Microsoft Windows starts telling users off if they try to download Google’s Chrome browser

The move would see the UK diverge from some parts of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

Microsoft has started telling off Windows users if they try and download the rival Chrome browser.

If users navigate to the page to download Chrome on their Windows computer, they will see an array of pop-ups that gently chide them for trying to download Google’s alternative.

Instead, they are encouraged to use Microsoft’s built-in Edge browser.

The notifications appear differently from normal Edge notifications, and as such seem to have been coded into Windows itself. They are showing on both Windows 10 and 11.

Some of the prompts are more dry, simply claiming that Edge is a better browser and users should download it. “Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft,” one reads.

Others aim for a more jocular approach, however, even going as far as to make jokes about Google’s browser.

“‘I hate saving money,’ said no one ever. Microsoft Edge is the best browser for online shopping,” one reads.

“That browser is so 2008! Do you know what’s new? Microsoft Edge,” says another.

Google shows similar messages when users are on Edge and navigate to its own services, such as Gmail. But those appear as normal website alerts, rather than coming from the service itself.