What is microsoft edge? How to Uninstall a Browser Using PowerShell Utility
For a long time, Internet Explorer was the default browser on the Windows operating system. It was not suitable for most users for a number of reasons and was used mainly to load other browsers after reinstalling the system. In Windows 10, Microsoft introduced a new browser - Microsoft Edge.
Differences between Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer
The main question that plagued most users of Microsoft's operating system was whether the browser update would be another attempt at rebranding or whether the new default browser would actually change from the previous one. Let's look at their main differences:
Today Edge has many extensions
Notes allow you to change pages to suit your tastesLaunching the Microsoft Edge browser
The new browser is built into every Windows 10 system natively. But if you have an outdated version of the OS installed from Microsoft, you will not be able to run it. You can try to do this in several ways:
To run, click on the executable file MicrosoftEdge.exeThus, launching a new browser on Windows 10 will not be difficult.
Problems launching the Microsoft Edge browser
The obvious disadvantage of the browser is its “lifetime”. This is a completely new program, and it still has a lot of improvements and corrections to go through. Although developers regularly update Edge, problems with running the browser on various configurations may already arise, for example, due to incorrect updates or viruses that have damaged some program files. If waiting for an official patch is unacceptable for you, you can try to solve them on your own.
First of all, if your browser has stopped opening pages or is doing it slowly, you should pay attention to temporary files. Cleaning them can restore Microsoft Edge to its previous speed. And it is done as follows:
Click on the “Select what you want to clear” button to go to the browser data clearing menu
Select the items you need to clean and click “Clear”There is another way to clean data - using special programs. For example, this is very easy to do in CCleaner:
Analyze in CCleaner and perform cleaningVideo: How to clear temporary files in the Microsoft Edge browser
Performing a factory reset
If the browser stops working immediately after launch or refuses to function normally, you can reset the settings. This is done through the “Run” window:
Enter the command inetcpl.cpl in the Run window
Go to the "Advanced" section in SettingsYou can also create a new account to reset the settings. This action will create a completely offline folder with browser files that will not be damaged or modified. For this:
Go to the accounts section through Windows settings
Click on the "Add a user for this computer" button
When creating an account, specify the option “I don’t have this person’s login information”
To create a local account, click "Add a user without a Microsoft account"
Enter your account information and remember itUseful Microsoft Edge browser settings
Study the settings of the new browser - this will help you optimize it for convenient work. It's worth knowing about the following options:
To select extensions, open the corresponding item in the drop-down menu
Clicking on the book icon will enable reading mode in the browser
Using a special button you can share information with friends
You can also manage the Adobe Flash Player plugin through SettingsDownload Microsoft Edge browser updates
To automatically download browser updates, Windows Update must be enabled. Its configuration is done as follows:
Go to Update & Security to access update settings
Update your system if necessary, and then open Advanced Options
Set up notifications to schedule a reboot when you update your computer
Uncheck “Delay updates”Disable or uninstall Microsoft Edge
If you decide to use a different browser, it's a good idea to get rid of Microsoft Edge. But since this browser is built into the system by default, it is not so easy to completely remove it.
Manually disabling Microsoft Edge on Windows 10
Manual disabling means changing the default browser. Indeed, all you need to do is designate another browser to interact with all the links, and you can forget about Microsoft Edge.
Open Settings from the Start menu
Set the desired default application instead of the current browserVideo: How to remove Microsoft Edge from the system
Removing a browser via Explorer
Another option is to go to the settings location for the browser and completely delete the entire folder. This is a rather crude method, but it does not require any special knowledge or programs from you. Where this folder is located was mentioned earlier:
Edge will stop working if you delete your settings folderCopy Microsoft Edge settings before uninstalling - this will help restore its functionality if necessary.
Uninstall Microsoft Edge via PowerShell
You can also uninstall the browser using PowerShell. Enter the name of this utility in the Start menu and run it. Next, follow these steps:
Find Microsoft Edge in the list and copy the informationUpon completion of these manipulations, the original browser on your system will be completely turned off.
