• Default browser workarounds neutralized in Win11

    From RS Wood@21:1/5 to All on Sat Nov 13 15:25:39 2021
    From the «use Edge and like it» department:
    Feed: Slashdot
    Title: Microsoft To Block Windows 11 Browser Workarounds
    Author: BeauHD
    Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2021 17:40:00 -0500
    Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/11/12/211252/microsoft-to-block-windows-11-browser-workarounds?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

    The creator of EdgeDeflector said this week that the latest Insider build of Windows 11 now blocks all default browser workarounds. Thurrott reports: If this
    functionality makes its way to the finished product, it will mark a new, dark chapter for Microsoft, which told the media at the Windows 11 launch that it was
    aware that it had made changing app defaults pointlessly difficult, but that it had not done so maliciously and would fix it. This is the opposite of that claim. "Something changed between Windows 11 builds 22483 and 22494 (both Windows Insider Preview builds)," EdgeDeflector creator Daniel Aleksandersen writes in a new blog entry. "The build changelog ... omitted the headline news: you can no longer bypass Microsoft Edge using apps like EdgeDeflector." Basically, EdgeDeflector, as well as third-party browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Brave, intercept OS-level URL requests that force you to use Microsoft Edge even when you have gone through the incredibly ponderous steps to make a non-Edge browser the default in Windows 11. But in the latest Insider Preview build, Microsoft is changing how these URL requests work. And it's no longer possible to intercept URL requests that force users to use Edge instead of their
    default browser. (In the Insider builds. This functionality will come to mainstream users in the coming months unless we can change Microsoft's collective mind.) "You can't change the default protocol association through registry changes, OEM partner customizations, modifications to the Microsoft Edge package, interference with OpenWith.exe, or any other hackish workarounds,"
    Aleksandersen explains. "Microsoft ... just silently ignores the UserChoice registry keys for the protocol in the registry and opens Microsoft Edge instead." It's even worse than that, really, he continues. "Windows will insist you use Microsoft Edge to a fault even if you brutalize your Windows installation and purge all traces of Microsoft Edge. Windows will open an empty UWP window and show an error message instead of letting you use your preferred web browser."

    [image 2][2][image 4][4]

    Read more of this story[5] at Slashdot.

    Links:
    [1]: http://twitter.com/home?status=Microsoft+To+Block+Windows+11+Browser+Workarounds%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F3Dh12z6 (link)
    [2]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (image)
    [3]: http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F21%2F11%2F12%2F211252%2Fmicrosoft-to-block-windows-11-browser-workarounds%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook (link)
    [4]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (image)
    [5]: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/11/12/211252/microsoft-to-block-windows-11-browser-workarounds?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed (link)



    --
    Port 80 is overrated.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Sylvia Else@21:1/5 to RS Wood on Sun Nov 14 10:30:25 2021
    On 14-Nov-21 2:25 am, RS Wood wrote:
    From the «use Edge and like it» department:
    Feed: Slashdot
    Title: Microsoft To Block Windows 11 Browser Workarounds
    Author: BeauHD
    Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2021 17:40:00 -0500
    Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/11/12/211252/microsoft-to-block-windows-11-browser-workarounds?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

    The creator of EdgeDeflector said this week that the latest Insider build of Windows 11 now blocks all default browser workarounds. Thurrott reports: If this
    functionality makes its way to the finished product, it will mark a new, dark chapter for Microsoft, which told the media at the Windows 11 launch that it was
    aware that it had made changing app defaults pointlessly difficult, but that it
    had not done so maliciously and would fix it. This is the opposite of that claim. "Something changed between Windows 11 builds 22483 and 22494 (both Windows Insider Preview builds)," EdgeDeflector creator Daniel Aleksandersen writes in a new blog entry. "The build changelog ... omitted the headline news:
    you can no longer bypass Microsoft Edge using apps like EdgeDeflector." Basically, EdgeDeflector, as well as third-party browsers like Mozilla Firefox
    and Brave, intercept OS-level URL requests that force you to use Microsoft Edge
    even when you have gone through the incredibly ponderous steps to make a non-Edge browser the default in Windows 11. But in the latest Insider Preview build, Microsoft is changing how these URL requests work. And it's no longer possible to intercept URL requests that force users to use Edge instead of their
    default browser. (In the Insider builds. This functionality will come to mainstream users in the coming months unless we can change Microsoft's collective mind.) "You can't change the default protocol association through registry changes, OEM partner customizations, modifications to the Microsoft Edge package, interference with OpenWith.exe, or any other hackish workarounds,"
    Aleksandersen explains. "Microsoft ... just silently ignores the UserChoice registry keys for the protocol in the registry and opens Microsoft Edge instead." It's even worse than that, really, he continues. "Windows will insist
    you use Microsoft Edge to a fault even if you brutalize your Windows installation and purge all traces of Microsoft Edge. Windows will open an empty
    UWP window and show an error message instead of letting you use your preferred
    web browser."

