# How do I block Edge? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422 "2026-07-04T22:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/1 "2026-07-04T22:41:33Z")
I never intentionally open Edge. But Microsoft has planted little landmines in my computer which causes Edge to open up without me wanting it to. Ideally, I’d like to delete Edge from my computer and block Microsoft from downloading it back into my computer. But if I can’t do that, is there any way I can lock down Edge so it never opens? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/2 "2026-07-04T22:47:45Z")
Don’t delete it, that’s likely to cause problems, if MS even allows you to. Can you tell us about some of these ‘little landmines’ so we can try to reproduce the problem? The only time Edge launches itself on my computer is if I click on a link within the Windows OS. For example, if I go into settings and search for something, then click on one of the links under “Related Support”. There may be a way to override that with some changes to the registry, but I can’t say I’ve ever gone looking. Beyond that, make sure your chosen browser is set as the default browser as well as edge not being set for any of the App Defaults. For example, make sure PDFs launch with Firefox or Adobe, but not edge. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/3 "2026-07-04T22:48:28Z")
You may have already done this, but go to “App Defaults” and make sure that Edge is not the selected app to open any kind of file. If you’ve already done that and still hit boobytraps, can you describe what kinds of things result in Edge coming up? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/4 "2026-07-04T22:51:30Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Can you tell us about some of these ‘little landmines’ so we can try to reproduce the problem? It happens when I move my mouse cursor around on the screen. There are apparently some invisible spots that launch Edge when you pass a cursor over them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/5 "2026-07-04T22:51:49Z")
I just use this: > **[GitHub - rcmaehl/MSEdgeRedirect: A Tool to Redirect News, Search, Widgets, Weather...](https://github.com/rcmaehl/MSEdgeRedirect)** > > A Tool to Redirect News, Search, Widgets, Weather and More to Your Default Browser ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/6 "2026-07-04T22:54:52Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > You may have already done this, but go to “App Defaults” and make sure that Edge is not the selected app to open any kind of file. This is the big one. Microsoft _really_ wants you to use Edge, of course, and it can be a bit of a pain to find and change all of those defaults, so that no other app opens Edge. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It happens when I move my mouse cursor around on the screen. There are apparently some invisible spots that launch Edge when you pass a cursor over them. Interesting. Just moving your cursor? That’s an odd behavior (for your computer to open an app just because you’re moving your cursor), and I’ve never experienced it myself; it makes me wonder if you are unwittingly clicking a mouse/trackpad button when you are doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/7 "2026-07-04T23:03:25Z")
Does this happen shortly after you turn the computer on, or throughout the day? I ask, because if it happens in the first 10 minutes or so, it may be that Edge is an application set to launch at startup (applications that launch at Startup, in my experience, can launch several minutes after startup, when I’m innocently doing other stuff like moving the cursor) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/8 "2026-07-04T23:35:34Z")
It happens at any time. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/9 "2026-07-04T23:46:23Z")
Oh how I hate it. I’m cruising along and then all of a sudden I find myself in Edge. “Wait a minute. What happened to my search engine” ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/10 "2026-07-04T23:47:15Z")
Does Edge open to any particular webpage? Honestly, this sounds more like malware than an Edge problem per se. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/11 "2026-07-04T23:55:00Z")
Thanks. I don’t have any other ideas at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/12 "2026-07-04T23:59:47Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Does Edge open to any particular webpage? Good question; if it’s not opening to the MSN page, it does sound like something malicious is afoot. (Well, even _more_ malicious than Microsoft pushing Edge in the first place.) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/13 "2026-07-05T00:01:06Z")
I’m also curious if it opens to any particular web page. Like ASL\_v2.0 said, it could be malware, but it could also be something like a hotkey you’re not aware of. Maybe, for example, a certain way you click the mouse, is now set to launch edge. For example, I set my mouse so that clicking the scroll wheel launches the calculator. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/14 "2026-07-05T01:51:27Z")
I would hesitate to delete it. I was having a problem with my online grocery order and I called their help line who told me to try a browser other than Firefox. I tried Edge and it worked. The grocery’s web site is still badly done, but it works with Edge–sorta. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/15 "2026-07-05T13:19:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It happens when I move my mouse cursor around on the screen. There are apparently some invisible spots that launch Edge when you pass a cursor over them. Yeah, there’s never been—and as far as I know, shouldn’t be—anything for me that gets triggered just from moving the mouse cursor around. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/16 "2026-07-05T15:57:37Z")
Going from memory, and memory isn’t great, I recall that you can uninstall Edge or at least deactivate it. However when Windows updates (security & patch updates etc.) it would replace files and activate Edge once again. You would have to uninstall/deactivate again. There are numerous sites that will walk you through if you search ‘how to uninstall edge’ or similar wording. I’ve never used Edge and I think only had an issue with it opening unexpectedly a couple times, at which time I deactivated once again. I say deactivate because I don’t think Edge is uninstallable, but again, relying on memory. You could also try a dedicated uninstaller such as Revo Uninstaller. I still use Windows 10 and no longer see any sign of Edge but don’t recall how I may have gotten rid of it. It’s always good to have a couple of different browsers available on your computer. Sites that may not work well with one browser can work with another. I use Waterfox & Brave. If Edge is opening due to your simply moving your mouse around, you have other problems. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/17 "2026-07-05T17:17:58Z")
From the Windows login/unlock screen, if you click anywhere but the PIN/password box, it opens a browser to tell you about the photo being shown as the background. I wonder if you’re clicking this way by accident, and it is opening Edge by default (because Microsoft), but it takes a few seconds after log in to show (perhaps your computer is slow) and this makes it feel like just moving your cursor around the screen opens a browser window. What page is being open randomly? Because if not this I also agree that it could just the a virus. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/18 "2026-07-05T17:39:05Z")
That’s not a bad theory! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/19 "2026-07-05T20:37:14Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m also curious if it opens to any particular web page. It’s a MSN news page. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422/20 "2026-07-05T20:39:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s a MSN news page. That sounds like the “default” home page for Edge on my Win11 machine, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-block-edge/1031422.md?page=2)