diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests-ubuntu.yml b/.github/workflows/tests-ubuntu.yml
index f74575ee1..444aa3557 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests-ubuntu.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests-ubuntu.yml
@@ -34,25 +34,25 @@ jobs:
             TOXENV: py
         - python-version: "3.13"
           env:
-            TOXENV: asyncio
+            TOXENV: default-reactor
         - python-version: pypy3.10
           env:
             TOXENV: pypy3
 
         # pinned deps
-        - python-version: 3.9.19
+        - python-version: "3.9.21"
           env:
             TOXENV: pinned
-        - python-version: 3.9.19
+        - python-version: "3.9.21"
           env:
-            TOXENV: asyncio-pinned
+            TOXENV: default-reactor-pinned
         - python-version: pypy3.10
           env:
             TOXENV: pypy3-pinned
-        - python-version: 3.9.19
+        - python-version: "3.9.21"
           env:
             TOXENV: extra-deps-pinned
-        - python-version: 3.9.19
+        - python-version: "3.9.21"
           env:
             TOXENV: botocore-pinned
 
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ jobs:
       if: contains(matrix.python-version, 'pypy') || contains(matrix.env.TOXENV, 'pinned')
       run: |
         sudo apt-get update
-        sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt-dev libjpeg-dev
+        sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev libxslt-dev
 
     - name: Run tests
       env: ${{ matrix.env }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests-windows.yml b/.github/workflows/tests-windows.yml
index 21d621240..537a01e29 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests-windows.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests-windows.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
         include:
         - python-version: "3.9"
           env:
-            TOXENV: windows-pinned
+            TOXENV: py
         - python-version: "3.10"
           env:
             TOXENV: py
@@ -34,7 +34,19 @@ jobs:
             TOXENV: py
         - python-version: "3.13"
           env:
-            TOXENV: asyncio
+            TOXENV: default-reactor
+
+        # pinned deps
+        - python-version: "3.9.13"
+          env:
+            TOXENV: pinned
+        - python-version: "3.9.13"
+          env:
+            TOXENV: extra-deps-pinned
+
+        - python-version: "3.13"
+          env:
+            TOXENV: extra-deps
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index f33ffb1a4..9999e41d2 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def chdir(tmpdir):
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
     parser.addoption(
         "--reactor",
-        default="default",
+        default="asyncio",
         choices=["default", "asyncio"],
     )
 
@@ -67,17 +67,17 @@ def reactor_pytest(request):
 
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
 def only_asyncio(request, reactor_pytest):
-    if request.node.get_closest_marker("only_asyncio") and reactor_pytest != "asyncio":
-        pytest.skip("This test is only run with --reactor=asyncio")
+    if request.node.get_closest_marker("only_asyncio") and reactor_pytest == "default":
+        pytest.skip("This test is only run without --reactor=default")
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
 def only_not_asyncio(request, reactor_pytest):
     if (
         request.node.get_closest_marker("only_not_asyncio")
-        and reactor_pytest == "asyncio"
+        and reactor_pytest != "default"
     ):
-        pytest.skip("This test is only run without --reactor=asyncio")
+        pytest.skip("This test is only run with --reactor=default")
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def requires_boto3(request):
 
 
 def pytest_configure(config):
-    if config.getoption("--reactor") == "asyncio":
+    if config.getoption("--reactor") != "default":
         install_reactor("twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor")
 
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/asyncio.rst b/docs/topics/asyncio.rst
index 07baea071..35afdc11b 100644
--- a/docs/topics/asyncio.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/asyncio.rst
@@ -16,15 +16,19 @@ asyncio reactor <install-asyncio>`, you may use :mod:`asyncio` and
 Installing the asyncio reactor
 ==============================
 
-To enable :mod:`asyncio` support, set the :setting:`TWISTED_REACTOR` setting to
-``'twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor'``.
+To enable :mod:`asyncio` support, your :setting:`TWISTED_REACTOR` setting needs
+to be set to ``'twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor'``,
+which is the default value.
 