Uninstall Microsoft Edge using third-party programs
There are many programs to disable or remove the Microsoft Edge browser. But they work on a similar principle, so it is enough to consider only one. Download the free Edge Blocker program from the official website:
With Edge Blocker you can easily turn your browser off and onUsing such a program, you can manage this browser and turn it on only when necessary.
How to install Microsoft Edge after uninstallation
The method to restore Microsoft Edge using a command or creating a new user is yours. But there is another way to install the browser after removal:
Select Run as administrator from the context menu to launch PowerShell
Enter the command to install the browser
After notification of successful installation, restart your computerThe new browser from Microsoft copes with its responsibilities quite well. With proper configuration, it can replace other browsers, which in itself is a great achievement for the default browser. If Edge doesn't suit you, you can always remove it or disable it.
Microsoft Edge is the new default browser for . It includes WebNote for taking notes on your own pages and sharing features, Reading View and Reading List support, and Cortana to help you get more information and help you complete tasks while browsing the web.
Microsoft Edge is intended to replace the standard Internet Explorer in the future, but for now, Windows 10 will include both of these browsers. Thus, Internet Explorer will continue to support the operation of old websites for some time. Today, the standard Windows Internet Explorer browser, despite the fact that it is an integrated solution into the system, has a small share of user liking. Neither the increased performance in recent versions nor the Metro version for users of tablets based on . The presence of at least some user audience for Internet Explorer is explained by only one fact - it is a browser built into the system, which is used, as a rule, either by beginners, not knowing that there is something better on the software market, or by users of companies who, due to Internal corporate policy prohibits the installation of third-party software on work computers.
Microsoft Edge runs on the new EdgeHTML engine - an evolutionary continuation of the Trident engine on which Internet Explorer is based. The new browser inherited a few organizational aspects from the old one, but for the most part, Microsoft Edge is a completely different browser, with a different structure, and it is aimed at the modern user.
So let's look at the main new features of the Microsoft Edge browser.
Performance
Microsoft Edge is a fast browser. It launches itself quite quickly and quickly copes with loading Internet pages. But it is probably premature to say that it can compete with well-known browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera or Firefox.
Interface
Microsoft Edge is a Metro/ModernUI app in the style of Windows 10. The new Microsoft browser has a simple, but nevertheless very nice appearance with a friendly user interface. Perhaps the only thing that spoils the appearance of the browser is the gray window design, which can be changed in the browser settings by selecting a dark theme.
At the top left are buttons for navigating and refreshing web pages, in the middle is a combined address and search bar, and at the top right are browser toolbar buttons for accessing some functions and menus.
Microsoft Edge inherited from Internet Explorer the organization of user bookmarks in the form of a “Favorites” section. In the new browser we will see only a different design for storing favorite sites.
Adobe Flash Player
The Microsoft Edge browser comes with built-in Adobe Flash Player, which means that users are spared the hassle of installing and updating it. Moreover, the Flash player can be disabled in the browser settings.
It is very reasonable on the part of the Microsoft Edge developers to provide for such a step, because users of devices based on Windows 10 will probably have to save traffic when using the mobile Internet.
Safety
Microsoft Edge has a built-in SmartScreen filter that helps protect your PC from malicious sites and malicious software downloads.
Browser search engine
The default search engine in Microsoft Edge is Bing, which is also a Microsoft project. In the browser settings, you can change the search engine, for example to or, which still implements support for OpenSearch 1.1 technology.
Organization
Unlike Internet Explorer, in Microsoft Edge we won’t see complicated settings, which Microsoft experts themselves probably get confused from time to time. This time the menu and browser settings are as simple as possible.
The Microsoft Edge menu contains the minimum options necessary for web surfing.
And the browser settings are neatly placed in a single list in the pop-up panel on the right.
Microsoft Edge contains very few settings, and this will probably not suit many users who are accustomed to advanced browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera, which, in addition to built-in functionality, provide advanced capabilities through installed extensions (add-ons).
