People talk about browser wars, PC vs. Mac, Android vs. iPhones, etc., but there’s also a fight within search engines. Microsoft’s PC Manager will restore the Bing search engine to the default on Edge, after it repairs your PC.
Microsoft’s PC Manager App
There isn’t great cause for concern, as nothing is harmed throughout this, but it is kind of sneaky, as it changes this default without asking first, when you were just looking to clean up your PC.
PC Manager isn’t loaded as a default but is an optional download. You can download it to your PC to clean up your hard drive and free up storage. It can also do you a great favor by reducing ads and pop-ups. If your PC isn’t working as it should, run PC Manager to detect issues and fix things, as well as eliminate threats. It has a variety of tools that are built in.
Interestingly, the free app’s description on the Microsoft Store says it offers “protection of your default settings from unauthorized changes.” That sounds great and a real help.
The app was released in October 2022 and requires Windows 10 or higher. But only now has it been called out for trying to force-feed Bing to users after the app was updated with Repair Tips and File Cleanup. Tired of having Windows links open Edge and Bing? Learn how to stop it.
PC Manager Restores Bing as Default Search Engine
PC Manager is making the news this week after it was found to be changing the default settings in Edge. As a repair tip, it sends an alert that a default setting was changed while repairing your system, then asks you to reset the start page to a new tab page and the search engine to Bing, if you had selected another search engine, such as Google or Brave.
The frustrating part of this is that while it does let you know it changed your search engine of choice, it’s already done by the time you learn about it. Even more frustrating is that this is not a repair tip. This is not a needed change to make your PC run more smoothly. It didn’t need to be “managed” on your PC.
Not that Microsoft is the only big name in the tech space that tries to sneak its way onto your system. Apple is particularly known for trying to keep users within its ecosystem, and Google certainly has plenty of tricks up its sleeve as well.
This is just something for you to keep in mind. PC Manager is a worthy tool for cleaning up your PC, but you just need to keep an eye on it and restore things to YOUR defaults – not necessarily the defaults that Microsoft chooses for you.
If you want more help for your PC, check out these Windows Defender features to help protect your machine. Need to clean up the Windows Registry? Try these options.
Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Laura Tucker.
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Laura Tucker –
Contributor
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.
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