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Prior to version 77, Google Chrome includes an "Always open these types of links in the associated app" checkbox in the dialog initially presented to the user after clinking the link the first time. But with versions 77 and beyond, there is no longer a checkbox.

I noticed this only after resetting Chrome to its defaults, long after having moved up to version 77. For the interim, the previous remembered user choices continued to be honored by Chrome, even though new choices were no longer possible. These previously remembered choices were deleted upon reset to defaults.

Short of installing an older version of Chrome to run my applications, is there a technique to manually re-create the previously remembered choices? I assume this would provide a functional workaround for this problem, even if these choices were not previously made.

Snaps-a-Lot
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After further research, I have found it is feasible to suppress the security dialog box itself, thereby addressing he root cause directly. With no security dialog, of course, the absence of the checkbox becomes moot. A blog post on T-E.CC explains the technique, which entails adding the application's "browser protocol" to a Google Chrome white list:

Google Chrome no longer displays “always open these types of links in the associated app” checkbox FIX

During my research, I determined that, while Firefox still has the checkbox, MS Edge and IE 11, like Chrome, do not. Also, like Chrome, the security dialogs invoked by an application's browser protocol (a.k.a. pluggable protocol, or custom desktop protocol ) can be suppressed. Here is a post on the Windows 10 IT Pro Q&A forum that explains Microsoft's solution to this issue:

Why you get Internet Explorer popup “Do you want to …” or Microsoft Edge popup “Did you mean to switch apps” and how to disable

It appeared initially that Google's removal of this checkbox may have been inadvertent. But it now appears the change is actually in step with Microsoft standards. The decision of whether an application is safe to run on the desktop is pushed to the system administrator, who would rightly enforce that decision upon deployment of the application. And the user, all the while, remains blissfully unaware that there was even a decision to make.

Snaps-a-Lot
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  • This only works on Windows. The question is not platform speciic, and as a matter of fact the same problem still exists on Linux. – Eric Apr 16 '20 at 10:43
  • @Eric, you are correct. In addition to Windows and Linux, the issue also exists on Chrome OS, Android, and Mac OS. Here is some more belated documentation from our friens at Google that nicely covers the topic: https://cloud.google.com/docs/chrome-enterprise/policies/?policy=URLWhitelist – Snaps-a-Lot Apr 25 '20 at 21:49