However, Microsoft Edge has its own functionality that Microsoft is emphasizing.
Let's look at them.
Reading mode
Reading mode in the browser is not a new feature. Some extensions built into browsers offer an easy-to-read format, removing unnecessary web elements from the site page and leaving only the text block and images of the article itself. Such extensions can be equipped with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Yandex.Browser and other browsers based on the Chromium and Firefox platforms. Microsoft introduced reading mode into the Metro version of Internet Explorer 11, which was included in Windows 8. As we see, the software giant also implemented this idea in Microsoft Edge.
Reading list
The reading list is another very nice feature. Any article that interests you, which you don’t currently have time to read in its entirety, can be sent to the Microsoft Edge reading list and returned to this article when it is convenient.
The reading list, by and large, is no different from regular browser bookmarks, however, this is a good idea so that users do not clutter up their “Favorites” and at the same time do not lose information that may be useful to them.
Notes on website pages
In the Microsoft Edge browser, you can draw and write on the pages of any website, then save a web note as such.
This function will probably not be in demand by a huge user audience, however, such tools should be available in the browser (especially for users of devices with touch screens). Show someone a product they like on the Internet with your own notes, point out to the author of an online publication his mistakes - you never know in what cases you will need a convenient ability to edit on top of web pages.
Cortana
For now, Runet users can only dream about the possibility of the browser working in a single process with the integrated voice assistant of the operating system.
Results...
Microsoft wanted to create a new browser, and they mostly succeeded. Microsoft Edge is unlike any other browser on the market today.
Will the new product be successful? Most likely yes. Any solution integrated into the system will always have its own user audience. If Microsoft Edge, being an integrated solution, also constantly develops, and in the right direction, success and its own stable audience are guaranteed for this browser.
Pre-installed browsers in the Windows operating system have never been consistently fast. This statement fully applies to the Internet Explorer series of browsers, of which several versions have been released, and none of them have won the love of personal computer users. In Windows 10, Microsoft sought to correct the situation, and along with the new version of the operating system comes a new browser - Edge. Many people did not like it, and such users have a question: how to remove Microsoft Edge from a computer running Windows 10? This can be done in several ways, which will be discussed below.
How to uninstall Microsoft Edge via browser files folder
If it is necessary to remove any program, the first thing users try to do is find it in the Add or Remove Programs utility. It will not be possible to find Microsoft Edge in it, since Microsoft does not provide for the need to uninstall its browser. If you cannot find a program in this utility, the most logical way to clear your computer of the application is to delete the folder with it. To remove Microsoft Edge via the file system you need to:
- Follow the following path in File Explorer:
Attention: To rename files you may need to provide .
By renaming the exe files of the Microsoft Edge browser, executing applications will not be able to make requests to it, which means that the number of its spontaneous launches will be reduced to zero.
By default, the Windows 10 operating system has a PowerShell utility installed that can perform many actions with operating system files, including deactivating them. Through it you can disable the Microsoft Edge browser at the system level, and to do this you need to:
Get-AppxPackage - An impressive list of programs will appear in PowerShell; among them you need to find the one that has Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge written in the “Name” column. The full version of the browser will be written in the “PackageFullName” field, and it must be copied. This line will look something like this:
- Now you need to run the command to deactivate the Edge browser; to do this, write the following command in PowerShell:
Attention: If you have a different version of the Edge browser, add yours to the command; the above is just an example.
After completing all these steps, the Microsoft Edge browser will be disabled by default on the Windows operating system.
How to disable Microsoft Edge browser using third-party apps
Enthusiast programmers who are tired of Microsoft Edge have released a special application, and its task is to block the browser. The program is very simple and can be downloaded for free on the official website of the developers. After downloading, the application should be launched and select “Block” so that Microsoft Edge is completely disabled on the system. If the browser is required, the program provides for unlocking it. 
