Microsoft built a dedicated app that forces Bing everywhere on Windows 11, including Chrome, Firefox, and Brave
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MicrosoftSettings.exe installs a Bing extension in Chrome and Edge, then redirects to Microsoft Rewards. Credit: Windows Latest
Microsoft has apparently found the free time to build a standalone app whose only job is switching your default search engine to Bing across every browser on your PC. It is not force-installed through Windows Update yet, and it is not available in the Microsoft Store either. It is a standalone executable hosted on Microsoft’s official download servers, and we wonder why it even exists.
The app is called Microsoft Recommended Search Settings, and once installed, it prompts you to add extensions to all your installed browsers, which does the job of switching to the Bing homepage experience. After finishing installation, you also get redirected to the Microsoft Rewards page, which is basically a bribe for switching.
Installing the new Microsoft Settings app. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>MicrosoftSettings.exe exists only to change your browser defaults
The executable is called MicrosoftSettings.exe, and its entire purpose appears to be asking whether you want to change your default search to Bing, then opening rewards.bing.com/m365offer once setup finishes.
The new Microsoft Settings app logo is basically the Microsoft Logo. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>The app has a WinUI shell with WebView2, built solely to install a Chrome extension across every browser on the PC, a strange amount of engineering effort indeed.
What bothers me here is that Microsoft already has a stack of bloated WebView2 apps and OS components it has not fixed. The default Weather app uses roughly 1.2GB of RAM, about five times what macOS Weather needs, and still shows ads. Instead of switching such apps to WinUI3, Microsoft spent resources building a WinUI shell with the only job of installing a browser extension.
Credit: Windows Latest<br>I tested the extension, and Chrome fought back almost immediately
I downloaded MicrosoftSettings.exe and ran it on my test PC. The installer is 22.2MB. I have Chrome and Brave set up with their own defaults, and searching from either pulled up Google and Brave Search respectively.
Before installing the new Microsoft Settings app. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>The first screen is titled “Welcome to Microsoft Recommended Search Settings,” with a toggle already switched to “Yes” for setting Bing as your search engine. Small text underneath says the change applies to Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome.
Microsoft Settings app asking to make Bing as search engine. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>Clicking “Accept and continue” kicks off a short setup that ends on a “You’re all set!” screen with a Finish button, and hitting Finish is what opens the Microsoft Rewards page in Edge.
Microsoft recommended Search Settings installed. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>Clicking Finish opens a Microsoft Rewards page. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>On the browser side, Chrome and Brave both flagged a new extension called Microsoft Bing Homepage & Search for Chrome. Chrome’s warning shows it can read and change all data on all websites, display notifications, and change the home page, search settings, and start page to bing.com.
Prompt to install extensions that make Microsoft Bing Homepage Search default in Chrome and Brave. Credit: WindowsLatest.com<br>The Microsoft Bing Homepage & Search for Chrome extension somehow has a 4-star rating from 110 reviews and 5 million...