[nvrspyx]

I've changed things in Group Policy (e.g., disable Bing/web search in Windows search) because there's no user-facing setting to disable some things and mine says the same. If you've done similar or used any debloat/privacy tools/scripts, that's probably the cause.

Additionally, go to Accounts in Settings and double-check that you're not logged into any "work or school" accounts.

The one thing I can't stand is that if you log into a non-personal Microsoft account in an app, there's a dialog that is very confusing[1]. It asks if you want to use that account everywhere on your device, but there's a box checked by default to let the organization manage your device, a button that says "Yes", and what looks like a hyperlink that says "This app only". I always uncheck the box before clicking "This app only", but I wonder if keeping that box checked would still enable organizational device administration. It screams "dark pattern" to me.

1: https://i.stack.imgur.com/gmp00.png

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Just to add a tip for others: If you want to use Edge for the Windows optimizations and PlayReady support for streaming services, but don't want to deal with all the annoyances, you can disable many of them via Group Policy[2]. For example, you can disable the "Search Bing in sidebar" option that shows up in context menus[3] that I always seem to accidentally click when I'm trying to search for something I highlighted. I also use Group Policy to set the default search and homescreen settings because then it won't annoy you with the recommendation to set it to Microsoft defaults every time it updates.

Firefox is my main browser, but I use Edge for streaming Netflix and the like because I don't get 4K playback via Widevine. It annoys me because Edge would actually be a great browser if the Bing folks weren't constantly trying to shove things down my throat and filling it with dark patterns.

2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-...

3: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-...

[userbinator]

A single button that says "Yes" with no question mark anywhere in the dialog is definitely a dark pattern.

[nvrspyx]

I didn't even notice that the dialog title, "Use this account everywhere on this device", isn't really presented as a question. Thanks for pointing that out.

Windows is full of dark patterns, so I don't really know why I had even a modicum of doubt.