Why does Windows still push Edge on you 100 days after Mozilla documented the tricks?

The report carries the name Over The Edge 2.0. Dr Harry Brignull and Cennydd Bowles, two recognised experts on deceptive patterns, wrote it.

The findings were handed to Microsoft and discussed directly. The company did not dispute the evidence. It also did not act.

The researchers showed that Windows 10 still uses the phrase "You're almost done setting up your PC" to nudge people away from the browser they already picked. Windows Search and Widgets continue to open links in Edge regardless of the system default. Common file types such as PDF and SVG stay bound to Edge even after another browser is set as default.

The same patterns persist inside the European Economic Area. Edge remains pinned to the taskbar by default. That appears to contradict Microsoft's own 2023 principles on app pinning and defaults. Copilot opens web links in a side panel instead of the user's chosen browser in every region tested, Europe included.

A better version of Windows already exists

The Digital Markets Act forced Microsoft to ship a fairer design for users in the EEA. That version removes several of the steering tactics documented in the report. People in the United States, India, the United Kingdom and most other countries do not get it.

This is the most shocking part, Mozilla says. The company runs on more than a billion machines. Its standard for respecting choice is legal compliance. Not what is best for users. Not its own published principles. Not what is technically feasible.

New surfaces make the problem worse

Copilot and the Windows 11 migration tool called Windows Backup have become fresh levers. Windows Backup silently tries to set Edge as default when it restores a PC. It fails to bring the user's own browser along. The 2024 patterns remain. The 2026 patterns are worse.

Mozilla's ask has two parts. First, give every Windows user the fairer designs already live in the EEA. Second, stop the harmful practices that still survive inside the EEA.

Regulators are the only lever that works

In the past one hundred days Mozilla stopped waiting for voluntary action. The organisation has increased public pressure and taken the report's findings to regulators and policymakers. The DMA is the only thing that has moved Microsoft so far. The lesson is the same everywhere: Microsoft ships fairer design only when a regulator requires it.

Regulators in the US and the UK need to pay attention. Regulators in India and Brazil should do the same, Mozilla hopes. Until Microsoft applies the EEA standard worldwide, the organisation will keep pointing out the impact on hundreds of millions of users who want something different.