Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is the default web browser and PDF reader in Windows 11, and the modern and capable successor to the Internet Explorer browser of yesteryear. It's built on the same Chromium web platform that Google uses for Chrome, but it integrates more deeply with Windows and Microsoft online services--most notably Copilot--than other browsers.

Addressing the elephant in the room
Unfortunately, Microsoft also uses Edge as a vector for some of the worst behaviors in Windows 11, significantly undermining its value. For this reason, it's important to configure Microsoft Edge correctly, whether you expect to use it regularly or not.
The pros and cons of Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is the most important in-box app included with Windows 11 because web browsers are, by far, the most often-used apps on our PCs. But they're also the gateway to two massive and lucrative markets--subscription services and online advertising--that are strategic to Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft enshittified Edge, as it did with Windows 11, so that it ignores customer needs and choices and forces Microsoft's bad behaviors on us all.

Some of those behaviors include:

Microsoft Edge tracks you online. Microsoft Edge tracks your online activities so Microsoft can harvest your personal data, target you with advertising, and sell that information to other data brokers and online advertisers that will expand this abuse.
Microsoft Edge ignores your default browser choice. If you configure another web browser as the default, Microsoft Edge will still appear when you perform certain actions in Windows 11, ignoring your choice. These instances include clicking a widget or news feed article in Widgets, clicking a web link in Search highlights, clicking a web link in the Get Help in-box app, using Copilot in Windows 11, and more.
Microsoft Edge ignores your browser customizations. If you customize certain Microsoft Edge features, it will harass you to change them back to defaults that benefit Microsoft. This happens when you change the default search engine away from Bing, disable certain features in the default New Tab page (which displays content from Microsoft Start and other Microsoft online services), change the New Tab page to a third-party option, and more. In some cases, Edge will even change the configuration back to the Microsoft default without informing you.
Microsoft Edge harasses you to enable optional features that will expose you to even more Microsoft tracking and advertising. Even if you make no configuration changes to Microsoft Edge, the browser will still harass you. It will occasionally prompt you to make configuration changes that it claims are for your benefit but are designed only to ensure that you are exposed to more online tracking, data harvesting, and Microsoft advertising. These suggestions use language like "Make Microsoft Edge better for you and others" to misrepresent the true intent of the configuration changes it...