How to Uninstall and Reinstall Microsoft Edge Because of Malware Issue

Windows 10 Pro – 64 bit Version 1909 (OS Build 18363.752)
Microsoft Edge Version 80.0.361.111 (Official build) (64-bit)

Hello,

Question

How do I uninstall Microsoft Edge and reinstall it? Do I need to do anything special to help ensure that the malware is gone when I uninstall? Are there any specific things or steps that I should do before uninstalling so that I keep my favorites and other important settings?

Background Information

In the past few days, I began getting malicious redirects when on the Wall Street Journal website. I would begin reading an article and then be redirected to some spammy site. Or the redirection would fail. Often Norton 360 would warn me that it blocked attacks from malicious websites. This problem only seems to happen on the Wall Street Journal.

Because my problem was localized to only one website, I thought it was their issue. So I wrote to them to complain. They suggested that I clear my cache to see if that makes a difference and that I should try Google Chrome.

I cleared my cache. Problems remained. I tried Google Chrome and the beta version of Microsoft Edge. My problems disappeared. So that leads me to believe that my Microsoft Edge is corrupted with malware somehow.

Norton 360 and Malawarebytes say that my computer is clean. Yet by its behavior, I know that I have an issue.

I am hoping that my problem is localized to Microsoft Edge and not my entire computer. That is, if the problem were deeper than Microsoft Edge, I would expect that Google Chrome would be affected too.

While I do not have an extensive list of favorites, I don't want to lose them either. Because they are synced, I am hoping that I will recover them when I reinstall.

I don't have many extensions, just Dashlane, Office, and Save to Pocket.

I look forward to your help. Thank you.

Have you got the latest version of edge?

Jacee said:

Download AdwCleaner: https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/

That seems to have done the trick. After running AdwCleaner, I browsed through several Wall Street Journal articles without any issues. Before, I would have been redirected after viewing several articles.

Thank you for your help!

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Samuria said:

Have you got the latest version of edge?

Yes, I do. At the top of my initial message, I mentioned my o/s version and browser version.

I appear to be in good shape after following Jacee's advice.

Thank you.

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Caledon Ken said:

At some point the old Edge is going to stop working. MS is not going to support both. You said you have the beta version of the new edge, since it has been distributed as a regular install I think it is past beta.

I should have pointed readers to the very top of my initial message where I provided my o/s and browser versions. My Edge browser is the Chromium version. And my beta version, is the beta-version of unreleased Microsoft Edge Chromium version (Version 81.0.416.50 (Official build) beta (64-bit)). In other words, once it passes through the beta version, it will released to the general public as the latest official version of Microsoft Edge.

In any event, I am pleasantly surprised and happy that Jacee's suggestion worked.

I am all good. Thank you for your help!

Jacee said:

Hang on to that invaluable app!

Yes, it is valuable, isn't it. I hope I don't need to use it again, but your advice is sound.

Hi all. Caledon, I've got a newer version 81.0.416.53. Sorry for the dark image. The bright white is hard on my eyes. Maybe your version is for a different OS.