 If you are using :class:`~scrapy.crawler.CrawlerRunner`, you also need to
 install the :class:`~twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor`
 reactor manually. You can do that using
-:func:`~scrapy.utils.reactor.install_reactor`::
+:func:`~scrapy.utils.reactor.install_reactor`:
 
-    install_reactor('twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor')
+.. skip: next
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    install_reactor("twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor")
 
 
 .. _asyncio-preinstalled-reactor:
@@ -144,3 +148,14 @@ Using custom asyncio loops
 You can also use custom asyncio event loops with the asyncio reactor. Set the
 :setting:`ASYNCIO_EVENT_LOOP` setting to the import path of the desired event
 loop class to use it instead of the default asyncio event loop.
+
+
+.. _disable-asyncio:
+
+Switching to a non-asyncio reactor
+==================================
+
+If for some reason your code doesn't work with the asyncio reactor, you can use
+a different reactor by setting the :setting:`TWISTED_REACTOR` setting to its
+import path (e.g. ``'twisted.internet.epollreactor.EPollReactor'``) or to
+``None``, which will use the default reactor for your platform.
diff --git a/docs/topics/media-pipeline.rst b/docs/topics/media-pipeline.rst
index cc1fe8703..01da53342 100644
--- a/docs/topics/media-pipeline.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/media-pipeline.rst
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ The advantage of using the :class:`ImagesPipeline` for image files is that you
 can configure some extra functions like generating thumbnails and filtering
 the images based on their size.
 
-The Images Pipeline requires Pillow_ 7.1.0 or greater. It is used for
+The Images Pipeline requires Pillow_ 8.0.0 or greater. It is used for
 thumbnailing and normalizing images to JPEG/RGB format.
 
 .. _Pillow: https://github.com/python-pillow/Pillow
diff --git a/docs/topics/settings.rst b/docs/topics/settings.rst
index b2bb7148f..ca0af569f 100644
--- a/docs/topics/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/settings.rst
@@ -1911,7 +1911,7 @@ TWISTED_REACTOR
 
 .. versionadded:: 2.0
 
-Default: ``None``
+Default: ``"twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"``
 
 Import path of a given :mod:`~twisted.internet.reactor`.
 
@@ -1996,17 +1996,19 @@ which raises :exc:`Exception`, becomes:
             self.crawler.engine.close_spider(self, "timeout")
 
 
-The default value of the :setting:`TWISTED_REACTOR` setting is ``None``, which
-means that Scrapy will use the existing reactor if one is already installed, or
-install the default reactor defined by Twisted for the current platform. This
-is to maintain backward compatibility and avoid possible problems caused by
-using a non-default reactor.
+If this setting is set ``None``, Scrapy will use the existing reactor if one is
+already installed, or install the default reactor defined by Twisted for the
+current platform.
 
 .. versionchanged:: 2.7
    The :command:`startproject` command now sets this setting to
    ``twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor`` in the generated
    ``settings.py`` file.
 
+.. versionchanged:: VERSION
+   The default value was changed from ``None`` to
+   ``"twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"``.
+
 For additional information, see :doc:`core/howto/choosing-reactor`.
 
 
diff --git a/scrapy/pipelines/images.py b/scrapy/pipelines/images.py
index 29dc13f0a..63c6908dc 100644
--- a/scrapy/pipelines/images.py
+++ b/scrapy/pipelines/images.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class ImagesPipeline(FilesPipeline):
             self._Image = Image
         except ImportError:
             raise NotConfigured(
-                "ImagesPipeline requires installing Pillow 4.0.0 or later"
+                "ImagesPipeline requires installing Pillow 8.0.0 or later"
             )
 
         super().__init__(
diff --git a/scrapy/settings/default_settings.py b/scrapy/settings/default_settings.py
index c473b369c..645e50301 100644
--- a/scrapy/settings/default_settings.py
+++ b/scrapy/settings/default_settings.py
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ TELNETCONSOLE_HOST = "127.0.0.1"
 TELNETCONSOLE_USERNAME = "scrapy"
 TELNETCONSOLE_PASSWORD = None
 
-TWISTED_REACTOR = None
+TWISTED_REACTOR = "twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"
 
 SPIDER_CONTRACTS = {}
 SPIDER_CONTRACTS_BASE = {
diff --git a/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl b/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl
index 0bb31ffaa..db7400af8 100644
--- a/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl
+++ b/scrapy/templates/project/module/settings.py.tmpl
@@ -90,5 +90,4 @@ ROBOTSTXT_OBEY = True
 #HTTPCACHE_STORAGE = "scrapy.extensions.httpcache.FilesystemCacheStorage"
 
