Replace Microsoft Edge and Bing in favor of Google and Chrome in the search engine built into Windows 10.
Windows 10 natively integrates a search engine allowing you to find a file on your hard drive, but also to launch an online query in a web browser. Microsoft offering these two solutions, Windows 10 is configured to use Edge, the home web browser, and Bing, the search engine of the Redmond firm by default. If this choice is logical for Microsoft, it is however unwise for users of the OS who use other solutions.
It is however possible, with the help of some utilities, to modify the settings to take advantage of Google, DuckDuckGo or Yahoo, using your favorite web browser. Here’s how to do it.
1. Choose your default browser
In Windows, go to System Settings, then go to the section dedicated to Applications.
In the left column, click Default applications, then scroll down to the settings for the Web browser. Click on the default choice (Edge) and choose Google Chrome.
If Windows tries to force your hand to continue using Edge, click Change anyway. Then close Windows settings.
2. Download and install EdgeDeflector
First, download and install EdgeDeflector on your computer. This small utility operates silently and is responsible for intercepting the URLs configured by Microsoft to be opened in Edge, to redirect them to the web browser configured by default on the system. Double-click on the downloaded executable file to start the software installation.
Download EdgeDeflector for Windows 10 (Free)
3. Configure EdgeDeflector
As soon as the EdgeDeflector installation is complete, a dialog box appears. Select EdgeDeflector and check Always use this app.
4. Download and configure Chrometana Pro
Now that the web requests launched from the Windows search engine open in Google Chrome, it remains to change the search engine used by default to display the results.
Open a Google Chrome window to download Chrometana Pro. This extension automatically redirects all requests made in Bing to the search engine of your choice.
Download Chrometana Pro for Google Chrome (Free)
Once the extension is installed, click on its icon to display the settings. By default, the selected redirect search engine is Google, but it is quite possible to select another from the list or add a new one.
5. Launch a query in the Windows 10 search engine
Click the Windows 10 search button, enter your query, and click Show web results. Your search should open in Google Chrome, and the request originally launched in Bing should automatically be redirected to Google.