#microsofts-new-browser-will-be-called-microsoft-edge

[sekhithefops]

How to Kill Microsoft's AI "Helper" Copilot WITHOUT Screwing With Your Registry!

Hey guys, so as I'm sure a lot of us are aware, Microsoft pulled some dickery recently and forced some Abominable Intelligence onto our devices in the form of its "helper" program, Copilot. Something none of us wanted or asked for but Microsoft is gonna do anyways because I'm pretty sure someone there gets off on this.

Unfortunately, Microsoft offered no ways to opt out of the little bastard or turn it off (unless you're in the EU where EU Privacy Laws force them to do so.) For those of us in the United Corporations of America, we're stuck... or are we?

Today while perusing Bluesky, one of the many Twitter-likes that appeared after Musk began burning Twitter to the ground so he could dance in the ashes, I came across this post from a gentleman called Nash:

Intrigued, I decided to give this a go, and lo and behold it worked exactly as described!

We can't remove Copilot, Microsoft made sure that was riveted and soldered into place... but we can cripple it!

Simply put, Microsoft Edge. Normally Windows will prevent you from uninstalling Edge using the Add/Remove Programs function saying that it needs Edge to operate properly (it doesn't, its lying) but Geek Uninstaller overrules that and rips the sucker out regardless of what it says!

I uninstalled Edge using it, rebooted my PC, and lo and behold Copilot was sitting in the corner with blank eyes and drool running down it's cheeks, still there but dead to the world!

Now do bear in mind this will have a little knock on effect. Widgets also rely on Edge, so those will stop functioning as well.

Before:

After:

But I can still check the news and weather using an internet browser so its a small price to pay to be rid of Microsoft's spyware-masquerading-as-a-helper Copilot.

But yes, this is the link for Geek Uninstaller:

Efficient and Fast, Small and Portable. 100% Free

Run it, select "Force Uninstall" For anything that says "Edge," reboot your PC, and enjoy having a copy of Windows without Microsoft's intrusive trash! :D

UPDATE: I saw this on someone's tags and I felt I should say this as I work remotely too. If you have a computer you use for work, absolutely 100% make sure you consult with your management and/or your IT team BEFORE you do this. If they say don't do it, there's likely a reason.

[littlemssam]

!Important Warning!

These Days some Mods containing Malware have been uploaded on various Sites.

The Sims After Dark Discord Server has posted the following Info regarding the Issue:

+++

Malware Update: What We Know Now To recap, here are the mods we know for sure were affected by the recent malware outbreak: "Cult Mod v2" uploaded to ModTheSims by PimpMySims (impostor account) "Social Events - Unlimited Time" uploaded to CurseForge by MySims4 (single-use account) "Weather and Forecast Cheat Menu" uploaded to The Sims Resource by MSQSIMS (hacked, real account) "Seasons Cheats Menu" uploaded to The Sims Resource by MSQSIMS (hacked, real account)

Due to this malware using an exe file, we believe that anyone using a Mac or Linux device is completely unaffected by this.

If the exe file was downloaded and executed on your Windows device, it has likely stolen a vast amount of your data and saved passwords from your operating system, your internet browser (Chrome, Edge, Opera, Firefox, and more all affected), Discord, Steam, Telegram, and certain crypto wallets. Thank you to anadius for decompiling the exe.

To quickly check if you have been compromised, press Windows + R on your keyboard to open the Run window. Enter %AppData%/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/UserData in the prompt and hit OK. This will open up the folder the malware was using. If there is a file in this folder called Updater.exe, you have unfortunately fallen victim to the malware. We are unware at this time if the malware has any function which would delete the file at a later time to cover its tracks.

To quickly remove the malware from your computer, Overwolf has put together a cleaner program to deal with it. This program should work even if you downloaded the malware outside of CurseForge. Download SimsVirusCleaner.exe from their github page linked here and run it. Once it has finished, it will give you an output about whether any files have been removed.

