Some how "Microsoft Edge" got installed on pc

Some how "Microsoft Edge" got installed on pc. Is there a real easy way to uninstall it? It has messed up a couple of my programs? I use Chrome.

Windows 10
Version 1903 (OS Build 18362.836)

There's a pretty substantial browser war going on with all of the top tech companies whose browsers are the most popular fighting for ways to get more users to use their browser. Some have slightly more aggressive approaches while others don't. Microsoft definetly err on the side of aggressive. That being said, Microsoft push Edge onto Windows users straight out of the box. In fact, it's baked into the functionality and daily running of the Windows operating system. So it's unlikely it's just been installed on your computer. It's probably been there since the very start but now they've updated it and it's presence has become more pronounced than before.

You cannot completely remove it, not without causing issues with other areas of Windows. But, you can prevent it from running. Firstly, goto "C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe". This is where Edge resides on your computer and it's where you want to first start modifying things in order to change how Edge runs. Ideally you want to completely prevent Edge from running and therefore if so, you want to rename the last folder on the path to anything you wish. Ideally keep the original structure pretty similiar. Some people just put a "_bak" at the end of the folder so that the changes can be reversed at a later date if necessary. You can go a little bit further though and put some numbers and letters scattered through the folder name if you wish. The more unpredictable characters added the more difficult the new path will be to reverse. When you do this the path to Microsoft Edge will be invalid and so whenever Windows attempts to run Edge it will come to a dead end.

This will stop Edge from running which should prevent Edge making any changes to your system. Before you do all this however, make sure you have SHIFT+CTRL+ESC into Task Manager and ended the Edge process otherwise you will be met with a denial saying you cannot change the folder while files in that folder are running.

Another way you can go about this is by taking ownership of the folder with full permissions and then putting the folder, sub-folders and files into Read-Only. This will prevent any changes being made because write permissions are not allowed.

If you're running an edition of Windows 10 that allows you to set local group policies (such as Pro, Education or Enterprise) you can prevent Microsoft Edge from running at startup by configurating the following two policies:

• Allow Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at Windows startup, when the system is idle, and each time Microsoft Edge is closed

Enable the above policy and configure pre-launch to prevent pre-launching.

• Allow Microsoft Edge to start and load the Start and New Tab page at Windows startup and each time Microsoft Edge is closed

Enable the above policy and configure tab preloading to prevent tab preloading.


Then restart the PC for the changes to take effect, that should stop Microsoft Edge from running in the background automatically.

mTaylor0248603 said:

If you're running an edition of Windows 10 that allows you to set local group policies (such as Pro, Education or Enterprise) you can prevent Microsoft Edge from running at startup by configurating the following two policies:

• Allow Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at Windows startup, when the system is idle, and each time Microsoft Edge is closed

Enable the above policy and configure pre-launch to prevent pre-launching.

• Allow Microsoft Edge to start and load the Start and New Tab page at Windows startup and each time Microsoft Edge is closed

Enable the above policy and configure tab preloading to prevent tab preloading.


Then restart the PC for the changes to take effect, that should stop Microsoft Edge from running in the background automatically.

These methods don't really work because Edge is baked into Windows 10. It's useless applying 'soft' modifications because Edge defies them. You can do quite a few things to change how Edge functions but ultimately Edge is still running and still can run. The only way to prevent Edge from breaking free of these modifications is to forcedbly prevent Edge from running. And you do this by changing the path by which Edge executables will execute. When Windows cannot resolve paths to executables it cannot execute them. Same applies to any operating system.

Say you want to run 1234.exe and 1234.exe is at C:\ProgramFolder\1234. If you modify the path by renaming folders whenever 1234.exe is called to run the path will not resolve to 1234.exe. So if the path is now C:\Program____274939Folder\9999 the end result will be a returned exit status that resembles WTF just happened. But the program still can't run so it can return as many errors as possible it's still not running.

What you are referring to are soft modifications in the grand scheme of things. Edge starting up and preloading tabs has nothing to do with how Edge is programmed to function. And Edge is programmed to function by aggressively running as much as possible and being integrated into Windows as much as possible and with very little in terms of visible options to prevent it. It's Microsoft's flagship browser and so they are going to find ways to get their users to accept Edge as part of the daily functioning of the OS. They do that by baking it into Windows and then setting it up so it defies pretty much anything you do to prevent it from running.

supermammalego said:

These methods don't really work because Edge is baked into Windows 10. It's useless applying 'soft' modifications because Edge defies them. You can do quite a few things to change how Edge functions but ultimately Edge is still running and still can run. The only way to prevent Edge from breaking free of these modifications is to forcedbly prevent Edge from running. And you do this by changing the path by which Edge executables will execute. When Windows cannot resolve paths to executables it cannot execute them. Same applies to any operating system.

Say you want to run 1234.exe and 1234.exe is at C:\ProgramFolder\1234. If you modify the path by renaming folders whenever 1234.exe is called to run the path will not resolve to 1234.exe. So if the path is now C:\Program____274939Folder\9999 the end result will be a returned exit status that resembles WTF just happened. But the program still can't run so it can return as many errors as possible it's still not running.

What you are referring to are soft modifications in the grand scheme of things. Edge starting up and preloading tabs has nothing to do with how Edge is programmed to function. And Edge is programmed to function by aggressively running as much as possible and being integrated into Windows as much as possible and with very little in terms of visible options to prevent it. It's Microsoft's flagship browser and so they are going to find ways to get their users to accept Edge as part of the daily functioning of the OS. They do that by baking it into Windows and then setting it up so it defies pretty much anything you do to prevent it from running.

