Edgebashedon

Topic

New Reply

No, it’s nothing to do with cricket venue, although in the linked article below, the umpire calls out! and is stumped whilst Microsoft is bowling wide and low…

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/microsoft-edge-personalized-web-got-it-annoyance.html

I’d also add that Google and Microsoft have recently been in a browser extension/ search engine spat, namely, a Google Docs placeholder in Edge and Bing browser optional popup in Chrome.

Yet another reason neither will set foot on any of our systems, so, back to your respective locker rooms.

Although, the description of Edge in the article made me laugh out loud.
“hyperactive neurotic low-IQ product for the masses”

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

6 users thanked author for this post.

WSbobby-p, wavy, Myst, Cybertooth, Carl D, Alex5723

Reply | Quote

Replies

Ha, that description of Edge made me laugh out loud too. But also that the author of the article installed Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome on Linux, two of the biggest proprietary closed source spyware laden web browsers that make constant connections to their respective maker and defeat the purpose of using Linux/open source software.

Thus why both Edge and Chrome have never set foot on my systems either even when I used Windows (now on Linux Mint). The closest to either I have ever used is Ungoogled Chromium as a secondary web browser, which strips out all Google web service dependencies/connections. Otherwise been using Firefox ESR as my primary web browser tweaked with some tips/tricks from Arkenfox user.js for additional privacy and security.

4 users thanked author for this post.

WSbobby-p, Cybertooth, Carl D, Microfix

Reply | Quote

“Microsoft Edge is starting to annoy me big time”

Actually, it’s been annoying me (and presumably many others) for quite some time now.

What is it with these constant, almost daily browser updates? One only needs to look here to see how ridiculous browser “updates” for the 3 ‘main’ browsers have become these days.

https://www.tenforums.com/browsers-email/

I don’t use Google Chrome and never have but I can see from there that it’s just as annoying with it’s constant updates as Edge is with Firefox coming in third (but rapidly catching up on the other two).

I understand that security updates are necessary but (in the case of Edge especially) the majority of “updates” seem to be just adding more useless bloat which most people will probably never use and is always turned on by default of course.

As I said, I mainly use Firefox but I do keep Edge updated but it is starting to get very time consuming to go through all of Edge’s settings after an update to see what extra bloat has been added and turn it off.

It really seems to be a competition to see which browser can add the most (mostly useless) bloat and then claim that “our browser is better than the others”, isn’t it? I wouldn’t be surprised if job security and keeping workers ‘gainfully employed’ has something to do with it as well (this also applies to Windows itself and most other major software too, I’ll bet).

Also, (and yes, I’m also looking at you, Firefox) I don’t need a new tab opening up every time there’s a major version update telling me”Your browser has been updated to the latest version” and/or “What’s New”. Edge is also extra annoying in this regard because the new tabs don’t usually open after Edge is restarted following an update but one or two restarts later.

It’s getting to the stage where I’m going to implement a “Browser Patch Day” for Edge and Firefox and just update them once a month, like “Patch Tuesday” for Windows and keep them ‘locked down’ in between patch days.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Microfix, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

Carl D wrote:

“Microsoft Edge is starting to annoy me big time”

Actually, it’s been annoying me (and presumably many others) for quite some time now.

What is it with these constant, almost daily browser updates?
…
I understand that security updates are necessary but (in the case of Edge especially) the majority of “updates” seem to be just adding more useless bloat which most people will probably never use and is always turned on by default of course.

Edge has had 25 updates in the last four months (15 of which included security fixes). So it updates about every five days on average, and only eight out of 25 introduced any new features (two per month on average).

Reply | Quote

@CarlD,
Something to ponder in easing the browser update burdens..

Mozilla Firefox:
If Firefox ESR is used instead of mainstream Firefox, there are rarely updates during a month which eases the Mozilla browser update burden.
Losing some browser toys, whilst maintaining security and stability has been my preferred choice for years.

Microsoft Edge:
TIP: with an image backup prior to removal
As far as Edge goes, it can safely be removed from W10 and 11 without affecting the OS integrity using either batch scripts/ Revo uninstaller and if desired, further manual surgery post removal.
Result: the Edge update burden is gone on both 22H2 versions of windows.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

3 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, WSbobby-p, Carl D

Reply | Quote

Microfix wrote:

Result: the Edge update burden is gone

What update burden? It’s automatic in the background.

Reply | Quote

This one

Carl D wrote:

I do keep Edge updated but it is starting to get very time consuming to go through all of Edge’s settings after an update to see what extra bloat has been added and turn it off.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

5 users thanked author for this post.

WSbobby-p, wavy, Cybertooth, PKCano, Carl D

Reply | Quote

Edge is obviously designed and built to appeal to everyday non-technical users, and in todays internet saturated world, the number of non-technical users must be staggering.

I hop on Edge once in while just see what MS is doing with it. I find it interesting from the above perspective. Of course Edge only has a small percent of global market share now, but like Google, MS has deep pockets and perseverance.

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

Reply | Quote

On the bright side FireFox is getting closer to Edge.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Carl D

Reply | Quote

TechTango wrote:

MS has deep pockets and perseverance.

