Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/50960187

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.

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[–] 2 points 17 hours ago (1 child)

Hopefully it is not installed on windows 11 enterprise, it's not like we can change what OS the companies are using.

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  • [–] 2 points 17 hours ago* (2 children)

    it’s not like we can change what OS the companies are using.

    Depends how locked-down your work computer is.

    "But sir, nothing in the employee guidebook said I couldn't install Debian on my work laptop. Yes, I'm aware our business software doesn't run on Debian. That's why I put the support ticket in."

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  • [–] 2 points 12 hours ago*

    I can't even access the settings on my work laptop. Or the VM I have to connect to through AVD. I do have admin privileges on the Windows Server VM I have to connect to from AVD but I can't exactly install an operating system over RDP.

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  • [–] 2 points 16 hours ago (1 child)

    The it department is blocking almost everything in my company. They even remove some older python and java versions which is needed to support our old software. I will not even try to download the Debian installation image. But I hope other companies are less restrictive.

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