Fantastic Microsoft Edge Annoyances and Where to Disable Them

I needed to use Edge for something recently and was annoyed at the sheer volume of worthless junk settings that are enabled by default. I figured I'd chronicle all the stuff I disabled for reference.

If you are forced to use Edge over Firefox, I hope you find the following modest list of annoying default settings helpful. Almost all of these should be turned off if you value privacy, security, and a browser that performs the sole purpose of browsing without any other nonsense.

It is worth nothing that I omitted a select few settings that some may wish to disable. Please be aware of this and make any adjustments in accordance with your own personal preferences.

Last updated 2023-05-25, version 113.0.1774.50 (Official build) (64-bit)

Validated on Windows. Untested on Linux/macOS/mobile operating systems.

If I missed anything, let me know in an Issue!

Settings

Profiles

• Sync
  • Turn off sync
• Microsoft Rewards
  • Turn off "Earn Microsoft Rewards in Microsoft Edge"
• Personal info
  • Uncheck "Save and fill basic info"
  • Uncheck "save and fill custom info"
• Payment info
  • Turn off "Save and fill payment info"
• Profile preferences
  • Uncheck "Allow single sign-on for work or school sites using this profile"
• Share browsing data with other Windows features
  • Uncheck "Share browsing data with other Windows features"
• Privacy, search, and services
  • Privacy
    • Uncheck "Allow sites to check if you have payment methods saved"
  • Services
    • Disable all under "Services" - this is junk like coupons, Shopping, nonprofit stuff, etc.
  • Disable "Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors"
  • Disable "Suggest similar sites when a website can't be found"
  • Disable "Save time and money with Shopping in Microsoft Edge"
  • Disable "Get notifications of related things you can explore with Discover"
  • Address bar and search -> Search engine used in the address bar = DuckDuckGo
  • Security
    • Disable "Turn on site safety features to get more info about the sites you visit"
  • Search and service improvement
    • Uncheck "Help improve Microsoft products by sending the results from searches on the web"
  • Personalize your web experience
    • Uncheck "Improve your web experience by allowing Microsoft to use your browsing history from this account for personalizing advertising, search, news and other Microsoft services"
    • Address bar and search
      • Uncheck "Show me search and site suggestions using my typed characters"
• Start, home, and new tabs
  • New tab page
    • Uncheck "Preload the new tab page for a faster experience"
• Default browser
  • Internet Explorer compatibility
    • Let Internet Explorer open sites in Microsoft Edge -> "Incompatible sites only"
    • Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode -> "Allow"
• Languages
  • Uncheck "Use writing assistance"
• System and performance
  • System
    • Uncheck "Startup boost"
  • Uncheck "Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed"
  • Optimize Performance
  • Uncheck "Improve your PC gaming experience with efficiency mode"
• General Misc
  • Hide the right-hand sidebar with CTRL + Shift / or by going to the "..." menu and selecting "hide sidebar"
• New Tab page
  • At the "new tab" page, click the settings cog in the upper right and uncheck "show promoted links, "show greeting" and "new tab tips" as well as set "content" to "content off."
• Get rid of the Bing button:
  • If on the newest Edge:
    • Settings -> Sidebar > App and notification settings > Discover -> Toggle off "Show Discover."
  • If on older versions of Edge that have the button:
    • Close Edge
    • Use these PowerShell commands to create the key (run PowerShell as administrator):
      • If you want to make this mandatory (cannot change setting without reg key removal):
        • New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" -type Directory
        • New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" -Name "HubsSidebarEnabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType Dword -Force
        • If you left Edge open during this, visit edge://policy, and click reload policies.
        • A side-effect of this is you will get a "managed by your organization" notice in the Edge menu. This can be ignored.
      • If you want to make this an default-but-revertable setting:
        • New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended" -type Directory
        • New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended" -Name "HubsSidebarEnabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType Dword -Force
• Disable first run experience:
  • Use these PowerShell commands to create the key (run PowerShell as administrator):
    • New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" -type Directory
    • New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" -Name "HideFirstRunExperience" -Value 1 -PropertyType Dword -Force
• Disable default browser prompt:
  • Use these PowerShell commands to create the key (run PowerShell as administrator):
    • New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" -type Directory
    • New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" -Name "DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType Dword -Force
• Set home page to blank:
  • Use these PowerShell commands to create the key (run PowerShell as administrator):
    • New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended" -type Directory
    • New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended" -Name "HomepageLocation" -Value "about:blank" -PropertyType String -Force
• Set new tab page to blank:
  • Use these PowerShell commands to create the key (run PowerShell as administrator):
    • New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended" -type Directory
    • New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended" -Name "NewTabPageLocation" -Value "about:blank" -PropertyType String -Force

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