Tired of Microsoft, Mozilla decided to 'hack' Windows 10

But on the contrary, users will have to go through an extremely complicated process if they want to install Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as the default browser.

Tired of Microsoft, Mozilla decided to "hack" Windows 10 so that Firefox could be installed as the default browser more easily. Mozilla engineers reverse engineer Microsoft's source code to get the code that makes Microsoft Edge installable as default with one click.

Tired of Microsoft, Mozilla decided to 'hack' Windows 10 Picture 1

Then, Mozilla updated this code to version 91 of Firefox, which was released on August 10. As a result, Fifefox can be set as the default browser on Windows 10 and Windows 11 as quickly as Edge. Previously, to set Firefox as the default browser, users had to go to Windows 10's Settings (11) and then make the changes and ignore the pleas to continue using Microsoft's Edge.

Now, the whole process of setting Firefox as default takes place in the browser, everything works in the background and without any additional prompts and notifications.

The Microsoft side said that Mozliia's approach is not welcome because it violates the anti-intrusion protection they have equipped in Windows 10. Microsoft said it complicates the process of installing default software just to make sure that malware can't install itself as default on Windows 10.

From 2015 to now, Mozilla has repeatedly tried to convince Microsoft to simplify the default browser installation process but failed. So Mozilla decided to come up with its own measure.

Although they share the same frustration with Microsoft's approach, currently Google, Vivaldi, Opera have not made any move to follow Mozilla.

Samuel Daniel

Update 14 September 2021