PC Manager will sneakily try to change the Edge browser's default search to Bing if it's been set to a third-party search engine such as Google.

Microsoft is trying to restore Bing as the default search engine on users’ browsers by spinning it as a “repair” through a utility app called PC Manager.

PC Manager is designed to boost a Windows PC’s performance by freeing up memory and eliminating unused apps and files. It offers “Health check” and “Repair tips” buttons, which users can click on to see the recommended actions.

However, Windows Latest noticed the app pushing a curious recommendation: Both Repair tips and Health check nudge you to restore Bing as the default search engine on the Edge browser.

    • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      Obligatory “I was a Windows user for decades until a couple months ago but Microsoft’s enshittification drove me to Linux and I have no regrets” post.

        • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          https://www.linuxmint.com/ is an excellent place to start. If you have bleeding edge hardware there are better options though, as Linux Mint prioritizes stability over newer packages and drivers. Not a bad thing, just not the OS if your hardware is so new it needs a very new set of packages or kernel to work properly.

          I eventually landed on https://get.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/ which has been very good to me over the last couple months.

          There are instructions on the sites for how to use Linux from a USB drive, so you don’t even have to install them or overwrite your current OS to give them a whirl.

            • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              Oh you should be good then. When I fully converted, I was using an Intel Atom Acer Aspire One netbook. The thing could barely handle XP. When I switched to Linux Mint (then, eventually a now extinct lightweight distro), the system was blazingly fast by compare. I could even run my Windows-specific work tools better than in Windows.

              Linux is great for old and low spec systems.

              • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                Just know that it won’t make your games all of a sudden work well, you’re still working with the same, old hardware.

                But yeah, it’s very lightweight, and it honestly probably doesn’t matter what desktop you use, they should all be fine on modern-ish hardware. My laptop is all APU from 2018-ish, and it is still very usable, and my kids still love playing Minecraft on it.

                A full install is something like 10-15GB. Any desktop should use <1GB RAM (usually like 300MB or so). You just don’t get the bloat from MS and Apple, things just tend to need fewer resources.

  • 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    PC Manager sounds exactly like one of those garbageware “PC tune up” apps I used to clean off of customer computers back when I worked at a repair shop. Right down to changing your homepage/search engine. But at least the other guys would give you a snazzy coupon toolbar or three.

  • RiQuY@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    Maybe this will sound unrelated but have you seen a PC infected with tons of malware?

    The web browsers tend to be the most affected apps by malware and if the user doesn’t want to reinstall, forcing the web browser to change the default search engine helps a lot, because it is literally impossible to do that manually when the PC is full of shit.

    Other than that, yeah, Microsoft doing anti-consumer things, as always.

    • buttconjuror@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      forcing the web browser to change the default search engine helps a lot

      How does changing your browser’s default search engine (from another legitimate search engine) help get rid of malware?