Giving In: Microsoft Edge (Premium)

Microsoft Edge is problematic because it’s a hub for bad behaviors in Windows 11. But would it be possible to use this browser without giving up your soul? Or worse, your privacy?

If you’re familiar with the Windows 11 Field Guide, you know that I had to add a chapter to the book to address this problem: Microsoft Edge is configured for Microsoft’s preferences, not yours, and that’s true whether you use Edge or not. If you do use Edge and make certain configuration changes, it will occasionally prompt you to switch back to what Microsoft wants. If you don’t use Edge, Windows 11 will harass you to use it, and it will make you use it in certain situations, despite your preferences. For example, Edge launches when you click a story in the Widgets feed or a web result in Windows Search.

Because of the book, I’m routinely confronted by these bad and other bad behaviors: I would love to configure Windows 11 the way I want–and, to be fair, in some cases, I do–but I have to be confronted by the Windows 11 readers will experience. And, hopefully, figure out workarounds and fixes for its worst issues.

A month ago, I experimented with the “apex mountain” of these issues by allowing Windows 11 to silently enable OneDrive Folder backup after ignoring my preferences. I did this on multiple PCs, in fact, I just reverted to the configuration I prefer on the PC I’m using to write this article. And what I discovered was that there are good reasons to disable this functionality, even while acknowledging that it can be useful for some.

Concurrent to that, I’ve also been using Microsoft Edge in Windows 11 a lot this year. I still install Brave and Chrome, and I still experiment with Opera, Vivaldi, Firefox, and other web browsers, and probably always will. But I need to keep up with what’s happening in Edge for the same reasons noted above. There’s just one difference between this experience and that of using OneDrive Folder backup, and it’s a big one. I actually like Microsoft Edge.

This is embarrassing. If I could get paid for ripping on Microsoft Edge, I’d be rich by this point.

I’m not trying to be amusing. My goal is to make people aware of why Edge is problematic. And, when possible, to live by example. But again and again, I keep finding myself using Edge. I do so in a way that I believe to be reasonably private and secure. And I know I could take that a lot further if I wasn’t concerned with having the native Microsoft experience. So we’ll get to that soon. First, allow me to give credit where credit is due. Microsoft Edge doesn’t get everything wrong.

No, really.

❤️ What I like about Microsoft Edge

Most are familiar with the phrase, “The best camera is the one you have with you.” That’s true for Windows apps, too, at least for me: Because I review so many laptops and often move between multiple PCs each day, installing, configuring, and maintaining the apps I needed can be tedious and time-consuming. I use the Windows Package Manager (winget) to bulk install apps on each laptop, but after that, I’m on my own when it comes to configuring those apps, and I’m at the mercy of whatever updaters they use. So the best-case scenario, when possible, is to not install an app. If I can use something that just comes with Windows, that’s a win. (This is true on smartphones too, and is likely even a bigger problem given the popularity of apps.)

Microsoft Edge comes with Windows. It autoconfigures most (but not all) of the features I have customized on first run since that syncs through my Microsoft account (MSA). And while it does have its own updating mechanism, Edge does a reasonably good job of making that process as painless as possible. If I can use Edge, it’s one less app to worry about.

Microsoft Edge is built on Chromium, which means that the browser should perform as well as Chrome and offer the same compatibility. You can get extensions from the Chrome Web Store if they’re not available directly from Microsoft, so everything works normally and is familiar. And it offers full support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs).

Microsoft is aggressively pushing Copilot and its other AI technologies on customers, with mixed results. And Edge was literally the first conduit for this work, alongside Bing search, when Microsoft announced its big AI push a few years back. That could be good or bad depending on your perspective, but I appreciate that the AI integration in Edge is both subtle and, if desired, avoidable. If you do want to use Copilot in Edge, which can be useful side-by-side with a web document or PDF you’re trying to figure out, it’s not in your face but is instead available in a sidebar that can be toggled on and off as needed. And if you don’t want it, Microsoft lets you simply disable it.

Even more subjectively, Microsoft Edge is, in many ways, the poster child for what a well-designed modern Windows app should be. I love its look and feel, its heavy use of WinUI 3 typography and iconography, and how it’s adapted to the curved corner look in Windows 11. I like it so much that I’ve adapted my .NETpad app with a similar look and feel.

? Solving problems

But what I wrote up top is true. Microsoft Edge is problematic. Unless you use it in the default Microsoft configuration, it will harass you, and repeatedly, to change it back. And if you don’t use Edge, Windows 11 will force it on regardless and then harass you to switch to it. As bad, Edge is a sieve for Microsoft data collection, a main vector through which is spies on its own users and then sells that data to advertisers. You need to protect yourself from Microsoft and these and other bad behaviors.

The good news? You can. Here’s how.

