Can't Stop Edge from Opening at Startup

Anonymous
2021-04-05T17:07:03+00:00

I imagine this is very old news, but I thought I'd put it together, maybe Microsoft or Community can help.

I’ve got Windows 10. After an update, Microsoft Edge is now apparently permanently running at startup. Since I primarily game using the machine, the Edge startup is an annoyance, repeated now hundreds of times. I must shut off the program each time to see my background. So, I embarked on a journey to disable Edge at startup. It’s been fruitless.

I can only assume marketing elements at Microsoft said: “Let’s make Edge activate on startup to sell it. The people are sheep, and they won’t be able to not use the program, if IT’S ALWAYS THERE.”

I’ve now spent hours looking for fixes and trying to resolve this. Here’s what I tried (nothing worked):

1.

Open Task manager > Startup Tab
Look for Microsoft Edge then Disable

(Edge wasn’t listed)

2.

Press Start then search Settings
Select Accounts. >Click Sign in Options.
Scroll all the way down and turn off "Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart,"

(Turned it off, didn’t stop it)

3.

Press WIN+R to open Run
Type in shell:startup then hit Enter.
Look for Edge inside the folder then delete it.

(Edge wasn’t listed, the folder was empty)

4.

Click on start menu (Left bottom of screen) Type cmd in keyboard Command prompt option will appear. Right-click on Command Prompt. Select Run as Administrator. Then type sfc /scannow (Space before slash) there and hit enter. Let the scan be 100% and completed. Then: Again click on start menu(Left bottom of screen) Type cmd in keyboard Command prompt option will appear. Right-click on Command Prompt. Select Run as Administrator. Then type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (Space before all slash) Hit Enter Let the scan be 100% and completed. After that restart your pc. Then please try updating from this https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/3159635/windows-10-update-assistant link manually then again restart the pc. You will be updated.

(I may have been updated, but it didn’t help. I restarted the computer, tried all the above fixes, no help.)

(BTW, this fix was given to me by a Microsoft Help Chat agent. Funny I couldn’t find it online. Well, now you will be able to.)

(Microsoft or somebody, please tell me I’m wrong, and I don’t have to see this crappy marketing scheme play out again indefinitely.)

Microsoft Edge | Other | Windows 10

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Anonymous
2022-01-13T23:12:17+00:00

Hello, 

Edge version 97.0.1072.62 contains the fix and will be installed per your regular update policies over the next day or so. If you'd like to force the update immediately, you can head over to edge://settings/help in the address bar or Settings > About Microsoft Edge and trigger the update manually.

If you've made any registry edits or GPO changes as mitigation, you can revert those after the update!

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-06-25T17:45:58+00:00

    I had the same problem. Everything suggested didn't work. Even edited group policy under Microsoft Components, Edge, prevent from auto starting. Didn't work. I didn't like the computer telling me I could not do something with my own system. Edge eats up cycles in the background, and I got tired of going to the task manager to shut it down, sometimes five, six or seven instances, not to mention the huge delay and hang of the system when edge updater ran.

    Then I tried to think of someone smarter than I, and wondered what he would do. (or she).

    So, I thought a car cannot work without its motor. So I searched for all instances of msedge.exe on my computer and renamed them to msedge.bak. Easier than I thought. I also renamed edgeupdate.exe to .bak and that stop that program from running. This way I don't damage my system while keeping edge intact. I can always rename it back to .exe any time I want, should I feel the need.

    Why? Why do we go to this kind of trouble? Well, as I mentioned, people like me don't like the computer telling us we can't do something with our own system, especially when elevated to administrator. Second, I consider Opera a superior browser as it boots three times faster and I simply trust it better--trust it to not send or track data to Microsoft without my consent. Opera also has far more controls over the system than does Edge. I would use the open source Firefox, but it takes up to ten seconds to load. And I've never had any security issues with Opera--not with the firewall and Defender behind it.

    My reasons are my own, and that's my take on it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-05-05T21:39:08+00:00

    wouldn't it be easier for microsoft to simply not turn edge into an unwanted pop up?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-05-05T21:30:35+00:00

    I tried all 4 steps ...

    It's not easy to see which steps you tried. The most common reason for this behaviour recently is the Windows Spotlight feature, which uses Edge to download the Bing image of the day. This shouldn't by itself cause the browser to open, but it does for some users. Open Windows Settings, then Personalization > Lock screen. Under Background, select Picture or Slideshow instead of Windows Spotlight.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-05-05T17:43:56+00:00

    I tried all 4 steps multiple times and I've tried some other suggestions in the comments, and so far no luck. This Microsoft Edge Bug is making me question using Windows in general. I may look into other operating systems that don't come with malware preinstalled.

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