How to Change Default Apps and Settings in Windows 10

What Does “Set As Default” Mean?

In the case you’ve never thought about default programs before, the concept is pretty straightforward. Windows keeps a list of apps that it always uses to open certain types of media or links. These are called default programs.

For example, when you double-click an MP4 file, Windows opens it in your default video player. Out of the box, this is the Movies & TV app, but you can change it to a different player with more features.

When you want to use a non-default app to open a file, you need to right-click it and choose Open with to select another.

How to Change Default Programs in Windows 10

Windows won’t automatically set new apps as the default when you install them. To change your default programs in Windows 10, follow these steps to access the default apps settings page:

1. Go to Settings > Apps.
2. Click Default apps in the pane on the left. You’ll see your default apps for common uses here, like Email, Music player, Web browser, and more.
3. Click an app to see others installed on your system that can take its place, then select the one you’d like to set as default.

If the app you want to use isn’t already installed, this panel will offer to let you search the Microsoft Store for one. Chances are you’ll want a traditional desktop app, not a Store app, as the default, though. Install the new app, then head back to this menu to set it as the default.

To change other defaults, scroll to the bottom of the default app settings page and you’ll see three more menus:

• Choose default apps by file type: This lets you choose what apps should open a particular file type, such as PDF, MP3, and others. It’s a useful way to fix file type associations.
• Choose default apps by protocol: Here, you can select what app should open when you click URIs containing protocols like mailto or FTP. Most users shouldn’t need to change these settings often.
• Set defaults by the app: In this menu, you can choose any app and manage the file types that it can open.

How to Change AutoPlay Defaults in Windows 10

Does your PC automatically open a File Explorer window when you plug in a USB drive, or auto-play inserted DVDs? This is called AutoPlay, which makes it easier to launch removable media.

If you don’t like the current behavior, you can change it. Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings > Devices.
2. Click AutoPlay in the pane on the left.
3. You’ll see fields for Removable drive, Memory card, and other devices you’ve connected recently (such as your phone).
4. For each one, click the dropdown box and choose a default action, like importing photos with Dropbox, playing videos with your video player, or asking you every time.
5. To completely disable AutoPlay, turn off the Use AutoPlay for all media and devices slider.

How to Replace Bing With Google on the Taskbar

The search function on the Taskbar can search the web in addition to your computer. However, Microsoft has locked this to always use Bing inside Edge.

If you’d rather search in your default browser, here’s how to replace Edge:

1. Install a free app called EdgeDeflector and launch it. The app hasn’t been updated since late 2017, but still works fine as of this writing.
2. You’ll see a prompt asking what app you want to use. Choose EdgeDeflector, check Always use this app, and hit OK.
3. If you dismiss this dialog or it doesn’t appear, you’ll need to configure EdgeDeflector manually. To do this, go to Settings > Apps > Default apps and click Choose default apps by a protocol at the bottom. Find the Microsoft-Edge protocol and change it to EdgeDeflector.

Now, the app will run in the background and change Taskbar web searches from Edge to your default browser. However, these searches will still appear inside Bing. If you’d prefer to use Google or another search engine, do the following:

1. If you use Chrome, install the Chrometana Pro extension. Firefox users should install Foxtana Pro, a port from the same developer.
2. Upon installing, you’ll see instructions for setting your default browser and installing EdgeDeflector, which we’ve already taken care of.
3. Click the Chrometana Pro icon at the top-right of your browser and choose Options. Here you can choose whether to redirect all Bing searches or just Cortana ones. You can also change from Google to DuckDuckGo or another search engine.

How to Change Keyboard Settings in Windows 10

You can find options to change the keyboard layout, language, and other related options at Settings > Time & Language on both the Region and Language tabs. Make sure your country or region is set correctly on the Region page to show the proper options, including Windows display language on Language.

At the bottom of the Language page, you’ll see the languages currently on your system. Click Add a preferred language to add a new one. However, what’s more, useful for most people is clicking the current language followed by Options. Here, you can click Add a keyboard to add another language or layout.