The dark defaults of Microsoft Edge
Edge has some very user-hostile defaults, at least for the type of user who doesn’t want extra ads and doesn’t want to send personal data to Microsoft just for funsies.
Did you know that out-of-the-box, Edge will transmit the content of your text boxes on web pages to the Microsoft Editor service for the purpose of grammatical suggestions? I have no idea how this concept got past legal but hey, it’s on by default now.
The list of settings you have to change to keep Edge under control keeps getting longer. I know this because I keep using it against my better judgement. At the end of this post I’ll explain why that is. First let’s have a tour of these hostile defaults.
On first launch Edge asks you off the bat whether you want to send a bunch of information to Microsoft. Note that the user I was testing this on doesn’t have a Microsoft account. Does this just create some sort of ephemeral Edge account? I unchecked this box of course, and still ended up with all the other default settings I’m about to show you.
After completing the first-time setup, here’s the beautiful landing page you’re presented with. Clearly the first things I will want are Disney Plus and “SHOPPING”, plus whatever that ridiculous thing is that JB HiFi is selling. Okay, whatever, let’s try to clean this up.
