Microsoft Warns Stop Using Google Chrome—Windows Users Change Browser

Microsoft says stop using Chrome

Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto

Between 50 and 100 million Windows users have switched browsers in recent weeks, just as Microsoft reveals its new warning to stop using Google Chrome. The problem is that this switch has not gone as planned — for Microsoft at least.

ForbesIf You See This Warning, Your Facebook Is Being HackedBy Zak Doffman

Microsoft’s latest campaign against Chrome generated plenty of headlines (1,2,3), with most complaining the tactics crossed a line. Pre-release Windows software targets heavy Chrome users with a push to the Edge. Now it seems Windows users have voted with their feet — or rather their keyboards. Chrome has just hit new heights.

Until July, Chrome’s desktop market share had been flat for some time, hoovering at around 65%, per Statcounter’s representative data. Not any more. Google’s browser is now even more dominant, increasing its share to more than 70%. Edge, meanwhile, has lost around 10% of its own much smaller share, now down to under 12%.

“Browse securely now,” Microsoft warns Windows users installing Google Chrome, adding that “Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome with the added trust of Microsoft.” A rethink could now be required, as the campaign has not even maintained Edge’s existing market share. The question now is what happens when Gemini and Copilot are fully integrated to fend off new pureplay AI offerings.

This new data caps a good few days for Google on the Chrome front, with a U.S. federal antitrust ruling that enables the search giant to keep Chrome in-house. The browser is a money machine at the heart of Google’s search and ad empire, a shop window between its huge user base and the data- and ad-driven web it dominates.

ForbesGoogle Issues Critical Update For All 2.5 Billion Gmail UsersBy Zak Doffman

For Windows users, nothing has come close to unseating Chrome’s de facto default status in the Windows ecosystem or even denting its market share. And my sources at Google shrug off Microsoft’s attempts, given the stickiness of their product. Even so, for Chrome to add as many new users as implied by this data is a major surprise.