Microsoft is forcing Windows 10 S users to rely on Edge and Bing by default

Microsoft unveiled its brand new Chrome OS challenger, Windows 10 S, at a special event in New York yesterday, but it turns out the company has a nasty surprise in store for early adopters.

While the newly-introduced lightweight OS will support apps from the Windows Store without any limits, Microsoft has clarified users will have to rely on Edge as their default browser. In addition to this, you will also have to use Bing as your default search engine in both Edge and Internet Explorer.

The inconvenient stipulations appear in a FAQ for Windows 10 S – as spotted by The Verge – where Microsoft confirms that although “[y]ou are able to download another browser that might be available from the Windows Store,” Edge will “remain the default” when opening pages.

This means anytime you launch an .htm file or click URLs in third-party apps, you will be redirected to Edge – without any options to change this.

Similarly, when surfing the web from Edge or Internet Explorer, you will be forced to use Bing as your default search engine.

While you can still resort to alternatives like Chrome and Opera – where you will be allowed to select your own default search engine – the downside is that you will only get limited functionality as long as Microsoft continues to push Edge as the default browser.

So unless you’re willing to put up with this nuisance, it might be wise to take advantage of Microsoft’s offer to switch to Windows 10 Pro for free while it still lasts – even though the software giant is being ambiguous as to who is eligible to claim the Pro version free of charge.