Google has removed the ability to remove default search engines from the Chromium codebase. In the configurator, in the "Manage search engines" section (chrome://settings/searchEngines), it is no longer possible to remove items from the list of default search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo). The change took effect with the release of Chromium 97 and also affected all browsers based on it, including new releases of Microsoft Edge, Opera and Brave (Vivaldi remains on the Chromium 96 engine for now).
In addition to hiding the delete button in the browser, the ability to edit search engine parameters is also limited, which now allows you to change only the name and keywords, but blocks changing the URL with query parameters. At the same time, the function of deleting and editing additional search engines added by the user is preserved.
As a reason for the prohibition on deleting and changing the default search engine settings, it is noted that it is difficult to restore settings after an imprudent deletion - the default search engine can be deleted in one click, after which the work of contextual tips, a new tab page and other features related to accessing search engines is disrupted. systems. At the same time, to restore deleted records, it is not enough to use the button to add a custom search engine, but a time-consuming operation for an ordinary user to transfer the initial settings from the installation archive, which requires editing profile files, is required.
The developers considered adding a warning about the possible consequences of the deletion, or could implement a dialog to add a default search engine to make it easier to restore settings, but in the end it was decided to simply disable the delete entries button. The default search engine removal feature could be useful for completely disabling access to external sites when typing in the address bar, or for blocking changes made to search engine settings by malicious add-ons, for example, trying to redirect key queries in the address bar to their own site.
Source: opennet.ru