It should be noted that the Microsoft Edge browser is an integral component of the Windows 10 operating system. Removing it, changing it, or disabling it may adversely affect the operation of some features of Windows 10.
When getting acquainted with a new browser, many users pay special attention to its settings. Microsoft Edge did not disappoint anyone in this regard, and has everything you need to ensure that you can comfortably spend time on the Internet. At the same time, you won’t have to figure out the settings themselves for a long time – everything is clear and intuitive.
When starting the initial setup, it is advisable to take care of installing the latest updates in order to have access to all the functionality of Edge. With the release of subsequent updates, also do not forget to periodically review the options menu for new items.
To go to settings, open the browser menu and click the appropriate item.
Now you can look at all the Edge parameters in order.
Theme and favorites bar
First, you are asked to select a theme for your browser window. Installed by default "Light", besides which is also available "Dark". She looks like this:
If you turn on the display of the favorites panel, a place will appear under the main work panel where you can add links to your favorite sites. This is done by clicking on "Star" in the address bar.
Importing bookmarks from another browser
This function will come in handy if you have previously used another browser and have accumulated a lot of necessary bookmarks there. They can be imported into Edge by clicking the appropriate settings item.
Here, mark your previous browser and click "Import".
After a few seconds, all your previously saved bookmarks will move to Edge.
Tip: if the old browser is not displayed in the list, try transferring its data to, and you can already import everything from it to Microsoft Edge.
Start page and new tabs
The next point is the block "To open with". In it you can mark what will be displayed when you enter the browser, namely:
- home page – only the search bar will be displayed;
- new tab page – its contents will depend on the tab display settings (next block);
- previous pages – tabs from the previous session will open;
- specific page – you can specify its address yourself.
When you open a new tab, you may see the following content:
- blank page with search bar;
- the best sites are those that you visit most often;
- best sites and suggested content - in addition to your favorite sites, popular ones in your country will be displayed.
Below this block there is a button to clear browser data. Remember to do this procedure periodically to keep Edge from losing performance.
Mode setting "Reading"
This mode is activated by clicking on the icon "Book" in the address bar. When activated, the content of the article opens in an easy-to-read format without site navigation elements.
In the settings block "Reading" You can set the background style and font size for the specified mode. For convenience, turn it on to see changes immediately.
Additional Microsoft Edge browser options
Useful little things
Here you can enable the display of the home page button, and also enter the address of this page.
Next, it offers the option to use pop-up blockers and . Without the latter, some sites may not display all elements and video may not work. You can also activate the keyboard navigation mode, which allows you to navigate around the web page using the keyboard.
Privacy and Security
In this block you can manage the function of saving passwords entered into data forms and the ability to send requests "Do Not Track". The latter means that sites will receive a request asking them not to track your activities.
Below you can define a new search service and enable search query suggestions as you type.
The option to save licenses of protected files on your PC can be disabled, because in most cases, this option only clogs the hard drive with unnecessary garbage.
The page prediction feature involves sending data about user behavior to Microsoft so that the browser can predict your actions in the future, for example, by loading the page you are about to go to in advance. Whether it is necessary or not is up to you to decide.
SmartScreen is similar to a firewall that prevents unsafe web pages from loading. In principle, if you have an antivirus installed with this function, then SmartScreen can be disabled.
In Windows 10, Microsoft introduced the new Edge browser to the user audience, which has finally replaced Internet Explorer, famous for its speed. This voluminous article is entirely devoted to the topic of this Internet browser and will answer the following user questions:
- how to customize the program for yourself;
- whether to use Edge as the default browser and how to do it;
- how to remove Microsoft Edge on Windows 10;
- what is remarkable about the reading mode;
- how to deactivate Edge without uninstalling;
- how to replace the search engine in a web browser.
Microsoft Edge is the default web browser and offline viewer in Windows 10. According to the program developers, it will be quite different from the previous IE, because almost all the code for the new browser was written from scratch.
In view of this, the application has a stylish interface, has good loading and display speeds for pages with any content, and is fully compatible with new network technologies. In addition to this, Internet Explorer also remains in the system, which has not changed much either in terms of performance or interface.
