Microsoft Blocking Some Third-Party Windows Browsers as Part of Family Settings

[Exterminator]

Microsoft Blocking Some Third-Party Windows Browsers as Part of Family Settings

A change that Microsoft has recently made to its family filters on Windows devices might be blocking some third-party browsers, according to one report, with the software giant recommending users to turn to Edge, the new default in Windows, or Internet Explorer.

While it’s not yet clear when this change took place, The Register reports that Microsoft is blocking some third-party browsers by default because of the lack of web filtering, and the company claims that it all happens because it’s aiming to offer kids better protection.

What’s more surprising is that Microsoft doesn’t mention the name of the browsers that are being blocked, but it says that the new policy is blocking most of them because they do not feature web filtering that could help parents set new restrictions for their kids.

“Most commonly used browsers don't have web filtering. To keep your children safer, we'll automatically block these browsers on their devices. You can always choose to allow your child to use other browsers,” Microsoft explains in the “Safer web browsing” section of its updated policy.

You can still whitelist banned browsers
And obviously, Microsoft says that the best option for parents who want to control their kids’ online activity is to turn to Internet Explorer and Edge, both of which are available as part of Windows. Edge is the new default browser in Windows 10 and replaces Internet Explorer, but the traditional browser also continues to be available just in case something goes wrong.

But although the family settings automatically ban some third-party browsers, this doesn’t mean that they’re impossible to use. The filters allow parents to whitelist them should they want to, so even if Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox might be banned after setting family filters, there’s still a way to get them working on Windows devices.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft to ask for clarification in this case and find out which browsers are getting banned, so we will update the article with more information when we get an answer.

 

[jamescv7]

Analyze the context, it seems the family settings goes only to the SmartScreen filter based. However the concept design rely in security measures only so you need a program like K9 Web protection or such DNS that manage to filter the contents.

MS is something on a desperate move.