    [image 2][2][image 4][4]

    Read more of this story[5] at Slashdot.

    Links:
    [1]: http://twitter.com/home?status=Microsoft+To+Block+Windows+11+Browser+Workarounds%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F3Dh12z6 (link)
    [2]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (image)
    [3]: http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F21%2F11%2F12%2F211252%2Fmicrosoft-to-block-windows-11-browser-workarounds%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook (link)
    [4]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (image)
    [5]: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/11/12/211252/microsoft-to-block-windows-11-browser-workarounds?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed (link)




    We now know how long it takes Microsoft to forget its history. It's
    about twenty years.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Meredith Montgomery@21:1/5 to Sylvia Else on Sat Nov 13 23:56:11 2021
    Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> writes:

    [...]

    We now know how long it takes Microsoft to forget its history. It's
    about twenty years.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.

    Well said. ``These should not be forgotten years.''

    Midnight Oil, Forgotten Years
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9eap_cKLP4

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Retrograde@21:1/5 to All on Mon Nov 15 02:44:23 2021
    Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> writes:
    We now know how long it takes Microsoft to forget its history. It's
    about twenty years.

    The difference, perhaps, is that these days Google is doing very similar
    things with Chrome. Using other browsers for most Google services
    simply doesn't work as well, or at all. If you spoof the browser
    string, the functionality comes back.

    Both oligopolists should be straightened out.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Alfter@21:1/5 to fungus@amongus.com.invalid on Mon Nov 15 19:00:55 2021
    In article <smshi7$39h$1@solani.org>,
    Retrograde <fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:
    Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> writes:
    We now know how long it takes Microsoft to forget its history. It's
    about twenty years.

    The difference, perhaps, is that these days Google is doing very similar >things with Chrome. Using other browsers for most Google services
    simply doesn't work as well, or at all. If you spoof the browser
    string, the functionality comes back.

    Easiest way to avoid that issue is to not use Google services to the
    greatest extent possible. About the only things I still use with any regularity are YouTube, Play Store, and Maps. I use YouTube through an Invidious instance running in a Docker container on my home server, the Play Store mostly through Aurora, and Maps only on the desktop at home and office (navigation being handled by Magic Earth). I've run my own mail server
    since long before Gmail even existed, I sync contacts and share files
    through Nextcloud (in another container on the home server), I spun up a
    TTRSS instance when Google Reader went bye-bye, I read this newsgroup and others with trn connected to Astraweb or Eternal September...I think that's about it for my de-googling efforts.

    Oh...forgot about Qwant (or DuckDuckGo if Qwant fails) instead of Google search. :)

    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Computer Nerd Kev@21:1/5 to Scott Alfter on Mon Nov 15 23:21:30 2021
    Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> wrote:
    In article <smshi7$39h$1@solani.org>,
    Retrograde <fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:
    Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> writes:
    We now know how long it takes Microsoft to forget its history. It's
    about twenty years.

    The difference, perhaps, is that these days Google is doing very similar >>things with Chrome. Using other browsers for most Google services
    simply doesn't work as well, or at all. If you spoof the browser
    string, the functionality comes back.

    Easiest way to avoid that issue is to not use Google services to the
    greatest extent possible. About the only things I still use with any regularity are YouTube, Play Store, and Maps. I use YouTube through an Invidious instance running in a Docker container on my home server, the Play Store mostly through Aurora, and Maps only on the desktop at home and office (navigation being handled by Magic Earth).

    Of those I only use YouTube, and do all that through youtube-dl now
    since their website made JS manditory. Maybe once a year I might
    really need to use Street View in Google Maps, but actually real
    estate websites often work as a substitute in Australia (for
    identifying houses I intend to drive to, without having to deal
    with insane house numbering schemes).

    But things that get me are links to downloads, photos, or
    documents that are hosted on Google services. A youtube-dl type
    program for those would be very handy (I looked fairly recently,
    but no joy). So far I've always managed to download them in Firefox
    without changing the User-Agent header, though sometimes it's been
    awkward so I'll keep that trick in mind.

    Oh...forgot about Qwant (or DuckDuckGo if Qwant fails) instead of Google search. :)

    That's a new one for me. lite.quant.com uses URL redirects for the
    results though, and I can't see any hint of how to disable them
    with a URL parameter like you can with lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/ .

    --
    __ __
    #_ < |\| |< _#

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Retrograde@21:1/5 to Scott Alfter on Thu Nov 18 00:53:40 2021
    On 2021-11-15, Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> wrote:
    Easiest way to avoid that issue is to not use Google services to the
    greatest extent possible. About the only things I still use with any regularity are YouTube, Play Store, and Maps. I use YouTube through
    an Invidious instance running in a Docker container on my home server,
    the Play Store mostly through Aurora, and Maps only on the desktop at
    home and office (navigation being handled by Magic Earth). I've run
    my own mail server since long before Gmail even existed, I sync
    contacts and share files through Nextcloud (in another container on
    the home server), I spun up a TTRSS instance when Google Reader went
    bye-bye, I read this newsgroup and others with trn connected to
    Astraweb or Eternal September...I think that's about it for my
    de-googling efforts.

    Oh...forgot about Qwant (or DuckDuckGo if Qwant fails) instead of Google search. :)

    Some good stuff here I wasn't aware of. Will have to check out
    Invidious and Aurora.

    I find youtube-dl doesn't work on as many systems before it was taken
    down and then reinstated. I assume they were forced to cripple it.

    By the way you can set up leafnode to proxy NNTP from Eternal September;
    gives you a nice local cache too. I love simple/powerful software.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Visiblink@21:1/5 to Retrograde on Thu Nov 18 06:01:01 2021
    On Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:53:40 -0000 (UTC)
    Retrograde <fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:


    Some good stuff here I wasn't aware of. Will have to check out
    Invidious and Aurora.

    I find youtube-dl doesn't work on as many systems before it was taken
    down and then reinstated. I assume they were forced to cripple it.

    By the way you can set up leafnode to proxy NNTP from Eternal
    September; gives you a nice local cache too. I love simple/powerful software.

    If you're interested in Invidious you *might* also be interested in
    NewPipe on Android and FreeTube on Windows and Linux.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Matthew Ernisse@21:1/5 to Retrograde on Thu Nov 18 19:17:08 2021
    On Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:53:40 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde wrote:
    I find youtube-dl doesn't work on as many systems before it was taken
    down and then reinstated. I assume they were forced to cripple it.

    AFAICT it hasn't been updated in 4 months. I switched to a fork
    called yt-dlp[1] and that seems to work fine. It continues to be updated
    and is available in PyPi.


    1: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

    --
    "The avalanche has started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
    --Kosh

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Retrograde@21:1/5 to All on Thu Nov 18 20:06:55 2021
    Much obliged for the improved link!

    Screw these media oligopolies. Bring back fair usage.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Johannes =?ISO-8859-15?Q?B=FClow?=@21:1/5 to Matthew Ernisse on Wed Dec 15 12:38:03 2021
    Matthew Ernisse <matt@going-flying.com> wrote:
    On Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:53:40 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde wrote:
    I find youtube-dl doesn't work on as many systems before it was taken
    down and then reinstated. I assume they were forced to cripple it.

    AFAICT it hasn't been updated in 4 months. I switched to a fork
    called yt-dlp[1] and that seems to work fine. It continues to be updated
    and is available in PyPi.

    I usually find the version shipped by distro maintainers works decently
    well, at least in my experience

    ---
    Johannes

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)