Now you can uninstall Microsoft Edge and Bing with ease

Good news for people who want to remove Edge or Bing from their computers. All tech companies, including Microsoft, have to change their operating systems so that the devices comply with the Digital Markets Act, the new European legislation. The act has been applied since March 2024.

Microsoft already allows its users to install apps from platforms other than the official store and doesn’t have restrictions like macOS, so it is less impacted by the new act.

Still, the Redmond tech giant had to make a few changes. Microsoft says:

The Edge browser and Bing web search functionality have been redesigned so that users can uninstall these applications from Windows using the standard Windows mechanisms available for uninstallation if they choose to do so

After the changes, you can now uninstall Edge browser and Bing web search. To do that, on Windows 11, go to Settings>Apps>Installed Apps. Locate Edge, click the three-dots icon, and choose Uninstall.

Until now, the Uninstall option was grayed out, but with the changes, you can remove the browser without hassle. You can use the same process to uninstall Bing as well,

Earlier, you could remove the Microsoft Edge browser from your computer, but you need to follow 10 steps with a Registry entry modification.

Another change was the freedom to choose your search engine. Soon, you will be able to remove Bing search and select the search engine to add it to the Windows taskbar.

With this, DMA also forces a disconnection between Microsoft services. The Redmond tech giant stated:

Prior to DMA, Windows automatically connected users to other data-combining Microsoft products and services, including Edge, Bing, and the Microsoft “Start” service (e.g. News, Weather, etc.) when users were signed in to the first time to Windows. Windows will no longer automatically connect users to these services.

What are your thoughts on the DMA act, and how useful do you think it would be? Share your opinions with our readers in the comments section below.