Microsoft has responded to the backlash against its new app that pushes Bing search and the Bing homepage onto every browser on a PC.
In a statement to Windows Latest, Microsoft confirmed that the tool “isn’t distributed through Windows or Edge,” meaning the Microsoft Recommended Search Settings app is optional and will not change any default setting without your consent.
This isn’t surprising, as we could not find MicrosoftSettings.exe anywhere inside Windows or the Microsoft Store. We installed it from a dedicated download portal and tested it on a PC with Chrome and Brave installed and set to their own defaults. However, it’s unclear why the Bing tool exists in the first place, as it’s a well-made and thoughtful app that changes the search engine of all browsers.
Microsoft says the app is not pre-installed
In our testing, the app did switch the default search engine on both browsers from Google and Brave Search to Bing, and set the Bing homepage as the new tab page, which means that it wasn’t a prototype and was fully capable. However, as per Microsoft, the app won’t be bothering any users in the background.
“This is an optional app that users can choose to download and install. It isn’t distributed through Windows or Edge, and any changes to default settings require user consent. These settings can also be adjusted at any time.” – a Microsoft spokesperson said to Windows Latest.
So, rest assured that the tool does not arrive through Windows Update or any background service. Edge also doesn’t have such a capability, as Microsoft confirmed.
We installed MicrosoftSettings.exe from Microsoft’s download portal, and the 22.2MB installer will walk you through a short setup, which will ask multiple times for your consent at different stages to change default settings.
Also, Search engine and homepage settings can be changed at any time, but many users tend to stick with default settings, which explains why Google pays Apple billions of dollars every year to keep Google Search as the default search engine in iPhones.
What Microsoft Recommended Search Settings changes
Once installed and accepted, the app adds an extension called Microsoft Bing Homepage & Search to Chrome, other Chromium browsers (like Brave), and Firefox.
Chrome’s permissions prompt for that extension lists reading and changing data on all websites, displaying notifications, and changing the home page, search settings, and start page to bing.com.
As a defence, Chrome also prompts users with its own “Change back to Google Search?” dialog after the switch, which Microsoft desperately answers with a second box saying “Wait, don’t change it back!” warning that reverting removes access to Bing search and wallpapers.
Finishing setup also opens a Microsoft Rewards signup page, and the new tab page in the affected browser switches to Bing’s MSN-based homepage.
Microsoft has not said where the app will eventually be listed for people to find on their own, or to avoid it, as we are not suggesting anyone go looking for it. Either way, the company told Windows Latest that if there is additional information or background on the app to share, they will pass it along.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Google is the good guy here…
Ever since Bing reached the milestone of 1 billion users, Google has been misusing its popularity to do some similar stuff. I have switched to Edge and Bing full time now, but I occasionally have to visit Google.com, and when I do, I now get extremely annoying pop-ups asking to install Chrome.
I also noticed that these pop-ups and banners have increased in size over time and got progressively more annoying. If Google Chrome is not your default browser, and for some reason if you open Chrome, you will now be greeted with a large pop-up in the centre.
Remember that Chrome is easily the most popular browser out there, and the word Google is also a verb, so it’s not like they’re missing out on much, unlike Microsoft, whose Bing is constantly scoffed at.
Windows 11 is in need of some user satisfaction
The good news is that Windows 11 has spent much of 2026 walking back the kind of unrequested defaults that fuelled years of user frustration.
Microsoft’s Pavan Davuluri published a commitment to Windows quality in March, and the company has since removed Copilot buttons from Snipping Tool and Photos, decluttered Windows Search of years of MSN ads, and agreed to let OneDrive Photos be removed without breaking file sync after IT admins complained it was installed without permission on enterprise PCs. I’m just scratching the surface here!
A standalone app built to change search defaults across browsers, however optional, being developed in the middle of a major OS-wide cleanup effort, is the last thing that users want to know about, especially since the platform is now slowly getting worthy of some love from users.
Of course, Microsoft could also go back to their old playbook of making an OS launch into a cultural phenomenon, like how they did with the now 31-year old Windows 95, which came with music, cartoons, and games on the CD.
Anyway, getting direct confirmation from Redmond about the Microsoft Recommended Search Settings app being fully optional is reassuring, to say the least. But considering that the world is in dire need of efficiency, it would be better if the company spends their resources on fixing parts of the OS that desperately need it.