+++

For more Information please check the Sims After Dark Server News Channel! Or here https://scarletsrealm.com/malware-mod-information/

TwistedMexi made a Mod to help detect & block such Mods in the Future: https://www.patreon.com/posts/98126153

CurseForge took actions and added mechanics to prevent such Files to be uploaded, so downloading there should be safe.

In general be careful, where and what you download, and do not download my Mods at any other Places than my own Sites and my CurseForge Page.

[recreationaldivorce]

BDS calls for Boycott of Microsoft Game Pass, Minecraft, New Xbox Consoles

No more Call of Duty. No more Minecraft. No more Xbox (unless you already own one).

Microsoft

Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestini

The BNC has called a consumer boycott of Microsoft including Xbox, and games made by Microsoft subsidiaries like Minecraft, Call of Duty, Bethesda games, etc

BDS has several "levels" of target. Microsoft is listed as a "pressure target", which is clarified on this page as:

As a consumer, boycott Microsoft products whenever possible.

So if you must e.g. use Teams for school, use Windows at work, etc, that is allowed, but where possible avoid Microsoft products.

Also worth noting that BDS explicitly calls for consumers to move away from Microsoft operating systems and towards FOSS:

[In a list of things to boycott] Microsoft Operating System, Office Suit, Browser, Search services and other tools (Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Bing, MSN, Teams, Skype etc.). Consider switching free and open software instead of another, possibly complicit company.

News article from 3rd April 2025

[corbindavenport]

Introducing Just the Browser

Modern web browsers are increasingly focused on features beyond the core browsing experience, many of which just end up as distractions. Chrome gives you coupon codes while shopping. Microsoft Edge fills the New Tab page with clickbait garbage articles from MSN, and previously tried to sell you loans.

The generative AI era has made this even worse. Google's Gemini AI is now everywhere in Chrome, and the AI Search mode that told people to eat rocks and cook with glue is now prominently featured in the address bar. Edge also has countless Copilot AI integrations, and Firefox is getting an AI browsing mode. When these features aren't using cloud AI services, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox have their own local AI models that eat up system resources.

Call me old fashioned, but I want my web browser to be just be a browser. I don't want shopping integrations, or AI agents taking over my cursor, or local AI models running constantly in the background just to reshuffle my tabs. I shouldn't have to resort to Safari or half-working Firefox forks for that.

My solution is Just the Browser.

Making a better browser

Just the Browser helps you remove AI features, telemetry data reporting, sponsored content, product integrations, and other annoyances from desktop web browsers. It accomplishes this with group policy configurations—hidden settings provided by Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft for businesses and other large organizations. Those options are how IT departments can lock down certain features for computers at work or school, but now they can be a force for good.

You know that "AI kill switch" that Firefox will eventually add? It's already a hidden setting that Just the Browser can enable for you. It will also turn off all Gemini and AI Mode features in Chrome. In Microsoft Edge, it turns off all Copilot features, advertisements for Adobe Reader, articles and ads on the New Tab page, automatic data import from other browsers, and much more.

Importantly, all that functionality remains disabled, which isn't always the case with user-accessible settings. For example, Microsoft Edge likes to revert your New Tab page settings after a while, so you see those garbage MSN articles again. That does not happen with group policy settings.

Everyone has their own definition of "bloatware" and "spyware," so the default configurations are limited in scope. They don't go full minimalist, nor do they install extensions to boost privacy and security.

Just the Browser includes browser configurations for Windows, Linux, and macOS, along with guides for installing them. The documentation also explains each setting that is changed. The best part is the setup script, which can install or delete the configuration files for you in just a few clicks. They are regular Bash and PowerShell scripts, so they work on everything from x86 Fedora Linux to ARM Windows 11.

The entire project is open-source on GitHub, including the configuration files, documentation, scripts, and website. The configuration settings used by web browsers will change over time, and I'm hoping others will help me stay on top of changes and add support for more browsers.

Why not alternative browsers?

I know the most common response to this project will be "why not switch to [x] browser?" It's true that LibreWolf, SeaMonkey, fresh Chromium builds, and various other Firefox forks are closer to a minimal browsing experience. Vivaldi would also fit the bill after changing a few settings—as far as I know, it doesn't quietly turn features back on like Edge does.