 # Set settings whose default value is deprecated to a future-proof value
-TWISTED_REACTOR = "twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"
 FEED_EXPORT_ENCODING = "utf-8"
diff --git a/scrapy/utils/log.py b/scrapy/utils/log.py
index b865cf48d..24e17ecb6 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/log.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/log.py
@@ -182,11 +182,9 @@ def log_scrapy_info(settings: Settings) -> None:
 
 
 def log_reactor_info() -> None:
-    from twisted.internet import reactor
+    from twisted.internet import asyncioreactor, reactor
 
     logger.debug("Using reactor: %s.%s", reactor.__module__, reactor.__class__.__name__)
-    from twisted.internet import asyncioreactor
-
     if isinstance(reactor, asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor):
         logger.debug(
             "Using asyncio event loop: %s.%s",
diff --git a/scrapy/utils/test.py b/scrapy/utils/test.py
index b69f43438..2da526cd8 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/test.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/test.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from twisted.trial.unittest import SkipTest
 from scrapy.exceptions import ScrapyDeprecationWarning
 from scrapy.utils.boto import is_botocore_available
 from scrapy.utils.deprecate import create_deprecated_class
+from scrapy.utils.reactor import is_asyncio_reactor_installed
 from scrapy.utils.spider import DefaultSpider
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -109,6 +110,19 @@ def get_ftp_content_and_delete(
 TestSpider = create_deprecated_class("TestSpider", DefaultSpider)
 
 
+def get_reactor_settings() -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Return a settings dict that works with the installed reactor.
+
+    ``Crawler._apply_settings()`` checks that the installed reactor matches the
+    settings, so tests that run the crawler in the current process may need to
+    pass a correct ``"TWISTED_REACTOR"`` setting value when creating it.
+    """
+    settings: dict[str, Any] = {}
+    if not is_asyncio_reactor_installed():
+        settings["TWISTED_REACTOR"] = None
+    return settings
+
+
 def get_crawler(
     spidercls: type[Spider] | None = None,
     settings_dict: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
@@ -120,9 +134,12 @@ def get_crawler(
     """
     from scrapy.crawler import CrawlerRunner
 
-    # Set by default settings that prevent deprecation warnings.
-    settings: dict[str, Any] = {}
-    settings.update(settings_dict or {})
+    # When needed, useful settings can be added here, e.g. ones that prevent
+    # deprecation warnings.
+    settings: dict[str, Any] = {
+        **get_reactor_settings(),
+        **(settings_dict or {}),
+    }
     runner = CrawlerRunner(settings)
     crawler = runner.create_crawler(spidercls or DefaultSpider)
     crawler._apply_settings()
diff --git a/tests/CrawlerProcess/asyncio_enabled_reactor.py b/tests/CrawlerProcess/asyncio_enabled_reactor.py
index f013eed27..0c380610d 100644
--- a/tests/CrawlerProcess/asyncio_enabled_reactor.py
+++ b/tests/CrawlerProcess/asyncio_enabled_reactor.py
@@ -1,14 +1,8 @@
-import asyncio
-import sys
+import scrapy
+from scrapy.crawler import CrawlerProcess
+from scrapy.utils.reactor import install_reactor
 
-from twisted.internet import asyncioreactor
-
-if sys.platform == "win32":
-    asyncio.set_event_loop_policy(asyncio.WindowsSelectorEventLoopPolicy())
-asyncioreactor.install(asyncio.get_event_loop())
-
-import scrapy  # noqa: E402
-from scrapy.crawler import CrawlerProcess  # noqa: E402
+install_reactor("twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor")
 
 
 class NoRequestsSpider(scrapy.Spider):
diff --git a/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_default.py b/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_default.py
index 078cb72cb..e2933338b 100644
--- a/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_default.py
+++ b/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_default.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from twisted.internet import reactor  # noqa: F401
+from twisted.python import log
 
 import scrapy
 from scrapy.crawler import CrawlerProcess
@@ -13,5 +14,6 @@ class NoRequestsSpider(scrapy.Spider):
 
 process = CrawlerProcess(settings={})
 
-process.crawl(NoRequestsSpider)
+d = process.crawl(NoRequestsSpider)
+d.addErrback(log.err)
 process.start()
diff --git a/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_select.py b/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_select.py
index 814a2a46d..b61e52625 100644
--- a/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_select.py
+++ b/tests/CrawlerProcess/reactor_select.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from twisted.internet import selectreactor
+from twisted.python import log
 
 import scrapy
 from scrapy.crawler import CrawlerProcess
@@ -15,5 +16,6 @@ class NoRequestsSpider(scrapy.Spider):
 
 process = CrawlerProcess(settings={})
 