Use the right extensions. Privacy-focused browser extensions like Privacy Badger and AdBlock Plus will prevent Edge from phoning home to Microsoft and its advertising partners. You can see how lame Edge is by default, and how secure it is after installing these extensions by visiting the EFF’s Cover Your Tracks website and testing this and other web browsers. Without these extensions, Edge silently allows tracking ads and invisible trackers through, revealing your identity to the world. But with them installed, the EFF reports that you have strong protection against web tracking. (If you care about privacy and security, the Privacy Tests website ranks each browser in its default configuration across a wide range of tests. Not surprisingly, Brave is the best choice for desktop web browsers.)

Disable the additional tracking you may have enabled. When you first run Edge, it steps through a short wizard with a series of problematic choices. The third and worst of these choices is to “Help us make Microsoft experiences more useful to you” because it doesn’t make anything better for you, it just opens you up to even more online tracking, data harvesting, and Microsoft advertising. You can–and should–disable that. To do so, open Edge settings and navigate to Privacy settings at Privacy, search, and services > Privacy and uncheck the option “Allow Microsoft to save your browsing activity including history, usage, favorites, content, and other browsing data to personalize Microsoft Edge and Microsoft services like ads, search, shopping, and news.”

Disable Chrome settings sync. As with the previous point, Microsoft Edge also presents you with a choice during first run that will import your Chrome browser data so you can use this browser instead. That sounds like an OK idea if you are switching to Edge, but it also creates a permanent synchronization link between the two browsers so that Microsoft can track you when you use Chrome, too. If you did enable this, disable it now in Edge settings by searching for “Chrome”: You’ll see an option, “Import data from Google Chrome on each launch” that you can uncheck.

Replace the New Tab experience. The New Tab experience in Microsoft Edge is a disaster of bad design with a low-quality news feed. You can configure it, but each time you run Edge on a new PC, you’re back to the default configuration. I use a third-party New Tab page called Bonjourr instead (and it works in all web browsers). This gives me a minimalist, distraction-free New Tab page with just the web links I want. And it’s free.

Use a third-party password manager. 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, and Proton Pass (my choice) are all superior to Microsoft’s password manager and each works everywhere. Install the browser extension and then disable the password manager and autofill features in Edge. (Uncheck everything under Passwords and review the other options here.)

Use a different search engine. I also recommend changing the search engine away from Bing. But when you do this, Edge will occasionally prompt you to put it back. Unless you live in the European Union, that is. Thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Microsoft isn’t allowed to engage in this and other bad behaviors. So the rest of the world can install the Wintoys utility, which is free in the Microsoft Store, and then enable its “Digital markets act” feature, which forces DMA compliance throughout Windows 11. You can find that in Tweaks > System. But note that it requires you to reboot the PC.

Make other configuration changes that don’t sync. The other configuration changes I make are my personal preferences and may not be of interest to you. I disable sleeping tabs, for example. And in Windows 11 Settings, I take Edge tabs out of Alt + Tab in System > Multitasking > “Show tabs from apps when snapping or pressing Alt + Tab.”

Consider some optional security configuration changes. Edge has some potentially useful security features that aren’t enabled by default. In Security settings, look for “Scareware blocker,” Enhance your security on the web” and “Use Microsoft Edge Secure Network,” the latter of which is a VPN with a 5 GB monthly limit you should only use when needed. It’s worth researching the first two and maybe enabling both.

? What if you would rather not use Microsoft Edge?

If you still aren’t interested in Microsoft Edge, you should take the following steps to minimize its impact. Because in its default state, Microsoft Edge runs silently a boot time and launches in certain cases even when you’ve configured a different default browser.

Configure another browser as the default. Open Windows 11 Settings and navigate to Apps > Default apps. Find the browser you wish to use and select it. Then, click the “Set default” button. Optionally, configure PDF files to open in that browser as well.

Always use your default browser. Microsoft Edge will open when you perform certain actions in Windows 11 even after you’ve configured another browser as the default. You can fix that problem by using a free third-party utility like MSEdgeDirect. Configure it for “Active mode.”

Prevent Edge from running when your PC boots. Open Windows 11 Settings, navigate to Apps > Startup, and locate Microsoft Edge. Turn this to “Off.” Then, open Microsoft Edge, open Edge settings, navigate to System & performance > System and uncheck “Startup boost.”

Maybe uninstall Edge. This, I don’t recommend because it’s always useful to have an alternative web browser around just in case. But if you can’t stand Edge and want it gone, install Wintoys and enable the “Digital markets act” option as noted above. After you reboot, you can right-click Edge in Start and choose “Uninstall” if you want.

⚡ Final thoughts

No web browser is perfect, and Edge is less so than most. But with a few tweaks and a little oversight, you can take the good of Edge and ignore most of the bad. The result is an attractive native web browser that looks better in Windows 11 than the competition and works the way you want it to.

That said, I may have missed something here. Let me know if you have any recommendations of your own. Life is too short to browse with a compromised web browser.