PC Manager will sneakily try to change the Edge browser's default search to Bing if it's been set to a third-party search engine such as Google.

Microsoft is trying to restore Bing as the default search engine on users’ browsers by spinning it as a “repair” through a utility app called PC Manager.

PC Manager is designed to boost a Windows PC’s performance by freeing up memory and eliminating unused apps and files. It offers “Health check” and “Repair tips” buttons, which users can click on to see the recommended actions.

However, Windows Latest noticed the app pushing a curious recommendation: Both Repair tips and Health check nudge you to restore Bing as the default search engine on the Edge browser.

    • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
      422·
      7 months ago

      Obligatory “I was a Windows user for decades until a couple months ago but Microsoft’s enshittification drove me to Linux and I have no regrets” post.

        • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
          251·
          7 months ago

          https://www.linuxmint.com/ is an excellent place to start. If you have bleeding edge hardware there are better options though, as Linux Mint prioritizes stability over newer packages and drivers. Not a bad thing, just not the OS if your hardware is so new it needs a very new set of packages or kernel to work properly.

          I eventually landed on https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/ which has been very good to me over the last couple months.

          There are instructions on the sites for how to use Linux from a USB drive, so you don’t even have to install them or overwrite your current OS to give them a whirl.

  • 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    711·
    7 months ago

    PC Manager sounds exactly like one of those garbageware “PC tune up” apps I used to clean off of customer computers back when I worked at a repair shop. Right down to changing your homepage/search engine. But at least the other guys would give you a snazzy coupon toolbar or three.

  • reddig33@lemmy.worldEnglish
    432·
    7 months ago

    I see that anti trust / Internet Explorer investigation had no effect at all.

    • paraphrand@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      7 months ago

      Like most things, it was nearly 30 years ago. So everyone acts like they can’t remember it.

      Institutional knowledge is not something corpos seem to like anymore. That hampers next quarter thinking.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        7 months ago

        The antitrust lawsuit had a huge impact. It’s just that pretty much everyone involved has moved on and been replaced, so we’re seeing them trying the same thing again.

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.mlEnglish
    30·
    7 months ago

    So tired of companies telling me they know what I want more than I do. It’s all over the place in big ways like this and smaller annoyance ways too. My work mac just did a security update and it decided to change my desktop background

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      7 months ago

      Everything that isn’t Free Software will become abusive eventually. It boils down to the simple fact that you can only trust your property, that you control.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28·
    7 months ago

    You know how many times I’ve had to remove a spyware/adware browser, extensions, and homepage from a family members computer? Too many.

  • cley_faye@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    7 months ago

    “Freeing up memory and eliminating unused apps and files” sounds like the kind of bullshit app we have on Android already. Why bring that to PC.

  • RiQuY@lemm.eeEnglish
    204·
    7 months ago

    Maybe this will sound unrelated but have you seen a PC infected with tons of malware?

    The web browsers tend to be the most affected apps by malware and if the user doesn’t want to reinstall, forcing the web browser to change the default search engine helps a lot, because it is literally impossible to do that manually when the PC is full of shit.

    Other than that, yeah, Microsoft doing anti-consumer things, as always.

    • buttconjuror@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      7·
      7 months ago

      forcing the web browser to change the default search engine helps a lot

      How does changing your browser’s default search engine (from another legitimate search engine) help get rid of malware?

      • Meron35@lemmy.worldEnglish
        103·
        7 months ago

        Been a while since I experienced malware, but they typically forcibly change your browser’s default search engine to a shady one with more malware, even after you try to change it to something else. Even for somewhat tech savvy users, this can be somewhat difficult to overcome.

        Sounds like Microsoft is somehow overriding this with Bing.

        • Entropywins@lemmy.worldEnglish
          31·
          7 months ago

          I highly doubt that personally. I’d bet money it wouldn’t do this with malware just with people who have a clean system and use a different search engine.

      • Grimm665@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        7 months ago

        It doesn’t. If a PC is so infected you can’t change simple settings like search engine, it’s time to reformat.

  • ma11en@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    7 months ago

    I just had a big windows update and it asked part way through if I wanted to follow it’s suggestions, I said no and it carried on.

  • LittleBorat2@lemmy.mlEnglish
    51·
    7 months ago

    I never thought I would say this but Microsoft may be doing you a favor there.

  • Blaster M@lemmy.worldEnglish
    84·
    7 months ago

    You know, this is a useful tool when you’re clearing a malware infection. Everyone seems to be assuming this is fully automatic, but it requires you to accept the change before it commits.

    Of course, since everyone here is rabidly anti-Microsoft, anything MS does is automatically the worst thing in existance.

    Edit: In this case, it is providing the option to reset Edge’s search and home settings back to “known safe” defaults. If you had this tool let you set anything, that’s an attack surface that can be exploited by a “tech” from India or a malware running counterops to prevent removal.

    Worst case, you use another browser, since clearly Microsoft is the devil and you shouldn’t use Edge anyway.

    • Ookami38@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      52·
      7 months ago

      The issue is that they’re taking a tool with actual legitimate use cases, particularly maintenance and repair uses, and turning it into something to just push their own service. It’d be like a doctor saying you can only be healthy if you use his brand of fuckin… Vitamins or some shit,I don’t know. It’s got nothing to do with Microsoft, it’s not automatically the worst thing in existence, it’s just that Microsoft CONSISTENTLY does this kind of garbage, and it’s one of those things that isn’t overtly even a bad thing, you just have to look a bit.

      So in short, I agree it is(was?) a useful tool, I don’t agree that everyone is rabidly anti-microsoft, any more than anyone’s rabidly anti-get-punched-in-the-taint.

    • psilotop@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      7 months ago

      I think the branding as a “repair” is meant to mislead uninformed users but I am totally with you, I would LOVE to get a list of settings that are going to change after an update so I can approve them. I can’t tell you how many times a random update reverts something I set up ages ago when I installed windows. Most of the time I may not notice the setting change for a while, until one day a feature doesn’t work as I expect it to.