-process.crawl(NoRequestsSpider)
+d = process.crawl(NoRequestsSpider)
+d.addErrback(log.err)
 process.start()
diff --git a/tests/CrawlerRunner/ip_address.py b/tests/CrawlerRunner/ip_address.py
index 2f1bb7713..b1b297777 100644
--- a/tests/CrawlerRunner/ip_address.py
+++ b/tests/CrawlerRunner/ip_address.py
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+# ruff: noqa: E402
+
+from scrapy.utils.reactor import install_reactor
+
+install_reactor("twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor")
+
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 from twisted.internet import reactor
diff --git a/tests/test_addons.py b/tests/test_addons.py
index 686bf9952..b4294c815 100644
--- a/tests/test_addons.py
+++ b/tests/test_addons.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from scrapy import Spider
 from scrapy.crawler import Crawler, CrawlerRunner
 from scrapy.exceptions import NotConfigured
 from scrapy.settings import BaseSettings, Settings
-from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler
+from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler, get_reactor_settings
 
 
 class SimpleAddon:
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ class TestAddonManager(unittest.TestCase):
         }
         settings_dict = {
             "ADDONS": {get_addon_cls(config): 1},
+            **get_reactor_settings(),
         }
         crawler = get_crawler(settings_dict=settings_dict)
         assert crawler.settings.getint("KEY") == 15
@@ -119,6 +120,7 @@ class TestAddonManager(unittest.TestCase):
         settings_dict = {
             "KEY": 20,  # priority=project
             "ADDONS": {get_addon_cls(config): 1},
+            **get_reactor_settings(),
         }
         settings = Settings(settings_dict)
         settings.set("KEY", 0, priority="default")
@@ -196,6 +198,7 @@ class TestAddonManager(unittest.TestCase):
                 return spider
 
         settings = Settings()
+        settings.setdict(get_reactor_settings())
         settings.set("KEY", "default", priority="default")
         runner = CrawlerRunner(settings)
         crawler = runner.create_crawler(MySpider)
diff --git a/tests/test_crawl.py b/tests/test_crawl.py
index 6f4045fc8..f49deac1f 100644
--- a/tests/test_crawl.py
+++ b/tests/test_crawl.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from scrapy.exceptions import StopDownload
 from scrapy.http import Request
 from scrapy.http.response import Response
 from scrapy.utils.python import to_unicode
-from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler
+from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler, get_reactor_settings
 from tests import NON_EXISTING_RESOLVABLE
 from tests.mockserver import MockServer
 from tests.spiders import (
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ with multiples lines
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_crawl_multiple(self):
-        runner = CrawlerRunner()
+        runner = CrawlerRunner(get_reactor_settings())
         runner.crawl(
             SimpleSpider,
             self.mockserver.url("/status?n=200"),
diff --git a/tests/test_crawler.py b/tests/test_crawler.py
index 0bbcc0843..98352b66e 100644
--- a/tests/test_crawler.py
+++ b/tests/test_crawler.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from scrapy.settings import Settings, default_settings
 from scrapy.spiderloader import SpiderLoader
 from scrapy.utils.log import configure_logging, get_scrapy_root_handler
 from scrapy.utils.spider import DefaultSpider
-from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler
+from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler, get_reactor_settings
 from tests.mockserver import MockServer, get_mockserver_env
 
 BASE_SETTINGS: dict[str, Any] = {}
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ def get_raw_crawler(spidercls=None, settings_dict=None):
     """get_crawler alternative that only calls the __init__ method of the
     crawler."""
     settings = Settings()
+    settings.setdict(get_reactor_settings())
     settings.setdict(settings_dict or {})
     return Crawler(spidercls or DefaultSpider, settings)
 
@@ -48,7 +49,12 @@ class TestBaseCrawler(unittest.TestCase):
 class TestCrawler(TestBaseCrawler):
     def test_populate_spidercls_settings(self):
         spider_settings = {"TEST1": "spider", "TEST2": "spider"}
-        project_settings = {**BASE_SETTINGS, "TEST1": "project", "TEST3": "project"}
+        project_settings = {
+            **BASE_SETTINGS,
+            "TEST1": "project",
+            "TEST3": "project",
+            **get_reactor_settings(),
+        }
 
         class CustomSettingsSpider(DefaultSpider):
             custom_settings = spider_settings
@@ -581,7 +587,7 @@ class NoRequestsSpider(scrapy.Spider):
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("reactor_pytest")
 class TestCrawlerRunnerHasSpider(unittest.TestCase):
     def _runner(self):
-        return CrawlerRunner()
+        return CrawlerRunner(get_reactor_settings())
 
