this may be stupid, but i want to know why–when i click on the brave shortcut on my desktop–i get a duck-duck-go browser page. do i misunderstand “browser?” can i be educated?
Yes — you are in the right place!
As for your issue, it sounds like you might have duckduckgo.com set as your homepage.
Can you please launch Brave, then click the main menu (on the top-right), then go to Settings --> Get started
and tell me (or show me via screenshot) what you have set here?