To get a complete list of commands, type: winget --help.
   
   

So, you can use the instructions above to determine that Firefox is easily installed using the following command:

Code: Select all

winget install Mozilla.Firefox

Or, if you prefer the Brave browser, that's easily installed using this command:

Code: Select all

winget install Brave.Brave

[Max Peck]

Here is the link to the MS FAQ explaining what they have wrought this day:

2/14/23
REMINDER Today, February 14, 2023, the retired, out-of-support Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be permanently turned off using a Microsoft Edge update on certain versions of Windows 10. Go to Internet Explorer 11 desktop app retirement FAQ for more information.

FWIW, after applying today's Windows update (KB5022834) and checking that Edge is fully up to date, the actual copy of IE that is installed on my PC is still there, so it hasn't actually been removed and I can still use it to open local files (but any attempt to use it to open an internet URL results in the URL being opened in Edge instead).

[Isgrimnur]

The Register

Microsoft on Friday disclosed it will drop support for Cortana as a standalone app in Windows 10 and 11.

In a note to users, the IT giant said this doesn't mean the voice-controlled digital assistant is going away completely, and will still be found in some other Redmond products – just not in Windows 10 and 11 as a standalone application.

"This change only impacts Cortana in Windows, and your productivity assistant, Cortana, will continue to be available in Outlook mobile, Teams mobile, Microsoft Teams display, and Microsoft Teams rooms," the biz explained.

This isn't a surprise at all, in a way, because Microsoft has been cramming Copilot-branded AI-powered functionality into every corner of its empire lately.
...
Early last month, Twitter user Albacore, perhaps a persistent pain in Microsoft's side, reported that Redmond was toying with putting in-house ads in Windows 11's Settings panel – and shared screenshots of test builds featuring those very pitches for Microsoft 365 and storage products in the UI.

And now, as documented by GHacks on Friday and confirmed by The Register, some users who go to the Windows 11 Get Help app will see an in-house ad for the software giant's Teams Essentials collaboration suite.