Why Does Microsoft Edge Keep Opening?

There’s always one app that won’t leave you alone, no matter how often you close it. For many people, that app is Microsoft Edge. Depending on your settings, this browser can open at startup or run in the background without permission. If you don’t know your way around computers, it can be challenging to get to the root of this problem. 

Microsoft Edge comes as the default software for several file types on Windows 10. Everything from help documents to PDFs and even images will open in this browser even when you have other software installed for those purposes.

How to Stop Microsoft Edge From Opening Without Permission

When Microsoft Edge runs at startup or opens a file, it can be a small annoyance. However, when it runs in the background, this can be a significant drain on PC resources. Below are step-by-step solutions to keep these problems at bay. 

Stop Microsoft Edge From Opening on Startup

So Microsoft Edge is opening and attempting to continue your previous browsing session when you sign in. Don’t worry! You can stop this by disabling this function for all apps. To do this, you need to:

• Press Start and open Settings.
• Go to Account and look for Sign-in options.
• Find Restart apps and turn off the setting that allows them to reload after you sign in.

You can alternatively leave this setting turned on and simply remember to close Microsoft Edge every time you log out. This way, your other apps will restart, but Edge will remain closed.

If Microsoft Edge is running every time you start your computer regardless of whether you were previously using it, you can:

• Go to Start and open Settings.
• Search for Apps and click on Startup.
• Look for Microsoft Edge and turn it off.

Choose a Different Default Program for Web Browsing and Opening Files

To open your links in an app of your choice, you need to set a new default browser instead of Microsoft Edge. This action takes only two steps:

• Press Start and type in “Default Apps.”
• Under Web browser, you can select a new default application.

From here, if you want to change the default apps for those files that currently open in Microsoft Edge, you can:

• Click on Set defaults by app at the bottom of the Default Apps.
• Select Microsoft Edge to see each file type it can open.
• Choose your desired default app for each file type.

Stop Microsoft Edge Running in the Background

Microsoft Edge often runs installed extensions in the background to keep them updated. If you can sometimes see MicrosoftEdge.exe and similar processes running when the browser is not open, these running extensions are the culprits. To stop this from happening, you can:

• Open Microsoft Edge, click the three dots next to the address bar.
• Select Settings.
• Go to System and disable “Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed.”
• Close Microsoft Edge.
• Press Start and open Settings.
• Choose Privacy and then Background apps. If Microsoft Edge is on the list of apps, turn it off.

Advanced users can also use the Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor to do this.

Conclusion

Hopefully, by now, Microsoft Edge no longer opens without permission, and you’ve been able to choose a browser or app that suits your needs. In addition to this problem, many people also find issues with websites not loading correctly in their preferred browser. 

Most times, you can solve this problem by merely learning how to enable JavaScript. This widely-used programming language allows you to view any of their interactive content, such as audio or animations. These perks will allow you to enjoy your browsing experience freely and without interruptions.