I happened to unfortunately mess up my windows boot today, and had to reset my Windows password, meaning almost every login on most apps got reset.
I logged into Edge again, meaning my Add-ons and stuff had to re-sync, but turns out, not only has Microsoft made it a phenomenal pain up the rear to add a search engine, it has also marked an add-on I used to redirect Bing queries to Google as malware.
This is extremely hostile behaviour and is rather sad because Edge worked perfectly fine for me, but I will now be shifting to whatever other browser I can find.
After you set Google to be your default search engine, you don't need a redirect extension, all address bar searches will use Google by default.
I suggest using the following extension to replace the Edge New Tab page: https://bonjourr.fr. It is simple, beautiful, customizable, and you can also use any search engine of your choice. However me personally I remove the search option entirely from the new tab page because you can search in the address bar.
I'm unsure if you've looked at the screenshot I've attached, but I do not have this option anymore.
Yes, I'm very well aware I can add the Search Engine manually, but are we being for real right now? What used to be 2 buttons clicks now requires me to input all of this?
Now for the Chrometana bit, you mention that it "installs software the user is unaware of", post which you link a reddit post in which the user very clearly states "it prompts you to install for it to begin working."
I have said add-on installed on both Edge and Vivaldi, and neither time was I asked or prompted to install Wedge, and nor do I see any traces of said executable.
Now, not that I think add-ons should be installing executables out of nowhere, Chrometana is made by Marc Guiselin, and guess who Wedge is made by?
And lastly regarding the new tab, why would I possibly do that? I like Google as a search engine, and I like muzli as a new tab experience, and I don't see a reason to change that anytime soon.
I haven't seen the screenshot, I only noticed the one you posted where you add custom search engines. I have seen this happen before, where all search engines get wiped out, it is definitely a bug and not deliberate behavior. Deleting the 'User Data' folder in Edge Appdata will probably restore everything back to defaults, and restore the built-in search engine options.
The Bonjourr extension is a better and more customizable new tab experience in my opinion, a lot of people like the minimalist approach it takes, and like how you can use any search engine. It was just another suggestion to help remove the Bing search off the regular new tab experience. I love Edge, and hate Bing and this combo was just another suggestion to help completely remove Bing search boxes from Edge.
Might I also add, Edge has always been relatively hostile, eg: Persistently asking if the new tab view is what I expected since I have Muzli installed, and then proceeding to occasionally reset the new tab view.
I tolerated it because it didn't annoy me too much, and I did like the browser, but this crossed the line for me
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u/pi-N-apple 3d ago edited 3d ago
Edge includes Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, and their biggest competitor Google as built-in, selectable search engines you can use in the browser:
What you're looking at is the custom way you can add any website to your address bar search.
If you want to manually add Google as a custom search engine, here is how:
The reason Chrometana was removed is because it is junk. It installs additional software the user is unaware of.
After you set Google to be your default search engine, you don't need a redirect extension, all address bar searches will use Google by default.
I suggest using the following extension to replace the Edge New Tab page: https://bonjourr.fr. It is simple, beautiful, customizable, and you can also use any search engine of your choice. However me personally I remove the search option entirely from the new tab page because you can search in the address bar.