Microsoft Edge nags users with a 3D banner to change Windows 11's default browser

lemme in@lemm.ee to Technology@lemmy.world – 402 points –
windowslatest.com

Would you use Edge as your default browser on Windows 11 if Microsoft nags you with a 3D banner? Microsoft thinks you would. In a new experiment, which appears to be rolling out to Edge stable on Windows 11, Microsoft has turned on a banner that uses 3D graphics to promote the browser.

First spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft has been testing the new 3D banner for a while now, but it’s now rolling out to more people. If Edge is not your default browser and you open it directly or through files like PDFs, a new banner will remind you to change your default browser settings.

The banner explains that using Edge as your default browser can help protect you from phishing and malware attacks. It asks you to confirm this change by clicking “Set default,” and then you need to confirm again in the Windows settings app.

The pop-up screen will appear after you install the new Windows updates. If you skip the banner, you’ll get another reminder to use Edge when you open the browser.

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Switching to Linux is better.

How about using M$ Edge on Linux? /s

Seriously though, one of my friends uses Edge on Windows, Linux, and Android. I still couldn't wrap my head around his decision.

A colleague at work uses Edge as primary browser on MacOS 💀

I used Edge on macOS for a spell when it first came out, but mostly for outdated websites that wouldn’t pass Safari’s security restrictions (mainly loading an iframe of a PDF without the Content-Type). Chrome on macOS at the time was a memory hog and went against my anti-Google stance.

These days I’m no longer working in an industry 20+ years behind the times, but the application I developed does this work via containerized Selenoid anyway so users don’t have to bother with unmaintained shady web applications anymore.

They should provide a button "Switch to Linux",that would download a mint iso (or a distro of choice), ask you to plug in a USB stick and input a few config options,reboot and auto install de distro with btrfs over the windows partition.

I would pay to see that featue.

I recently swapped and keep breaking my pc. Some people told me it's a rite of passage. Do most people have this experience at the start or is it just Ubuntu or the newest version? When I get it booting back up again I'll be trying to setup backups somehow

i broke mine a few times, but i just did dumb stuff. using it normally should not break anything. if for example some update breaks something, you can roll back with timeshift and skip all the updates available. had to do that once when some mint update disabled all sound devices, was ok with the next updates. definitely set up timeshift!

It's only normal if you're regularly doing iffy things like messing with drives or changing OS shit via terminal without thinking about what you're doing, Ubuntu is a pretty stable system

You should definitely be using TimeShift, it comes pre installed on Mint (which is a derivative of Ubuntu) so it should work or already be on your system

Does it break with normal use or are you a tinkerer?

What specifically is breaking and what are you doing with the system?

Installing it and using it like normal shouldn't break anything, but it is very easy to break things if you start tinkering. There are very few guardrails.

Okay back that up: I just tried my third time in 5 years to run Linux as a daily driver for software dev work and gaming. I’m on an ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 2022 and I’ve never been able to fully get Linux working. Here’s my takeaways (and I really wanted Linux to work out fwiw):

  • No working mic until I added a modprobe and kernel taint to make the built-in mic and speaker work to “function” where the mic is unusable with background noise and the speaker volume control only changes the tweeters, not the subs - so no built-in audio AT ALL
  • Nvidia drivers - where to start… I’ve got an eGPU that I use as well and it’s a paperweight due to Linux+Nvidia support

But sure proton is great! /s it’s only viable if the damn hardware works in the first place which Linux simply can’t do yet

It's the downside of open source: You're at the mercy of companies that don't care and developers who are primarily interested in the hardware they're using rather than the hardware you're using.

The best experience is going to be hardware that's built and certified for Linux. System76, Tuxedo, a bunch of other smaller names and the rare Dell or Lenovo. But that's definitely not practical for everyone, or a good idea to convince people to buy new hardware for Linux.

It'll be a slow transition. The more enthusiasts hop on the bandwagon, the more manufacturers and hardware vendors will care about support. The more Microsoft keeps irritating their customers, the more companies will move away. The support will come, it's been improving for a long time.

All that said. I'd recommend CachyOS or PopOS if you get the urge to try again. I've tried a bunch of distributions and those seem to have the best focus on "just make consumer hardware work right out of the box." That's no guarantee of course, but it's a start.

I've got working Nvidia drivers without any tinkering. Gaming on my 3060 without issues. Never had microphone issues either. This isn't supposed to be "You're wrong", more a "I wonder what I'm doing differently".

ASUS TUF GAMING B550 MoBo, AMD Ryzen 5600x, some Gigabyte version of the RTX 3060, running the Nvidia version of Nobara (Fedora-based gaming oriented distro).

What distro did you try?

Tried Ubuntu, Drauger OS, Fedora, and Popos. It’s specifically the laptop hardware that’s giving trouble and as far as the drivers go it’s just really a mess because of X11 vs Wayland issues with Nvidia making it all the more difficult.

Heres my current core issue: I need to run nvidia official drivers as the ones provided via open repos don’t support eGPUs/multi-gpu setups. The problem there is nvidia official drivers only support x11, so then I’m forced to used a sunsetting windowing system for my daily driver, which I just can’t bring myself to do.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, that's one of those cases where you either add support yourself (provided you have the time, know-how - which most already don't - and commitment) or wait until hopefully someone else does. Or - like me - you curse and go back to X11 until something gives you enouhh confidence to try Wayland again. I think I read somewhere on this platform that there will be (or was?) some Nvidia driver update that should help with Wayland support, but I haven't looked into it.

I don't have much experience with laptop hardware. I did have one elderly laptop running Ubuntu, though it probably would have been served better with something more lightweight (I just didn't know much about anything at the time). But that wasn't doing anything intensive, just some Uni exercises. I think a simple neural network was the most challenging thing it ever had to handle.

Yeah if you have any idea how she it's user friendly. Not the impressions I get.

No one asked.

You could say "I'm thirsty" and though not explicitly asking a question, someone might still offer you a beverage as a solution, for which you would probably be thankful.