     @inlineCallbacks
     def test_crawler_runner_bootstrap_successful(self):
@@ -626,13 +632,7 @@ class TestCrawlerRunnerHasSpider(unittest.TestCase):
 
     @inlineCallbacks
     def test_crawler_runner_asyncio_enabled_true(self):
-        if self.reactor_pytest == "asyncio":
-            CrawlerRunner(
-                settings={
-                    "TWISTED_REACTOR": "twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor",
-                }
-            )
-        else:
+        if self.reactor_pytest == "default":
             runner = CrawlerRunner(
                 settings={
                     "TWISTED_REACTOR": "twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor",
@@ -643,6 +643,12 @@ class TestCrawlerRunnerHasSpider(unittest.TestCase):
                 match=r"The installed reactor \(.*?\) does not match the requested one \(.*?\)",
             ):
                 yield runner.crawl(NoRequestsSpider)
+        else:
+            CrawlerRunner(
+                settings={
+                    "TWISTED_REACTOR": "twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor",
+                }
+            )
 
 
 class ScriptRunnerMixin:
@@ -672,7 +678,7 @@ class TestCrawlerProcessSubprocess(ScriptRunnerMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         assert "Spider closed (finished)" in log
         assert (
             "Using reactor: twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"
-            not in log
+            in log
         )
 
     def test_multi(self):
@@ -680,18 +686,17 @@ class TestCrawlerProcessSubprocess(ScriptRunnerMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         assert "Spider closed (finished)" in log
         assert (
             "Using reactor: twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"
-            not in log
+            in log
         )
         assert "ReactorAlreadyInstalledError" not in log
 
     def test_reactor_default(self):
         log = self.run_script("reactor_default.py")
-        assert "Spider closed (finished)" in log
+        assert "Spider closed (finished)" not in log
         assert (
-            "Using reactor: twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor"
-            not in log
-        )
-        assert "ReactorAlreadyInstalledError" not in log
+            "does not match the requested one "
+            "(twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor)"
+        ) in log
 
     def test_reactor_default_twisted_reactor_select(self):
         log = self.run_script("reactor_default_twisted_reactor_select.py")
@@ -716,8 +721,11 @@ class TestCrawlerProcessSubprocess(ScriptRunnerMixin, unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_reactor_select(self):
         log = self.run_script("reactor_select.py")
-        assert "Spider closed (finished)" in log
-        assert "ReactorAlreadyInstalledError" not in log
+        assert "Spider closed (finished)" not in log
+        assert (
+            "does not match the requested one "
+            "(twisted.internet.asyncioreactor.AsyncioSelectorReactor)"
+        ) in log
 
     def test_reactor_select_twisted_reactor_select(self):
         log = self.run_script("reactor_select_twisted_reactor_select.py")
diff --git a/tests/test_dependencies.py b/tests/test_dependencies.py
index 162747581..c2df67c66 100644
--- a/tests/test_dependencies.py
+++ b/tests/test_dependencies.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class TestScrapyUtils:
         tox_config_file_path = Path(__file__).parent / ".." / "tox.ini"
         config_parser = ConfigParser()
         config_parser.read(tox_config_file_path)
-        pattern = r"Twisted\[http2\]==([\d.]+)"
+        pattern = r"Twisted==([\d.]+)"
         match = re.search(pattern, config_parser["pinned"]["deps"])
         pinned_twisted_version_string = match[1]
 
diff --git a/tests/test_downloader_handlers.py b/tests/test_downloader_handlers.py
index 19bd02498..bc18e76e1 100644
--- a/tests/test_downloader_handlers.py
+++ b/tests/test_downloader_handlers.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ class TestHttp(unittest.TestCase, ABC):
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_timeout_download_from_spider_nodata_rcvd(self):
-        if self.reactor_pytest == "asyncio" and sys.platform == "win32":
+        if self.reactor_pytest != "default" and sys.platform == "win32":
             # https://twistedmatrix.com/trac/ticket/10279
             raise unittest.SkipTest(
                 "This test produces DirtyReactorAggregateError on Windows with asyncio"
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ class TestHttp(unittest.TestCase, ABC):
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_timeout_download_from_spider_server_hangs(self):
-        if self.reactor_pytest == "asyncio" and sys.platform == "win32":
+        if self.reactor_pytest != "default" and sys.platform == "win32":
             # https://twistedmatrix.com/trac/ticket/10279
             raise unittest.SkipTest(
                 "This test produces DirtyReactorAggregateError on Windows with asyncio"
@@ -1136,7 +1136,7 @@ class TestFTPBase(unittest.TestCase):
 
