I hate Home windows 11 rather less due to this tiny free app

I like Home windows 11 rather a lot lower than I preferred Home windows 10—and that was earlier than it began promoting to me incessantly and filling up each nook and cranny of the expertise with “AI” I neither wished nor requested for. However one of many oldest annoyances is that it nonetheless calls for I exploit Microsoft’s Edge browser and Bing seek for all the things, together with the searches made within the in any other case very useful Begin menu search.

I’ve beforehand tried varied cures for this thorn within the facet of my PC expertise, however Microsoft has patched and up to date Home windows typically sufficient that they’ve all stopped working. I finally gave up and resolved to go away the Begin menu hobbled by Microsoft’s over-eager branding, although I’d a lot reasonably use the instruments I selected for myself (Vivaldi as my browser and DuckDuckGo as my search engine).

Such issues are despatched to strive us. By Microsoft, particularly. Which shouldn’t be poking its nostril into how particular person customers need to use the working programs we’ve paid for. I’m not bitter, no, why do you ask?

However a latest Home windows laptop computer buy—this one, the truth is, sure, generally we bounce on our personal deal posts, too!—introduced these annoyances entrance and middle as soon as extra. I stared on the Home windows 11 setup course of for 40 minutes, prodded at every step to pay Microsoft extra money for 365 or Copilot or OneDrive, so I made a decision it was as soon as once more time to see if I may wrestle the Begin menu away from Redmond’s panopticonic clutches.

A bit of Googling DuckDuckGoing led me to MSEdgeRedirect, which does what it says on the tin. This little software redirects net searches from the Home windows 11 Begin search bar to any browser you need, utilizing all the main serps. You recognize, the best way it ought to’ve labored from the beginning.

This can be a neat little package deal, requiring solely an ordinary set up, with none constantly-running-in-the-background packages. Along with redirecting the net portion of the search to your true default browser, it may additionally deal with a lot of the widgets that seem within the taskbar. Climate, information, photographs—for those who use any of them, you may redirect them to your most popular browser and an alternate service (reminiscent of Accuweather).

MSEdgeRedirect nonetheless works as of October 2025, on my home-built desktop PC and my Snapdragon laptop computer. I can’t assure that it’ll keep working for any given period of time. It’s a freebie on GitHub, and Microsoft has up to date Home windows to bork these sorts of instruments earlier than, which I contemplate to be a self-serving betrayal of shoppers like me. Clients that Microsoft would possibly need to be rather less cavalier about pissing off nowadays.

However for the second, it really works. I hope it makes Home windows 11 rather less annoying for you, too, particularly for those who’ve lately been pressured to hop onto a brand new machine or working system.

Additional studying: I lastly determined to reset my Home windows PC. Listed here are 6 indicators you must, too