Unbelievable: Microsoft Browser detects which websites you visit

Users took a closer look and discovered that the Edge browser built into Windows redirects the addresses of almost all accessed websites to Microsoft’s Bing search engine. If you don’t want to switch browsers, you can turn it off.

The sites you visit do not belong to anyone. But this is currently different with Microsoft Edge. Users find outthat the addresses of almost all visited websites are redirected to the Bing interface (bingapis.com/api/v7/followweb/isfollowable) from the built-in Windows browser.

Data transfer is not documented anywhere, and this behavior is not understood in earlier versions of Edge. A new previously activated function seems responsible. Microsoft said it is currently looking into the matter.

In the meantime, users can of course switch browsers and switch to Chrome, Firefox, or other alternatives. But there is also the ability to disconnect data transfer in Edge.

URLs are sent in clear text

Bing provides a feature to follow YouTube and other sites and content providers.

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be affected the problem It seems all Windows 10 and 11 users are involved Edge from version 112.0.1722.34. Starting with this version, a new functionality is pre-activated, which has been around for some time but was previously limited to sites like YouTube or Pinterest.

It’s about being notified of new content on social media when you follow users there. For example, if you call up a YouTube video, its address is passed to bingapis.com in plain text.

However, there seems to be a bug that crept into the function. In fact, Edge gets one at first Page list, where the function makes sense, such as YouTube or Instagram. However, the feature is not currently only applied to these pages.

In fact, after visiting a site from the list for the first time, Edge seems to try it on all websites. So if you watch a YouTube video, Edge will pass all visited URLs to Bing from that point on. Everything you click in the browser is redirected to Microsoft’s search engine in plain text.

Turn off the function

Turn off the Creator function to stop data transfer.

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If you want to continue using Edge, you can prevent web addresses from being transferred:

1. Invoke Edge’s data protection settings, this works via the menu or faster via edge://settings/privacy in the URL line.
2. Scroll down a bit to the Services section.
3. Many are on by default, but URLs leak the “Get notified when creators you follow post new content” option. Disable the setting.
4. Also turn off “Show suggestions for the following creators in Microsoft Edge”.
5. After restarting the browser, Edge no longer sends web addresses to Bing.

By the way, Windows has been criticized for years for collecting too much user data. If you want to do something about it, you can use helpers like O&O ShutUp10++.