Microsoft will let you uninstall the Microsoft Store from Windows, but only in Europe (and other updates to comply with the Digital Markets Act)

Microsoft has announced a handful of updates coming to Windows 10 and Windows 11 that will make it easier for users to change their default web browser, access third-party search results from the Windows Search tool, and uninstall the Microsoft store, among other things.

The only catch? These changes are only coming to Windows users in the European Economic Area, because they’re part of Microsoft’s efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Act. The company has no plans to offer these features to users in other regions.

Microsoft Store

The Microsoft Store is an app store that comes pre-installed on Windows 10 and Windows 11. It’s a place where users can find apps, games, movies, TV shows, and other free and paid content. It can also handle app updates.

Whether you use the Microsoft Store or not (there are plenty of other ways to download and install third-party apps on Windows PCs), it comes with the operating system and in most of the world there’s officially no way to uninstall it (although there are unofficial methods).

Later this year users in Europe will be able to remove it from their computers. Interestingly some of the architecture that powers the store will remain though – Microsoft notes that any apps distributed through the Microsoft Store will continue to receive automatic updates even if you uninstall the Microsoft Store.

Default Web Browser

Microsoft already lets users around the globe change their default web browser. But doing that only causes Windows to open a handful of file and link types with your new browser of choice, including http, https, .htm, and .html.

You can tell Windows to open other file types in a different browser, but you’ll have to go into the “defaults by file type” section of Windows setting and do that manually for each file type.

Soon European users who change their default browser will find that their new browser will also open ftp, read, .mht, .mhtml, .shtml, .svg. .xht. .xhtml, and .xml files. The newly selected default browser will also be pinned to the taskbar (unless you choose not to pin it), and there’s an option to set the third-party browser as the default app for opening .pdf files as well.

When you click web content (from a widget board or lock screen) the Windows Start Experiences app will open those links in your default browser.

You also won’t see any prompts to make Microsoft Edge your web browser “unless you open it directly.” And if European users uninstall the Edge web browser, “other Microsoft apps won’t prompt you to reinstall it.”

Windows Search

When it comes to Windows Search, Microsoft already allows third-party apps with web search features to have results show up in the Windows Search tool. But it’s updating the experience so that “if an app registers a web search provider, it is automatically enabled when the app is installed,” and it’s easier to view results from multiple search providers simultaneously or reorder the search providers in settings.

If you use the Microsoft Bing app for web searches, your results will soon open in your default browser (if you’re in Europe, of course).

via Hacker News