However, most of those browsers have downsides. LibreWolf is one of the popular Firefox forks at the moment, but the project's own FAQ promises "no expectations" of continued support, and it doesn't have signed macOS builds. They don't always offer data synchronization with accounts or DRM support. When a zero-day security vulnerability is found in Chromium or Firefox, it can sometimes take a while to trickle down to the various forked browsers.

With the custom configurations in Just the Browser, you can keep using mainstream web browsers with all of their upsides—like fast updates, robust platform support, account synchronization support, and DRM video playback—but without many of the usual annoyances. The best of both worlds.

Try it out

You can visit justthebrowser.com to run the setup script, read through the documentation, and download the configuration files. I hope this will be a useful resource for years to come.

[certified-anti-microsoft-posts]

just need to rant I spent 3 hours teaching myself intune policies yesterday so I could set chrome as default browser systemwide, first time I've touched intune and my senior tech is permanently super busy so rarely has time to train me (because for one particular subset of my users, having to open chrome one time and click the 'set default' button is a showstopping catastrophe apparently)

So I figured out how to do that, kind of, with XML to set default associations for http/https links etc to Chrome that we preinstall at onboard and was pretty proud of myself. But apparently that's not enough for windows, to actually consider it the default browser, or to open https shortcuts in chrome on a new user profile for some fucking reason (or they just did it before the policy synced down for the new user profile or something) and the method I used was reliable before 25H2 but now it's maybe silently broken????? so today my user clicked a shortcut to open their webapp that they use for everything and it opened in E D G E oh my fucking god so what do we do? Do we call our dedicated IT support line who has always fixed our problems as quickly as possible and is happy to help?? Do we open chrome and press the ONE FUCKING BUTTON that fixes this issue that our IT team has told us about multiple times before? No, we text their boss to complain that "you set up the laptop wrong again" and then boss pings me from the security conference hes at while I'm in the middle of a call walking another user through resetting a fax server blind in their basement where they don't have cell reception and I want to die

Anyway colleague fixed it in 2 minutes and all was fine but ruined my whole day. I learned intune specifically to solve the stupidest fucking non problem on the planet and microsoft still finds a way to fuck it up and make me look bad and I get complained about

I love computers, I've always loved computers, I always will love computers, and every single day microsoft makes me hate them just a little bit more. Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft Fuck microsoft I hope without hope that some global ransomware hits every microsoft PC on earth at the same time and melts their fucking CPUs into slag and the company crashes and burns so we can all be free of their fucking bloated spyware dogshit motherfucking AI ridden cancer of an operating system. FUCK

I just want you to know that setting Chrome as the default browser was one of the biggest (insane really) problems in my organization too. end users really cannot be trusted and (with varying degrees of acceptability) can be allowed some workarounds for the most simple of problems but yesh.... setting a default browser is a skill beyond the grasp of the majority of them

my companion sysadmin spent ages figuring out how to make intune set chrome as the default browser (in our case trying to leverage chrome enterprise's reg entries to pull down a provisioning proflle that simultaneously enrolled and set as it as default while still in Microsoft Autopilot) but we FOUND OUT that (and this is because a huge conflict between two billion dollar corporations) you can't just set chrome as the default through a management profile anymore and it requires user intervention BECAUSE EDGE used to use a sneaky loophole to set ITSELF as the default and this is the antitrust lawsuits' solution to the problem.

i feel your pain i promise. every day in IT is a new fuckimb disaster and I'm right there with you. getting blamed for shit out of your control is (unfortunately) part of the job. somehow explaining why it happened to the end user makes it worse?

also..... Fax Server? please tell me its for HIPPA/FERPA documents (and cloud based, not over POTS) because if its just to send random shit using actual phone lines I may have to buy you a drink

[mariacallous]

Social Security Workers Aren’t Allowed to Read This Story

New internet restrictions at the embattled SSA have cut off access to WIRED, along with other “general news” websites like The Washington Po

Employees at the Social Security Administration (SSA) were informed on Thursday morning that new rules forbid them from accessing “general news” websites, including those that have been at the forefront of the reporting on Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort.

