Sneaky prompts: Microsoft warns billions of Google Chrome users to stop using it now

Google Chrome is the most popular web browser. Photo / Getty Images

Microsoft is warning those who use Windows computers to stop using the Google Chrome browser as soon as possible.

The company says users should be now switching to Edge instead.

Launched in 2015, Edge is Microsoft's own browser, which it hopes will challenge the dominant Google Chrome on Windows 10 and the recently released Windows 11.

And in the never-ending game of corporate one-upmanship, Microsoft has started sending alerts to users when they visit the Download Google Chrome website to install the browser.

One of them insists: "Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft."

The tech giants have also added in a bit of sassy humour into their pop-ups, with one saying: "That browser is so 2008! Do you know what's new? Microsoft Edge."

Another prompt says: "'I hate saving money,' said no one ever. Microsoft Edge is the best browser for online shopping."

I've had this pop-up a few times now, this seems like Microsoft trying hard to make people use Edge over Google Chrome. Idk about everyone else but I always use Chrome instead of Edge.#Google #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftTeams #Microsofthttps://t.co/5Rxqvf7sIr

— Oliver (@OOKTech) December 2, 2021

Unlike the old Internet Explorer browser, Edge adopts the Google-made Chromium platform. Microsoft said that makes it more streamlined and faster.

It appears people are reluctant to move across, with Edge not yet making a dent in Google Chrome's market.

Microsoft's new prompts come more than three years after the company first started testing ways to warn Windows 10 users not to install Chrome or Firefox. Those tests were never rolled out publicly, but these prompts are now starting to appear for Windows users.