 class TestFTP(TestFTPBase):
     def test_invalid_credentials(self):
-        if self.reactor_pytest == "asyncio" and sys.platform == "win32":
+        if self.reactor_pytest != "default" and sys.platform == "win32":
             raise unittest.SkipTest(
                 "This test produces DirtyReactorAggregateError on Windows with asyncio"
             )
diff --git a/tests/test_downloaderslotssettings.py b/tests/test_downloaderslotssettings.py
index 15b3ad5af..4fca9eefb 100644
--- a/tests/test_downloaderslotssettings.py
+++ b/tests/test_downloaderslotssettings.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class CrawlTestCase(TestCase):
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_delay(self):
-        crawler = CrawlerRunner().create_crawler(DownloaderSlotsSettingsTestSpider)
+        crawler = get_crawler(DownloaderSlotsSettingsTestSpider)
         yield crawler.crawl(mockserver=self.mockserver)
         slots = crawler.engine.downloader.slots
         times = crawler.spider.times
diff --git a/tests/test_extension_periodic_log.py b/tests/test_extension_periodic_log.py
index ca5ffdc26..85bd42857 100644
--- a/tests/test_extension_periodic_log.py
+++ b/tests/test_extension_periodic_log.py
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
-import datetime
-import typing
-import unittest
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import datetime
+import unittest
+from typing import Any, Callable
 
-from scrapy.crawler import Crawler
 from scrapy.extensions.periodic_log import PeriodicLog
+from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler
 
 from .spiders import MetaSpider
 
@@ -59,9 +61,8 @@ class CustomPeriodicLog(PeriodicLog):
         self.stats._stats = stats_dump_2
 
 
-def extension(settings=None):
-    crawler = Crawler(MetaSpider, settings=settings)
-    crawler._apply_settings()
+def extension(settings: dict[str, Any] | None = None) -> CustomPeriodicLog:
+    crawler = get_crawler(MetaSpider, settings)
     return CustomPeriodicLog.from_crawler(crawler)
 
 
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ class TestPeriodicLog(unittest.TestCase):
             ext.spider_closed(spider, reason="finished")
             return ext, a, b
 
-        def check(settings: dict, condition: typing.Callable):
+        def check(settings: dict[str, Any], condition: Callable) -> None:
             ext, a, b = emulate(settings)
             assert list(a["delta"].keys()) == [
                 k for k, v in ext.stats._stats.items() if condition(k, v)
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ class TestPeriodicLog(unittest.TestCase):
             ext.spider_closed(spider, reason="finished")
             return ext, a, b
 
-        def check(settings: dict, condition: typing.Callable):
+        def check(settings: dict[str, Any], condition: Callable) -> None:
             ext, a, b = emulate(settings)
             assert list(a["stats"].keys()) == [
                 k for k, v in ext.stats._stats.items() if condition(k, v)
diff --git a/tests/test_pipeline_crawl.py b/tests/test_pipeline_crawl.py
index 162dfdaf4..c5f1b6321 100644
--- a/tests/test_pipeline_crawl.py
+++ b/tests/test_pipeline_crawl.py
@@ -3,18 +3,22 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
 from tempfile import mkdtemp
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
 from testfixtures import LogCapture
 from twisted.internet import defer
 from twisted.trial.unittest import TestCase
 from w3lib.url import add_or_replace_parameter
 
-from scrapy import signals
-from scrapy.crawler import CrawlerRunner
+from scrapy import Spider, signals
 from scrapy.utils.misc import load_object
+from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler
 from tests.mockserver import MockServer
 from tests.spiders import SimpleSpider
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from scrapy.crawler import Crawler
+
 
 class MediaDownloadSpider(SimpleSpider):
     name = "mediadownload"
@@ -80,7 +84,6 @@ class TestFileDownloadCrawl(TestCase):
             "ITEM_PIPELINES": {self.pipeline_class: 1},
             self.store_setting_key: str(self.tmpmediastore),
         }
-        self.runner = CrawlerRunner(self.settings)
         self.items = []
 
     def tearDown(self):
@@ -90,10 +93,12 @@ class TestFileDownloadCrawl(TestCase):
     def _on_item_scraped(self, item):
         self.items.append(item)
 