Let's consider what is remarkable about this program and how it may interest the average user.
User Experience Environment
Once launched, Microsoft Edge displays a user news feed with a search bar (omnibank - a combination of address and search bar) in the center of the window. News is arranged based on browsing history, but the “Customize” button will help you select more interesting topics to display on the start page.
At the top there is a toolbar consisting of the following buttons:
An interesting feature is the “reading” function, which can be activated on any page (more on this later). Through configuration options, you can add a Home icon to the toolbar.
In the window header there is a tab bar, which is nothing new. The functions of opening, closing, moving tabs, opening closed and creating new tabs work exactly the same as in other web browsers. The most visited pages are displayed in a new tab. Moving an individual tab to the side will open it in a new window. In general, nothing special.
Reading mode
Microsoft did not ignore the idea of the Safari developers regarding the reading mode. When it is activated, the page expands to full screen, and all unnecessary content is removed from it: advertising content, menus, multimedia, leaving only text, graphics and links related to this content. This makes it very convenient to read articles.
Another mode is activated using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+R, and the combination Ctrl+G will open the reading list. It displays materials marked for later reading.
Adding content to your reading list is similar to adding something to your favorites. To do this, click on the star icon while on the desired page. After this, the user will be able to open the favorites list at any time and begin studying the added text materials. Unfortunately, this requires an active connection to the Internet, because the pages are not saved to your hard drive.
Creating web notes (annotations)
Another fresh idea implemented in Microsoft Edge is the ability to create annotations - notes, by drawing with a classic brush over open pages.
The mode is activated by clicking on the pencil icon.
Other functions
This section will talk about things familiar to all Internet users, such as bookmarks, browsing history, and downloads. They open by clicking on the button with three horizontal lines.
In the panel that opens, you can examine the list of downloaded files, open or go to the storage directory, delete any of them from the list or disk, and also clear the download history. Pinning any of the tabs is done by clicking on the pin icon.
Latest browser features in Windows 10 edition 1607
With the advent of the Anniversary Update in August 2016, the ability to expand the functionality of Edge through plugins (add-ons) appeared.
While their list is small, the store is constantly growing.
The second innovation is tab pinning, as in all more famous browsers. This is done through the context menu of the target tab.
After this, the tab will shrink in size and move to the left border of the Internet browser window, and will remain there even after the next time the browser window is opened.
There is also a new menu item called “New Features and Recommendations.” After clicking on the link, a page will open with tips, guides and recommendations for working with the program, compiled by Microsoft representatives.
Setting up Edge
To visit the Internet browser settings menu, click on the icon with three dots forming a circle. In the interface that opens, everything is clear even to a complete beginner, and little needs detailed explanation, so we will only focus on options that can really cause difficulties for inexperienced users.
- New InPrivate window - activates the Incognito function, familiar to most users from other Internet browsers. In this mode of operation, the program does not store the history of downloads or pages viewed, does not offer to save passwords, does not remember data entered into text forms, and deletes the cache and cookies after closing the browser window.
- Pinning to the Start Screen - the function will place a thumbnail of the page at the time it is saved as a tile in Start for quick access to the resource without first launching the browser.
The following parameters are also found here:
- Select a theme (light and dark designs are available), here you can also disable the bookmarks panel.
- Setting the start page of the Internet browser in the “Open with” menu. If you need to specify a specific address, click on the “Specific page/pages” item, and then enter or paste the desired Internet address from the buffer.
- “Open new tabs with” will help you select content to display in new tabs that open so that they are not empty.
- “Best Sites” - the most popular resources on the RuNet are posted here until you visit a sufficient number of sites to generate any visit statistics.
- Clearing browsing/download history, deleting browser cache/cookies.
- Go to advanced web browser options.
Edge's advanced options allow you to:
- Activate the visualization of the home page button or remove this icon.
- Enable/disable integrated pop-up blocker, Flash player core, keyboard navigation.