The method I outlined here works for me, after configurating those policies Microsoft Edge doesn't run for me in the background at all. The problem is not the browser itself defying anything but rather that Microsoft disobeys user settings and resets some of them back to their defaults after certain Windows Updates. It has nothing to do with any singular component itself, than the fact that Microsoft wants Windows to be a service now.....personally I think having an operating system as a service is a terrible idea but sadly we live in a world were people seem to want change simply for some false sense of progression.

Running in the background is not the issue. The issue is Edge being able to run, period. When you're changing policies you're not actually affecting Edge at the installation level. You are making software changes and maybe altering a few registry entries. When you manually change the installation folder so that Edge can no longer run you're corrupting the installation itself.

Set policies doesn't corrupt software so it doesn't run. It simply tells the OS that it should not run. It doesn't have to comply with these requests though and can simply revert changes. Windows is well known for reverting these things in different scenarios. But if you corrupted the paths to whatever it is you're really trying to take control of and prevent from running how can anything be reverted in the first place when there's nothing to revert? The OS traverses the path and comes to an invalid destination and cannot locate the executable.

Job done.
No GPO has the option for that.
You are using Windows own soft solution to get rid of their own products. Do you really think its not reversible? It's a small band aid for a much bigger issue. If you knew how your OS works at the system level you'd understand that ultimately everything has a path on the hard drive. Pretty much all an OS is is A LOT of files. These files have to be accounted for and so Windows keeps a record of where everything is. Every program on your OS has its path located somewhere, even the most seemingly trivial of Windows built-in apps, some of them only a few hundred kilobyte in size. Change the path and Windows can't load these programs.

Anyone whose messed about with their system files too many times knows this when Windows doesn't boot. Or when you install something that corrupts Windows you find out the hard way. What's going on here? Windows cannot locate a necessary file to read which gives it instructions on what to do next. It expects a particular file. It can't find it. This could be a script, an executable, text file, driver file etc. Along the way Windows expects a particular exit code upon completion. It returns one that aborts boot up and hey, now you're taking your computer to a repair shop.

What you're doing here with Edge is effectively the same thing. Only you're not removing something that will stop your computer from booting up.

Plus, do a quick Google Search and you'll find technical guides say the same thing

I never referred to my approach as you mentioned in your post. That seems like a projection. And I disagree with your point. The oversimplification of our everyday lives is simply a reflection of the degeneration of our society. It shows we are going backwards towards an infantile way of living where we are needy and unaware of our own potential to learn and solve problems. We live in an age where people believe reality is seeing their fast food restaurants open and their malls in business. They think reality is the mainstream news. They think reality is about the money in their banks, the car on their driveway, the wedding ring on their wifes finger.

I'm not saying we should all hold computer science degrees but the sorry fact is most people think the world magically runs itself. And when it comes to computers most people are unaware of basic troubleshooting methods. Again, this is not an attack on anybody. My IT skills compared to a pro would be like that of a high school student. But the willingness to learn and to open to how things work is how people back in the day learned how to fix their own cars (before they became computers on wheels), it's how they built their own homes, laid their own carpets, installed their own bathrooms. Today if people can't access Facebook they think the world is crumbling down. I believe many people couldn't navigate their own operating system if there was no GUI. People want their hands held like children.

And this is a good thing? There are forums like this to prove it's not a good thing. Not that needing help is bad but the fact that people needing so much help in the first place is indicative of the naive superficial and degenerative world we live in where we are sold routers but no extensive manual on understanding networking concepts like TCP/IP, subnet masks, DNS, default gateways, switches, routers etc. We are sold laptops but there is no emphasis on learning how your hard drive works or the processor or even on a basic level how the OS works. Just plug it in and if things go wrong and it's not our (the manufacturer fault) then you're on your own.

Why? It goes back to my original point. When you make people dependent on superficial mediums for information and awareness you put them into a bubble. When you put someone into a bubble they expect fancy menus, tickboxes, plush clean progress bars, a notification box that tells them what to do. They want the world but have no idea about how things are possible underneath.

Sounds pretty in-depth when you're discussing how to remove Edge but it's true. It's all buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume and then when people want to know how things work it's somehow a journey they have to make on their own. And besides, much of the knowledge comes from other people who choose to provide it out of decency and respect for other peoples journey. When you see why that is you see that it's very easy to create environments that make people think they don't need to know anything other than what they are told, like Windows for example. But the truth is, there's an entire lifetimes worth of knowledge waiting to be discovered in every computer just by the very nature of it existing and those parts and concepts being understood.

Again, no-one needs a degree. But knowing that you are the person who came before the 'thing' ie the computer you have a right to know how things work and to break them down and experiment. When you look at history you see that those who did that happen to be those who transformed how we see society. They are the revolutionaries.

Or... just stay within your restrictive environment. When things go wrong and you're charged $50, 100 or 200 for a problem you could have fixed reading guides online and studying you'll see just how important this knowledge is. And we are washing it away up the wall while huge corporations profit on it from further attempting to push people away from their rights to take control of the technology they use, or at least understand it. So yes, going beyond pressing tickboxes and setting policies, which are by the way more than tickboxes if you understand how they work, is very important.

supermammalego said:

I never referred to my approach as you mentioned in your post. That seems like a projection.

I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about here! Also, do you seriously think that renaming a folder is going to make the TC understand anything about how Edge works or Windows for that matter? IMO if he wanted a deeper understanding of anything to do with this situation he would have researched and gotten the answer and knowledge himself.