March 6, 2024 was the deadline defined by the European Commission for adaptation to the provisions contained in the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by the so-called gatekeepers. Following the requirements issued by the Authority of the old continent, Microsoft took stock of the novelty introduced in Windows.
The Redmond company has, first of all, set up the site focused on compliance with the European DMA: by sifting through the list of interventions applied so far (others could be introduced in the near future), we have extrapolated those that directly concern all users of the system Microsoft operating system.
Changes to Windows in accordance with the European DMA
For users residing only in the member states of the European Union and, in general, in the European Economic Area (EEA), the company led by Satya Nadella has announced that some important innovations have come into force since March 6:
- Windows developers have redesigned the integration of the Edge browser and Bing web search functionality. Users can now officially uninstall these applications from Windows using standard mechanisms. In other words, you can refer to the window Apps and features in the case of Windows 10 ea Installed programs in Windows 11. In both cases, looking for example Edgeyou will find the button Uninstall available and no longer grayed out.
The novelty replaces the use of applications such as MSEdgeRedirect, which also used the mechanism in the latest versions Edge removal not yet enabled by Microsoft, and exposes the policy which we presented at the time and which allows you to eliminate Bing from the Windows Start menu. - Microsoft has also enabled the possibility for third-party web search applications to replace Bing. There is therefore the possibility of using alternative tools to Bing to obtain answers to web searches carried out via the Start menu bar. Furthermore, you can rely on any browser alternative to Edge to view search results pages from Windows and any Microsoft application installed on your system.
- Before adhering to the provisions contained in the European DMA, Windows automatically signed users into other Microsoft services. These are tools from the Redmond company that they used combine user data. Windows will no longer automatically register users for these services the first time the operating system starts.
Opening image credit: iStock.com – Thapana Onphalai