Want To Ditch Edge On Windows 11? Microsoft Says No, But You Still Have Option

While it's been quite a while since Microsoft released Edge, it still isn't exactly well-liked. Strangely, one of the biggest reasons people dislike it is the extent to which Microsoft pushes users toward it. For instance, in February 2025, Microsoft was caught redirecting people to a page promoting Edge every time they searched "how to uninstall Microsoft Edge" on Bing.

The page essentially sang Edge's praises and didn't hold back on throwing shade at its biggest competitor, Google Chrome, claiming things like, "Edge delivers, on average, 25 extra minutes of battery life compared to Chrome." Ironically, the page didn't include a single word about actually uninstalling Edge. Microsoft eventually took it down after social media caught wind of it, but even the replacement page doesn't mention the word "uninstall" once. Instead, it's just another list of reasons why Microsoft thinks Edge is the best Chromium browser out there.

Since Edge comes pre-installed on every Windows 10 and 11 PC, and users are often forced to use it for certain system features, many want out and wish they could remove it from their PC entirely. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft doesn't want that. On a Microsoft Support page, the company explains that Edge is the default web browser for Windows and is an "essential component" of Windows that can't be uninstalled.

You can test the above yourself by going to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Installed Apps" and locating Microsoft Edge in the list. When you click the three dots next to it, you'll see the "Uninstall" button grayed out.

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However, if you're in the EU (or if your PC's region was set to an EEA country during setup), the "Uninstall" button won't be grayed out, meaning you can remove Edge like any other app or program.

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But what if you live elsewhere? Fortunately, you still have a few options to stop it from being all up your face and reduce how often it pops up. 

If one of the main reasons you want to uninstall Microsoft Edge is because you're tired of it launching every time you start up your PC, you can prevent it from starting automatically. The easiest way to do this is through Task Manager. While there are multiple ways to launch Task Manager on Windows, the most straightforward is to simply type "Task Manager" into the Windows search bar, open it, click the three horizontal bars in the top-left corner, and select "Startup apps" from the menu. You'll see a list of every app that launches when you boot up your PC. Find Microsoft Edge (listed as "msedge"), right-click on it, and choose "Disable" from the context menu.

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You can also remove traces of Edge from your PC's interface. To remove it from your Taskbar, right-click on the Edge icon on the Taskbar and select "Unpin from taskbar" from the options. To remove the Microsoft Edge shortcut from your desktop, right-click on it and click the trashcan icon to delete it. To unpin it from the Start Menu, simply locate Edge under the "Pinned" section, right-click on it, and select "Unpin from Start."

Once you've done the above, the next best thing is to install your preferred browser (if you haven't already) and set it as your default. This way, any links you click will open automatically in the browser of your choice instead of Edge. If you're unsure which browser to choose, our team tested four popular browsers and shortlisted the one with the lowest RAM usage, which might help you decide. Once you're all set, head to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Default apps," locate your preferred browser, and click it. You'll then see a prompt that says, "Make [Browser Name] your default browser," with a "Set default" button next to it. Click the button, and you're good to go!

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At this point, you can essentially ignore any remaining traces of Edge and rely on your default browser for the most part. While people on YouTube and forums like Reddit have had luck uninstalling Edge via the Registry Editor, it's a very time-consuming and tedious process. If you're unfamiliar with the Registry Editor and haven't used it before, it can also be quite risky, and one wrong move could create more problems than it solves. Even if you manage to successfully uninstall Microsoft Edge this way, it might end up appearing again automatically after a future Windows update. As such, it's usually best to avoid this method and stick to pretending Edge doesn't exist at all.