Windows users will not please you. They didn’t like Internet Explorer, which is present in all versions of the system, now they attacked the new Edge browser with fierce criticism, which in the tenth modification was made by the default browser. And immediately a bunch of questions rained up about how to remove Edge in Windows 10. The issue has become so fundamental that many people simply don’t want to use the browser. But let's see what can be done painlessly for the system.
Microsoft Edge: uninstall or disable?
By and large, the browser itself does not take up much space in terms of the used hard disk space. Moreover, if you use the default program section, no one bothers you to install any other browser available in the system as the main tool for accessing the Internet.
But for some reason, many people want to know exactly how to remove Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 so that there is no trace of it in the system. Well, you have to give some advice, but you need to follow them only at your own discretion (and sometimes at your own peril and risk).
How to remove Windows Edge in Windows 10 in the most barbaric way?
The most interesting thing is that if Explorer was presented as a separate folder in the software components and in the system directory, there is nothing similar with the Edge browser. Finding it is quite difficult. But you can try.
In order not to search for a long time, you should enter the root directory of the system, and in it go to the SystemApps directory. This is where the notorious browser folder is located, the name of which begins with Microsoft.Microsoft.Edge_, and then an incomprehensible set of numbers and letters follows. The browser is disguised as needed.
For the folder itself, through RMB in the properties, you need to set the Read-only attribute, then rename the EXE files MicrosoftEdge and MicrosoftEdgeCP (this may require permission from the TrustedInstaller service). Such actions do not remove, but restrict access from the Windows system services or third-party applets that try to use the browser as a default means of opening web pages. After renaming, you can, of course, try to delete the entire folder. But you should think about the consequences.
How to remove Edge browser from Windows 10 using PowerShell tools?
It’s much easier and safer to use the PowerShell Advanced Command Line Toolkit. In this case, we are talking about the use of batch removal commands for Windows system programs that are not deleted in the usual way.
We call the "Run" console and in the command line register powershell. The launch is made on behalf of the admin. If the button is not indicated by the shield icon with the emblem, we launch the console through a search followed by RMB or through a file in the System32 folder.
Now enter Get-AppxPackage and find the full name of the browser in the list. After that, copy it, enter the command Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_20.10240.17317_neutral_8wekyb3d8bbwe | Remove-AppxPackage to deactivate the browser or Remove-AppxPackage with a space after the full name of the program (as shown in the first paragraph) to completely remove the application. Then choose for yourself what you need. But the solution to the problem of how to remove Windows Edge in Windows 10 does not end there, especially since in our case there remains one more cardinal tool, which often gives at least, and maybe even more effective results.
Removing a browser using third-party utilities
The above methods do not look unacceptable to many users, but rather complicated. Therefore, if you are interested in how to remove Windows Edge in Windows 10 in a faster and easier way, you should turn to special uninstall programs for help, the easiest of which is the iObit Uninstaller utility.
Everything is simple here. Launch the application. Naturally, the browser will not be shown in the list of installed programs. To view system components, use Win Manager, select system applications, find the browser there and press the button with the image of the basket. After that, the uninstallation starts, after which you need to select all the remaining components of the in-depth scan, check the box next to the recommendation to destroy files and click the clear button. Reboot the system and ... Edge browser is not in it!
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These are, in general terms, the principles for deactivating and removing the Edge browser. By and large, you can simply deactivate it by setting any other browser as the main one. You can even block access to it. But deletion is absolutely optional, although for that matter, the execution of such operations, especially with the help of special programs, should not cause problems.