Deep pockets won’t help Edge. Nothing will.
Edge is the third most used browser(~10%) after Chrome and Safari.

Reply | Quote

Deep pockets won’t help Edge.

You  may be right.   I’m a bystander not rooting either way with Edge.

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

Reply | Quote

b wrote:

Microfix wrote:

Result: the Edge update burden is gone

What update burden? It’s automatic in the background.

Not for me it isn’t.

I don’t allow Edge, Firefox, Thunderbird email, all other software and even Windows itself to update automatically.

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier – because I have a Standard User Account for everyday use it means I have to go through and check Edge’s settings twice to see what’s been added (and turned on by default) every time there’s an update – I have to check the Standard User Account and the ‘default’ Administrator Account which was set up when installing Windows.

Twice the “fun”!

2 users thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth, Microfix

Reply | Quote

wavy wrote:

On the bright side FireFox is getting closer to Edge.

Just imagine – if Mozilla could have afforded the marketing ”clout’ of Google and Firefox had been included as an optional install included with just about every free piece of software – even motherboard driver install disks (and ticked to install by default) – over the past 10 to 15 years then I’m sure Firefox would be the #1 browser today and not Google Chrome.

Over the years I’ve had quite a few not so computer savvy family and friends asking me “what’s this Google Chrome and how did it get on my computer?” because they’ve obviously just “clicked through” without reading (as most people do) during the installation of software (even motherboard drivers as I’ve mentioned above).

And I’m guessing that each Google Chrome install (whether the PC owner is aware of it or not) counted towards the total number of Chrome users.

Reply | Quote

Carl D wrote:

And I’m guessing that each Google Chrome install (whether the PC owner is aware of it or not) counted towards the total number of Chrome users.

They count usage, not installations.

Reply | Quote

As an optional aside to this thread..

DISCLAIMER: This is entirely at your own risk, I nor the askwoody team, bear any responsibility in borking your, or should I say microsoft’s OS.
Although I am entirely confident that those who do not use or wish Edge on their system can do so safely using a batch file.

So…
Have a third party browser installed in W10 and do not use or wish to use Edge, Celebrate!, as a clever batch file achieves the desired edge removal with a manual tidy up later.

BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE:
Since running this batch file, edge hasn’t appeared since the beginning of the year, when executed, leaving a dormant edge.wim on three W10 22H2 hardware installation devices, no updates and no hassle.
DISM does not agree to the edge.wim removal on a live system, I can live with that, so onto the batch file in question:

Download link

IMPORTANT:
As ever, image/ backup prior to proceeding any further…

NOTE:
If anyone needs webview for anything else, an edit will be required to the downloaded batch file. From within the batch file before executing, set the following to 0 like so:

$also_remove_webview = 0

and save.

OFFLINE:
Once the system has been imaged and preparations made, disconnect from your online connection, then execute the batch file by right-clicking and selecting RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR, otherwise problems will occur and you’ll be restoring an image sooner than you would like..

Once complete you can ignore the firefox prompt at the end if you already have a preferred 3rd party browser installed.
Then restart the system.

TIDYUP:
Upon a system restart, first check over file associations to point your preferred browser.

A ‘Scripts’ folder in the root directory is created once complete which, can safely be read if you wish and deleted when tidying up loose ends.

After a Registry, Profile, Program Files, ProgramData tidy up
DISM and SFC all good here thereafter (since Jan 2023)

Only remains to bless the author for giving all their time, dedication, testing and improvements in supplying a very clever batch file for those who want to..

(updated/ improved again recently 28th Aug 2023, unlike many apps when copious amounts of digital water has run under the bridge)

ADDENDUM: this currently works in Windows 11 22H2 also, although, for how long is unknown…

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

3 users thanked author for this post.

Alex5723, Cybertooth, PKCano

Reply | Quote

Thank you, great info. I’d be very tempted to use this on my work PC (Windows 10 Enterprise) to get rid of Edge and in particular Webview2. However they block .bat files from running (for security purposes).

I have no use for Edge as Google Chrome is the company’s chosen default web browser and Firefox ESR is used as a secondary browser. As to Webview2 I know it’s tied to Office 365 install and will randomly spawn numerous processes even though I do not use any features in Office that need it as I can kill it via Task Manager without any negative effect to any Office functionality (it takes repeated attempts to end task it before it goes away). I can uninstall Webview2 via Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. But at some point it gets re-installed by some Office 365 process/task and will start spawning numerous processes again like malware and takes repeated attempts again to end task it.

I despise Webview2, Office 365, Edge and even Windows 10 as well. Never had any of these issues when we used Windows 7 and Office 2016. They were much more reliable and worked so much better without all these extraneous random processes always attempting to run and bogging down the system.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Myst, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

unfortunately, that Edge removal script hasn’t been updated for many months and an issue was filed on github almost a few months ago that it could no longer remove newer versions of Edge

2 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, satrow

Reply | Quote

EP wrote:

… it could no longer remove newer versions of Edge

And it cannot.  I just gave it a go and it failed.  Opened Revo Uninstaller Pro > Forced Uninstall and got it uninstalled for real again.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

3 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, satrow, Bob99

Reply | Quote