Microsoft keeps its Windows operating system running smoothly by releasing regular updates. In its monthly Patch Tuesday update, many vulnerabilities are fixed.
However, in one of the latest updates, Microsoft has enabled its Edge browser to launch automatically when your computer starts. If Edge isn’t your default browser, that’s annoying. But just closing it from the desktop won’t close it.
Read on to see what you need to do to free up valuable memory and kill the process completely.
Here is the backstory
While it’s unclear when the problems started or with which update, many Windows 10 and 11 users have reported over the past few weeks that Edge starts automatically when you log into your computer.
This means that Microsoft has added Edge to startup apps without your knowledge. The company has faced an uphill battle to attract more users, as millions of people prefer Google’s Chrome or Mozilla’s Firefox.
You can close Edge every time you launch it, but that will get annoying fast. Sure, it’s out of sight, but it’s not out of memory. So closing Edge, in theory, just minimizes it, but the process is still running in the background. This consumes valuable internal memory, which can slow down your computer.
You’re also out of luck if you’re fed up and want to get rid of Edge. The company explains on a support page that Edge is Windows’ default browser and you can’t remove it from your PC.
What can you do about it
So what can you do if you can’t uninstall Edge and closing the app doesn’t do the job? There are a few options. The easiest way is to disable Edge as the default browser.
How to choose the default browser in Windows:
- Right click on the Begin button and select Settings.
- Click on Apps, then click Default apps on the left panel.
- Scroll down and click Web browser. Then choose your preferred browser.
Another option is to disable Edge launching on startup. Here’s how:
- Right click on the Begin button and select Settings.
- Click on Apps, then click start.
- Scroll down until you see Microsoft Edge and toggle cursor next to the stop position.
If Edge is already running in the background, you can stop the process through Task Manager.
- Right click on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen and select Task Manager.
- Scroll down under the Process tab until you see Microsoft Edgethen right click on the process and click Final task. You may need to do this multiple times, depending on how many times it runs.
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