- Replace the address bar search engine or add the missing search engine and set it as the default one.
- Configure privacy settings (request to store a login password, Cortana integration, cookie storage, use of the site load forecasting function).
More detailed information on this matter is located on the official Microsoft resource at: http://windows.microsoft.com/ru-ru/windows-10/edge-privacy-faq.
Changing the Edge search engine to Google, after adding it to the list of search engines
When visiting the settings of a new browser, users are horrified to discover that the item responsible for the search bar does not contain Google, which is the most popular and high-quality search service. But Bing takes its place.
But there is no need to be sad, because the problem can be solved very simply: go to the Google website and again visit “Advanced settings”. The feature worked - Google appeared in the list of available search engines.
Having studied the capabilities of the new browser, many users conclude that they have no use for such a program and are not going to switch to Edge. And what’s more, they don’t need this web browser at all, which very often happened with the impractical IE.
Below we will look at how to remove Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 in all possible ways, as well as isolate the program from the system without resorting to uninstallation.
Removing the Internet browser by erasing the Edge files directory
More experienced users, if they need to uninstall an application, start looking for a directory with its name or the name of the developer in Start. If the search process is unsuccessful, go to the Control Panel applet, which is responsible for installing and uninstalling applications (less often, to a more functional program that replaces and even prevails over standard tools in terms of functionality). But in our case, the new browser from Edge is not listed in the “Add/Remove Programs” item, because the developers did not create the browser from scratch so that it could be quickly and easily removed.
The easiest way to get rid of a program is to delete the directory with its distribution from your hard drive. To erase the contents of a folder with Edge, do the following:
1. Enter the address C:\Windows\SystemApps, where C is the letter label of the system volume;
2. Find the directory Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_xxx, where xxx is a set and a dozen numbers indicating the build of Windows, the version and build of the browser itself and open its properties dialog;
3. Check the “Read Only” option if it is not checked, then click “Apply” and “OK”;
4. Change the name of the executable files in MicrosoftEdge.exe and MicrosoftEdgeCP.exe to absolutely any available ones.
This may require TrustedInstaller permissions.
After changing the path to the program's executable files, the system will have nothing to access, which will reduce the number of Internet browser launches caused by the operating system. If necessary, you can delete the directory with the program itself, which is not recommended - the program will stop bothering you anyway.
Uninstalling the Edge browser using the extended command line
Windows 10 is equipped with a tool that surpasses the command line in functionality and allows you to perform actions on system files that are inaccessible to the usual cmd.exe utility, even when operating with administrator privileges. Its capabilities also include the function of disabling many utilities at the system level, which also applies to Edge. To accomplish this task, perform the following steps:
1. Call PowerShell using the Windows 10 search engine by entering the key into it and selecting “Run as administrator” in the context menu of the application icon.
2. We execute the command to visualize data about all system tools: Get-AppxPackage.
3. In the list of applications that appears, look for the line where the Name is “Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge”.
4. Copy the program version from the “PackageFullName” line.
It will look like this:
Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_38.14393.0.0_neutral_8wekyb3b8bbwe.
5. Execute the command to disable the Edge program, which will look like this:
Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_38.14393.0.0_neutral_8wekyd3d8bbwe | Remove-AppxPackage
With the successful execution of the system command, the Internet browser will be deactivated in the system, and Windows 10 will not offer to use this program to view Internet pages or HTML documents.
Disable Edge using unofficial apps
Some programmers who find it unacceptable to have an unnecessary browser in Windows 10 have created tiny utilities to block this application. The most practical and really working program is Edge Blocker, the latest version of which can be downloaded from the resource at: www.sordum.org/downloads/?st-edge-block. It fixes a problem with browser performance on some 64-bit Windows 10.
After downloading, the archive with the application should be unpacked in a convenient place. Next, launch the application and click on the “Block” button. Immediately after this, the web browser will be blocked. If it is in demand, launch Edge Blocker again and click on the “Unblock” button.
