Unlike Cortana, Microsoft Edge is not widely used. To encourage its use, the company has configured its assistant to use Edge as the default browser. If you want to use your favorite browser instead, in this article we'll show you how to make Cortana search Google Chrome or Firefox quickly and easily .

How to make Cortana search Google Chrome or Firefox

You must first make one of these browsers your default internet search program ; To do so, follow these simple steps, but if you've done it before, you can skip this part:

  1. Enter the menu "Parameters" of Windows ; You can do this from the "Start Menu" by clicking on the nut icon or by typing "Settings" in the search bar and selecting the first result.
  2. Enter the default applications section; Depending on the version of your OS, click on "System" then on "Default applications" or "Applications" then "Default applications".
  3. Scroll down the interface until you find an option that says "Web browser"; most likely, when you locate it, it says "Microsoft Edge" as your default browser.
  4. Click the option "Choose an application" then select the browser you want to use as the default program for web searches.

With this configuration, each time you open a link from a Windows application, the browser that will be used is the one you have chosen. Now, Cortana will continue to search Edge.

To resolve this issue, you will need to download a third-party app called EdgeDeflector which will force Cortana to respect your search preferences. After downloading and installing the program, do the following:

  1. Open Cortana and search using the keyboard; you can type whatever you think of, but make sure you click on a result that says "View Web Results" .
  2. Click the box above to open a new window asking which app you want to use to search. Select the "EdgeDeflector" application then check the "Always use this application" box; finally click on "Accept".

After that, all the searches you do from Cortana will open in the browser you have set as the default program , including voice searches.

However, it is important that you know that this change you made might be lost with a major Windows update. If this happens, follow the steps above again.

How to search Cortana with Google instead of Bing

Now, in some cases, the search engine of your default browser is replaced by Bing , so Cortana uses your favorite browser but with the Microsoft search engine. If this happens to you, you can make Cortana adapt to your preferences and use Google as your search engine.

In Google Chrome

Using the Google browser, you can change the default search engine from traditional way. If the problem persists, you will need to find and install an extension in Chrome called Chrometane .

When it is installed, you just need to configure it by clicking on it and selecting the "Configuration" option. Once there, you can choose from several search engines, including Google. Then select it and restart the browser, after which you can use Cortana normally.

In Mozilla Firefox

If you are using Firefox, click on the three dots located in the upper right corner of the interface and click on "Options". Next, scroll down to the "Search" section, select the "Default search engine" box and finally click on the "Google" option.

Whatever app you are using, after configuring these settings, you can ask Cortana to search using your favorite browser and your favorite search engine.

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