TL;DR: Microsoft has found a sneaky new way to make Bing the default search engine on Edge: through the PC Manager utility app. While the Redmond giant has never been shy about promoting its products and services within Windows, nudging people to switch from Google to Bing under the guise of a system optimization tip is an ‘innovative’ way of marketing, to put it mildly.

The PC Manager app has been kicking around the Microsoft Store since late 2022, but it’s an optional download and not something that comes pre-installed with Windows 11. As such, it hasn’t exactly been a mainstream hit – the app only has around 200 reviews as of writing. But those who do have it installed are now being served a conspicuous tip advocating switching over to Bing search on Microsoft Edge.

Having Google as your default search engine isn’t something that needs fixing, of course. But the app makes it seem that way, prompting that the “default settings have been changed” and pushing the user to restore them, like it’s a bad thing.

To be fair to Microsoft, they aren’t being truly deceptive here. The PC Manager app is upfront that it will reset your browser defaults to Bing if you accept the “repair.” But framing the Google-to-Bing switch as some kind of system optimization is rich.

It’s yet another interesting move from the Redmond tech giant, which has a long history of promoting its products and services through its own operating system. Last August, the company drew criticism for a pop-up that appeared above the taskbar on some machines, nudging Chrome users to switch default search to Bing. The rogue executable even caused some people to run anti-virus scans amid fears of a cyber attack.

Sadly, Microsoft’s efforts don’t seem to be paying off much. Despite integrating an AI chatbot and ramping up the aggression on promoting Bing, usage numbers have been underwhelming. As of April 2024, Bing holds just 3.64% search engine market share globally according to StatCounter. That’s up from 2.76% a year prior, but it barely registers next to Google’s overwhelming 90.91% dominance.

Additionally, the days of Bing’s AI integration being a differentiation are numbered too since Google is rolling out its own conversational AI search features. Maybe Microsoft would have better luck if they tried promoting Bing as the anti-tracking, pro-privacy search alternative? Anything but whatever this was.