-    def _create_crawler(self, spider_class, runner=None, **kwargs):
-        if runner is None:
-            runner = self.runner
-        crawler = runner.create_crawler(spider_class, **kwargs)
+    def _create_crawler(
+        self, spider_class: type[Spider], settings: dict[str, Any] | None = None
+    ) -> Crawler:
+        if settings is None:
+            settings = self.settings
+        crawler = get_crawler(spider_class, settings)
         crawler.signals.connect(self._on_item_scraped, signals.item_scraped)
         return crawler
 
@@ -175,10 +180,11 @@ class TestFileDownloadCrawl(TestCase):
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def test_download_media_redirected_allowed(self):
-        settings = dict(self.settings)
-        settings.update({"MEDIA_ALLOW_REDIRECTS": True})
-        runner = CrawlerRunner(settings)
-        crawler = self._create_crawler(RedirectedMediaDownloadSpider, runner=runner)
+        settings = {
+            **self.settings,
+            "MEDIA_ALLOW_REDIRECTS": True,
+        }
+        crawler = self._create_crawler(RedirectedMediaDownloadSpider, settings)
         with LogCapture() as log:
             yield crawler.crawl(
                 self.mockserver.url("/files/images/"),
@@ -201,8 +207,7 @@ class TestFileDownloadCrawl(TestCase):
             **self.settings,
             "ITEM_PIPELINES": {ExceptionRaisingMediaPipeline: 1},
         }
-        runner = CrawlerRunner(settings)
-        crawler = self._create_crawler(MediaDownloadSpider, runner=runner)
+        crawler = self._create_crawler(MediaDownloadSpider, settings)
         with LogCapture() as log:
             yield crawler.crawl(
                 self.mockserver.url("/files/images/"),
diff --git a/tests/test_spider.py b/tests/test_spider.py
index 4e8330c06..aaf72390d 100644
--- a/tests/test_spider.py
+++ b/tests/test_spider.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from scrapy.spiders import (
     XMLFeedSpider,
 )
 from scrapy.spiders.init import InitSpider
-from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler
+from scrapy.utils.test import get_crawler, get_reactor_settings
 from tests import get_testdata, tests_datadir
 
 
@@ -108,7 +108,11 @@ class TestSpider(unittest.TestCase):
     @inlineCallbacks
     def test_settings_in_from_crawler(self):
         spider_settings = {"TEST1": "spider", "TEST2": "spider"}
-        project_settings = {"TEST1": "project", "TEST3": "project"}
+        project_settings = {
+            "TEST1": "project",
+            "TEST3": "project",
+            **get_reactor_settings(),
+        }
 
         class TestSpider(self.spider_class):
             name = "test"
diff --git a/tests/test_utils_asyncio.py b/tests/test_utils_asyncio.py
index a65a36219..901e03d59 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils_asyncio.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils_asyncio.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import asyncio
 import warnings
 
 import pytest
+from twisted.trial.unittest import TestCase
 
 from scrapy.utils.defer import deferred_f_from_coro_f
 from scrapy.utils.reactor import (
@@ -12,10 +13,10 @@ from scrapy.utils.reactor import (
 
 
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("reactor_pytest")
-class TestAsyncio:
+class TestAsyncio(TestCase):
     def test_is_asyncio_reactor_installed(self):
         # the result should depend only on the pytest --reactor argument
-        assert is_asyncio_reactor_installed() == (self.reactor_pytest == "asyncio")
+        assert is_asyncio_reactor_installed() == (self.reactor_pytest != "default")
 
     def test_install_asyncio_reactor(self):
         from twisted.internet import reactor as original_reactor
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 70c841603..eb084f0f5 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ deps =
     {[test-requirements]deps}
 
     # mitmproxy does not support PyPy
-    mitmproxy; implementation_name != 'pypy'
+    mitmproxy; implementation_name != "pypy"
 setenv =
     COVERAGE_CORE=sysmon
 passenv =
@@ -96,19 +96,18 @@ commands =
 [pinned]
 basepython = python3.9
 deps =
+    Protego==0.1.15
+    Twisted==21.7.0
     cryptography==37.0.0
     cssselect==0.9.1
-    h2==3.0
     itemadapter==0.1.0
+    lxml==4.6.0
     parsel==1.5.0
-    Protego==0.1.15
     pyOpenSSL==22.0.0
     queuelib==1.4.2
     service_identity==18.1.0
-    Twisted[http2]==21.7.0
     w3lib==1.17.0
     zope.interface==5.1.0
-    lxml==4.6.0
     {[test-requirements]deps}
 
