Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

You can finally purge your PC of default Windows apps

Luke Larsen
By

A new piece of EU regulation is forcing tech companies to make some drastic changes to policy. To stay compliant with the Digital Markets Act, Apple is being forced to adopt RCS for iPhones and Microsoft will now let you uninstall the Edge browser from your Windows 11 PC.

Microsoft published a blog post with all the details on how it will stay compliant, but the biggest change is the ability to uninstall default apps. Edge is chief among them, but you’ll also be able to uninstall Camera, Cortana, and Photos. You can even uninstall Bing from Web Search.

The news feed in the Windows 11 panel.
Microsoft

This is important because, even if you’ve chosen a different browser as your default, there are some situations where Windows 11 will force you to use Edge — although this has changed in Europe recently. Being able to uninstall Edge solves this problem. But it’s also a reversal on how Microsoft has handled default apps in general, especially given how hard Microsoft has pushed adoption of the Edge browser on Windows 11 PCs in particular. Just go ahead and try to change your default browser or search for “Google Chrome” in Bing Search and see what happens.

Recommended Videos

There’s a catch to these changes, though. The ability to uninstall Edge and Bing in particular ia reserved for only PCs sold in the European Economic Area (EEA). While that includes nearly every country in Europe, it does not include PCs sold in the U.S. — or anywhere else in the world, for that matter. So, while you’ll be able to uninstall Camera and Photos, the two big applications are left off the table for non-EEA PCs for some reason.

Related

The other big change for EEA PCs is to the Widgets Board. You’ll be able to turn off the Microsoft News and ads feed alongside your widgets. Again,this is not a change that seems to be available for PCs sold outside the EEA.

These changes (and more) will be rolled out to the Release Preview Channel for Windows Insiders as update version 23H2. The changes will also be coming to Windows 10 (versions 22H2 and 23H2) in the EEA by March 6 of 2024.

All this is being done to comply with the Digital Markets Act, a piece of legislation that’s meant to ensure users have choices and that large companies don’t abuse power over competition.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Luke Larsen
Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
The Windows 11 Android app dream is dead
A photo of the TikTok app running on a Windows 11 laptop

Microsoft first brought over the option to run Android apps natively in Windows 11 in 2021, but the dream is coming to an end after just a few years. Today, the company quietly updated its documentation for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) to indicate that it will be ending support for the feature on March 5, 2025. Amazon has also published updated guidance for the same issue about its Amazon App Store on Windows 11, which powers the WSA.

What's causing this change is unknown, as Microsoft did not dive into specific details. Left to speculate, we can assume it's due to either lack of use or licensing issues, but until we hear more, it's left ambiguous.

Read more
How your boss can spy on you with Slack, Zoom, and Teams
Good Morning GIF in Slack on a laptop.

Virtual workspace tools like Slack and Teams can be incredibly handy, both for those working in the office who need to send a quick message or arrange a meeting, and especially for those working remotely who need to stay in contact with their co-workers. With the rise of remote work, more and more office workers are spending a significant chunk of their day on these tools. However, if you use these then you should be aware that what you do in these systems isn't private -- most likely it can be seen by your boss. Even private conversations may not be as private as you think.
Slack

Apps like Slack, Teams, and other common business collaboration platforms are structured via admin permissions. In other words, with the right permissions, your boss can have a large amount of control over the platform and what’s happening on it. And if a manager goes to IT -- well, they can ask to see just about anything that happens on the app.

Read more
7 beloved Windows apps that Microsoft has killed over the years
A screenshot of Internet Explorer 9.

Microsoft's history is littered with the discontinuation of once-beloved applications. Most recently, WordPad, the renowned text editor app, was conspicuously absent from the latest beta build of Windows 11, indicating an end to its 28-year-long journey. I have fond memories of using the app back in my college days when Microsoft Office was too pricey for me.

WordPad is far from the only app to get canceled by Microsoft over the years. From pioneering productivity tools to nostalgic multimedia players, let's reminisce about some of the most famous applications that Microsoft has consigned to the annals of tech history.
Internet Explorer

Read more