In an email reviewed by WIRED and addressed to “all SSA employees” from a mailing list called “internal communications,” the agency informed employees that it was “implementing additional restrictions to the categories of websites prohibited from government-furnished equipment. Effective today, March 6, 2025, the categories include: Online shopping; General News; and Sports.” The headline read “Internet Browsing from Government Equipment.”

The email did not specify which websites in particular were to be blocked. However, WIRED has confirmed with two sources inside the SSA that Wired.com is no longer accessible today, though it was accessible previously.

The sources also confirmed that the websites of The Washington Post, The New York Times, and MSNBC were inaccessible. However, the sources were able to access other news websites including Politico and Axios.

“Local news blocked,” says one source at SSA, who was granted anonymity over fears of retribution. “So if there was a local shooting or something, I wouldn’t be able to see.”

It’s unclear who has implemented the block list or what criteria were used to populate it, but it appears not to be based on ideological grounds, as Fox News and Breitbart are also blocked.

On Friday, weeks after DOGE engineers were installed at SSA, the agency announced plans to cut 7,000 employees. Many of the agency’s most senior staff have resigned. This includes former SSA commissioner Michelle King, who has decades of experience within the agency. She was replaced by acting commissioner Leland Dudek, a mid-level staffer who claimed in a LinkedIn post, reviewed by WIRED, that he had been punished by King for helping DOGE engineers when they first arrived. Musk and Donald Trump have also continued to push the conspiracy theory that millions of dead people are continuing to collect social security benefits, despite the fact those claims have been debunked.

In the hours after the initial email was sent about blocking news sites, some employees received another email from their managers providing instructions on how to disable news showing up on the Edge landing page. This was not a requirement but a recommendation to help employees resist the temptation to click on news links, a source who had received the email told WIRED.

Those trying to visit Wired.com were greeted with a page replicating much of what was in the initial email. It also listed a “URL Reputiation” score, though it was unclear where that score was being sourced from, or if it has a bearing on site access. Different blocked news websites were given different scores, according to screenshots viewed by WIRED.

SSA employees typically use computers with Microsoft’s Edge installed as the internet browser. The default landing page on that browser is set to show news headlines, according to several sources at SSA.

“Employees with a legitimate business [sic] should submit an exception SAM request for their supervisor's review,” the email continued. “These additional restrictions will help reduce risk and better protect the sensitive information entrusted to us in our many systems.”

On Reddit, multiple members of the FedNews subreddit who said they worked at the SSA claimed that accessing news in a timely manner was an essential part of their job. Others pointed out that being able to make purchases online was a core component of their work.

After this article was published, an SSA spokesperson told WIRED that it implemented the restrictions because “employees should be focused on mission-critical work and serving the American people.”

It did not respond to requests for comment on why some news websites were blocked and others were not.

Employees at several other US government agencies contacted by WIRED said similar blocks on news pages had not been implemented on their networks.

[tieflingkisser]

One developer’s tool strips AI and other junk from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox

A developer released a free tool called “Just the Browser” that disabless AI features, ads, and other unwanted junk in Chrome, Edge, and Fir

Tech hero releases tool that disables AI, ads, and other junk in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox

Called “Just the Browser,” the script eliminates most AI features, shopping integrations, sponsored and third-party content, unwanted pop-ups and prompts, data collection, and more. “Chrome gives you coupon codes while shopping. Microsoft Edge fills the New Tab page with clickbait garbage articles from MSN, and previously tried to sell you loans. The generative AI era has made this even worse. Google’s Gemini AI is now everywhere in Chrome,” Corbin explained in his blog post. “The goal is to give you ‘just the browser’ and nothing else, using hidden settings in web browsers intended for companies and other organizations.” The installation requires a terminal, and the guides for each browser are available on the justthebrowser.com website or GitHub. The tool uses a clever approach to clean up the browsing experience without adding any plug-ins, modifying the web browser, applications, or executable files. It edits group policy configurations, generally used by IT admins to lock down certain features on work or school computers. This way, the tool allows users to keep using mainstream, well-supported web browsers rather than niche forks. Firefox itself promised to add an AI “kill switch” after a public outcry over its announcement that Firefox “will evolve into a modern AI browser,” adding a range of new built-in tools.

