And in another episode of You think you can choose but you're wrong, Microsoft keeps doing its thing with Windows 11. In addition to declaring war on local accounts and injecting the damn Copilot icon everywhere (to such an extent that it survives PowerShell commands), we must also mention Microsoft Edge, a true carnival of digital junk and unwanted features. The MSEdge Tweaker project by "Bob Pony" on GitHub offers us a script to remove/disable some of the harmful aspects of the browser, and get a more serious work environment…
The first time you open Microsoft Edge, you encounter this:
Few phrases are as aggressive in computing as "We'll sign you in and bring your passwords". No, Microsoft: I don't want to sign in anything, nor do I want you to bring anything. All Edge has to do is shut up and open a tab, but Redmond doesn't even understand that. Now, uninstalling Microsoft Edge is a real chimera: Technically there are methods, however, it will most likely reappear in the future along with some "security update".
Malware behaves similarly... but that's a discussion for another time. What brings us here today is a new script that puts a muzzle on Microsoft Edge, disables its most annoying features, and allows us to get something closer to a rational browser. The script is called MSEdge Tweaker, and it was published by "Bob Pony" on GitHub.
How to Contain the Madness of Microsoft Edge with MSEdge Tweaker
Being a .cmd file, MSEdge Tweaker exposes all its secrets, and reduces to a series of Registry values that are injected automatically. The available options are eight:
- Disable the "welcome screen" that appears on first run
- Disable the option to import data from other browsers
- Block sign-in and sync services
- Disable the Collections feature
- Disable the sidebar
- Disable the shopping assistant
- Block sponsored links on the new tab page
- