Microsoft protects the default browser setting in Windows

The February updates for Windows 10 and 11 include a new driver called User Choice Protection Driver, whose job is to protect your default browser setting, reports, and more. MS Poweruser.

Once the driver is loaded, the registry entries that determine which software http and https links are open cannot be changed manually or programmatically. The only program that can make changes is Windows Settings.

Christoph Colbisch, developer of the Set User FTA and Set Default Browser microutilities, notes the change in Posts on X After receiving a number of user reports that the programs have stopped working. To override the change, users must disable the driver by changing the registry and then run a scheduled task that automatically re-enables the driver if it is allowed to run.

MS Poweruser wrote that there are several theories as to why Microsoft implemented this change. One theory is that it is related to the European Union's DMA law, which imposes stronger demands to respect users' choice of default browser in Windows. The other reason is that it is about preventing browsers from setting themselves as the default. It can also be about protecting users from malware that for some reason tries to change the default browser.

It also indicates that it may be a matter of security by the fact that the driver also stops changing the default program to open PDF files in. PDF readers for Windows abound, and the vast majority of them do their best to make the user designate them as PDF files. Standard program.