Microsoft Isn’t Giving Up on Trying to Get You Back to Bing in Edge

Microsoft is again promoting Bing to Edge users who choose another default search engine. This time, the company appears to be testing a new Bing banner in Edge Canary that asks users to make Bing their default search engine and can show up while they browse, including when they switch between tabs.

The banner says “Use recommended browser settings” and “Set Microsoft Bing as your default search engine.” It appears at the top of the browser with Set as default and Dismiss buttons.

The Bing recommendation itself is not new. Microsoft has used similar “recommended browser settings” dialogs in Edge for years, including larger prompts that asked users to change several browser defaults at once.

Older versions also framed the recommendation around Edge’s phishing and malware protections. What makes this Canary test different is when and where Edge shows the recommendation.

In our testing, it appeared when we switched between tabs and also showed up on the New Tab page, rather than being limited to setup or a larger modal dialog.

That makes it harder to miss than a settings reminder tucked away elsewhere in the browser. You can click Dismiss, although we have not yet been able to determine whether Edge will display the banner again later.

It is even more noticeable when Google is already selected as the default. In our case, the banner appeared above Google.com, with Google’s AI Mode shortcut and other search controls below the search box. Edge was effectively promoting Bing through its own interface while we were using Google Search.

Microsoft has pushed Bing in Edge for years, so that part is familiar. What is new is this Canary experiment: a simplified Bing banner that can interrupt routine browsing even after a user has selected another default search engine.