[deathbypixelz]

Alright. I'm making this post because I was unpleasantly surprised to find Microsoft had forcibly downloaded an """"ai assistant"""" onto my computer (called Copilot), and because finding a site that actually told me how to kill it for good -- in clear, truly step-by-step terms -- was way harder than it needed to be.

Preface: this is only relevant if you're running Windows 11.

Here is your target:

If you see this logo on your taskbar -- or... have Edge installed on Windows 11 -- you've got Copilot. You can't delete it on its own, Microsoft has integrated it into the OS as best they can. The most you can do is disable it (instructions for which are at the very end of this post).

So... to REALLY get rid of it you need to uninstall Microsoft Edge, because it's a part of/reliant on Edge. A lot of bells and whistles of Windows are also reliant on Edge, like widgets, but I never use those. I use my PC almost exclusively for gaming, and I don't want this slimy "ai" shit on my computer. I use Firefox anyway. Edge can go die as far as I'm concerned.

Here's the actual steps, copy-pasted from a website that took me way too long to find. It also really makes my browser chug for some reason, which is why I'm copy-pasting the whole thing. If you still want to look at the site itself, put it in reader view as fast as you can (link to site).

1.) Open Microsoft Edge, type "edge://settings/help" in the address bar, and then press Enter.

2.) Click "About Microsoft Edge" at the bottom of the left-hand pane. Copy the version number at the top of the screen, under Microsoft Edge.

3.) Press Windows Key + S to open Windows Search.

4.) Type "Command Prompt", right-click the result, and then select "Run as Administrator".

5.) The User Account Control (UAC) prompt will appear. Click "Yes".

6.) Navigate to Edge’s “Installer” directory by using the cd command. Depending on which directory your Command Prompt opens in by default, you may need to use the "cd .." command to go back a level or two.

Once ready, run this command:

cd “Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\Version Number\Installer”

Replace "Version Number" with your actual version number copied earlier.

7.) Next, run this command to uninstall Microsoft Edge:

setup –uninstall –force-uninstall –system-level

((It will look like nothing happened! Don't worry!))

8.) Restart your PC for the changes to take place.

((HOWEVER, Windows will try to reinstall it the next time your PC updates (or whenever it feels like it lol) so there's a second half to this))

1.) Press Windows Key + R to open Run.

2.) Type "regedit" in the text box and click OK to open the Registry Editor.

3.) The User Account Control (UAC) prompt will appear. Click "Yes".

4.) In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\SOFTWARE\Microsoft.

5.) Right-click the "Microsoft" folder, hover your cursor over "New", and then select "Key".

6.) Rename the new Key to "EdgeUpdate".

7.) Right-click EdgeUpdate, hover your cursor over "New", and then select "DWORD (32-bit) Value".

8.) Right-click the new value, which is currently named "New Value #1".

9.) Select "Rename" from the context menu.

10.) Rename the value to "DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium".

11.) Right-click the newly-named DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium value and select "Modify" from the context menu.

12.) The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value window will appear. Change the Value data to "1" and then click OK.

((You are now free. If you ever run into a really serious, unavoidable issue with your OS that's clearly a result of Edge being gone, you can redownload it like a regular app. But you should be fine.))

((And, if for some reason you want still want Edge around but just want the copilot thing gone, here's what you do:

The command, for ease of copy-pasting: reg add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /v TurnOffWindowsCopilot /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

You can't actually truly delete Copilot (without deleting Edge), only disable it. And as the reply says, you do have to do this every time you turn the computer on. I haven't tested that myself, but I believe it. I assume/hope that excludes just waking the computer up after it goes to sleep, but I don't know for sure.))