Microsoft Edge wants your Chrome data and is sneakily trying to get it

Google Chrome remains the biggest and baddest browser around, and Microsoft has been struggling to claw out more market share in the browser space with its Chromium-based Edge.

That’s why the company has attempted several underhanded tactics over the years, like forcing links to open in Edge and ignoring user settings for default browsers. And earlier this year, Edge was caught “stealing” tabs from Chrome, purportedly due to a data import bug.

Well, it seems Microsoft is up to no good again, this time with an Edge update that causes the browser to automatically start up with the PC and prompt the user to import data from other browsers.

As reported by The Verge, this pop-up has a checked-by-default option to “bring over your data from other browsers regularly,” which includes open tabs, browsing history, bookmarks, and more. If you see the pop-up and click to confirm, Edge will continuously import data from Chrome.

Given the design of the pop-up and the pre-checked nature of the option, you wouldn’t be wrong to think of this as an attempt by Microsoft to trick you into switching over to Edge. After all, if all of your data is already moved over, the hassle of migrating is significantly lessened.

Microsoft officially confirmed the existence of this new pop-up with The Verge, and Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston explained: “This is a notification giving people the choice to import data from other browsers. There is an option to turn it off.”

If you’ve already seen this Edge pop-up and accidentally went too fast and ended up enabling this option, here’s how to turn it off:

Open Edge and navigate to Settings.
In the left panel, make sure you’re in Profiles.
In the right panel, scroll down to Profile settings and click on Import browser data.
Under “Import data from Google Chrome,” click on Import browsing data at each browser launch.
You’ll see a setting called “Import browser data from Google Chrome on each launch.” Set the toggle button to Off.
Close Edge and go on your merry way.

Underhanded tactics like this are one of the many reasons why user trust in Microsoft continues to erode. Even though Edge is better than Chrome in some ways, it’s hard to bring oneself to make the switch when Microsoft tries to trick you into doing it. Only time will tell if Microsoft learns their lesson, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.