Windows 10: Anniversary Update - default browser opens on login

We recently updated two machines to the Anniversary Update (via the Media Creation Tool method).

Since the update, when you log in, the default browser is automatically opened at MSN.com. Neither browser has msn.com as their default page, and if you launch the browser from the menu / taskbar icon it opens in the correct default page. .

There is nothing in Task Manager >> Startup, or shell:startup, to trigger this browser opening. This behaviour was definitely introduced by the AU; and whilst it's only a minor irritation, it would be nice to make it stop, so any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

:)

 

make cortana use google search instead of bing

Here is a method that works fine if you have Anniversary Update installed. Make Cortana Use Default Browser and Google Search
to Open Web Search Results

 

make cortana use google search instead of bing

Here is a method that works fine if you have Anniversary Update installed. Make Cortana Use Default Browser and Google Search
to Open Web Search Results

 

Hi, not seen any other such report, so doubt it's an anniversary 'feature' if you see what I mean.

Suggest:
a. Try a clean boot and see if a browser is still launched
b. Get Autoruns (free) and inspect/search for start up entries. (Very comprehensive).
c. Create a new user for test purposes and see if the same thing happens (it probably won't).
d. Otherwise an outside possibility is somehow it's launched by an unexpected scheduled task triggered on logon.

 

Thanks!

From your excellent list of suggestions

a) - yes, still happens
b) - cannot see anything out of the ordinary, nor any reason in there why the browser would open
c) - yes, still happens - created a local user and the browser opened on login. It was Edge this time rather than Chrome.
d) - Nothing in scheduled tasks that wasn't there before (two Google update tasks, Adobe Acrobat updater (disabled), and a user feed sync task running system32\msfeedsync.exe.

So, sadly, still none the wiser ...

 

Does it happen in safe mode? It might be interesting to compare with and without networking.

 

The plot thickens - I did my home machine by the same route and don't get this issue.

We're currently looking at whether there's something going on around detecting the wireless network (despite the machines being desktops, our standard build enables wi-fi!); will update the thread if I discover anything.

Thnak you dalchina for your efforts so far

 

Fixed it - for anyone else who hits the same issue, it was the changes installing the AU had made to the settings in
Settings >> Privacy >> Background apps

Edge was set as running in the background; turn that off, and the phantom popup is no longer seen. There's all sorts of nonsense turned on in their so it's well worth going through that and switching lots of unnecessary clutter off, even if you're not getting the exact issue we hit.

[Edit: after a couple of days it started happening again, so it wasn't this after all.]

 

Edge is on as a background app, but I've never seen Edge appear unexpectedly. Glad it worked for you.

 

Found it! There's a registry key for 'active probing', which is being blocked by our network.

The answer is is a post on the Stack Exchange SuperUser site, so rather than steal their glory here's a link to the post:
networking - Why does Windows 8 open Bing.com by itself? - Super User

 

Also have two machines that automatically opened browser on MSN (en-au) homepage. Very rare for us to need to visit an MSN site at any time, so not a page we may have left opened during last session. Also different browsers used on each machine, Edge on one and Firefox on the other. Tonight after startup Edge automatically opened on the website hotelscombined.com.au a website I have never heard of or been to.