     # mitmproxy 8.0.0 requires upgrading some of the pinned dependencies
@@ -131,60 +130,50 @@ setenv =
     {[pinned]setenv}
 commands = {[pinned]commands}
 
-[testenv:windows-pinned]
-basepython = {[pinned]basepython}
-deps =
-    {[pinned]deps}
-    PyDispatcher==2.0.5
-install_command = {[pinned]install_command}
-setenv =
-    {[pinned]setenv}
-commands = {[pinned]commands}
-
 [testenv:extra-deps]
 basepython = python3
 deps =
     {[testenv]deps}
-    boto3
-    google-cloud-storage
-    robotexclusionrulesparser
     Pillow
     Twisted[http2]
-    uvloop; platform_system != "Windows"
+    boto3
     bpython  # optional for shell wrapper tests
-    brotli; implementation_name != 'pypy'  # optional for HTTP compress downloader middleware tests
-    brotlicffi; implementation_name == 'pypy'  # optional for HTTP compress downloader middleware tests
-    zstandard; implementation_name != 'pypy'  # optional for HTTP compress downloader middleware tests
+    brotli; implementation_name != "pypy"  # optional for HTTP compress downloader middleware tests
+    brotlicffi; implementation_name == "pypy"  # optional for HTTP compress downloader middleware tests
+    google-cloud-storage
     ipython
+    robotexclusionrulesparser
+    uvloop; platform_system != "Windows"
+    zstandard; implementation_name != "pypy"  # optional for HTTP compress downloader middleware tests
 
 [testenv:extra-deps-pinned]
 basepython = {[pinned]basepython}
 deps =
     {[pinned]deps}
+    Pillow==8.0.0
     boto3==1.20.0
-    google-cloud-storage==1.29.0
-    Pillow==7.1.0
-    robotexclusionrulesparser==1.6.2
-    brotlipy
-    uvloop==0.14.0; platform_system != "Windows"
     bpython==0.7.1
-    zstandard==0.1; implementation_name != 'pypy'
+    brotli==0.5.2; implementation_name != "pypy"
+    brotlicffi==0.8.0; implementation_name == "pypy"
+    brotlipy
+    google-cloud-storage==1.29.0
     ipython==2.0.0
-    brotli==0.5.2; implementation_name != 'pypy'
-    brotlicffi==0.8.0; implementation_name == 'pypy'
+    robotexclusionrulesparser==1.6.2
+    uvloop==0.14.0; platform_system != "Windows"
+    zstandard==0.1; implementation_name != "pypy"
 install_command = {[pinned]install_command}
 setenv =
     {[pinned]setenv}
 commands = {[pinned]commands}
 
-[testenv:asyncio]
+[testenv:default-reactor]
 commands =
-    {[testenv]commands} --reactor=asyncio
+    {[testenv]commands} --reactor=default
 
-[testenv:asyncio-pinned]
+[testenv:default-reactor-pinned]
 basepython = {[pinned]basepython}
 deps = {[testenv:pinned]deps}
-commands = {[pinned]commands} --reactor=asyncio
+commands = {[pinned]commands} --reactor=default
 install_command = {[pinned]install_command}
 setenv =
     {[pinned]setenv}
@@ -204,21 +193,20 @@ commands = {[testenv:pypy3]commands}
 [testenv:pypy3-pinned]
 basepython = pypy3.10
 deps =
+    PyPyDispatcher==2.1.0
+    {[test-requirements]deps}
+    Protego==0.1.15
+    Twisted==21.7.0
     cryptography==41.0.5
     cssselect==0.9.1
-    h2==3.1
     itemadapter==0.1.0
+    lxml==4.6.0
     parsel==1.5.0
-    Protego==0.1.15
     pyOpenSSL==23.3.0
     queuelib==1.4.2
     service_identity==18.1.0
-    Twisted[http2]==21.7.0
     w3lib==1.17.0
     zope.interface==5.1.0
-    lxml==4.6.0
-    {[test-requirements]deps}
-    PyPyDispatcher==2.1.0
 commands =
     ; disabling both coverage and docs tests
     pytest {posargs:--durations=10 scrapy tests}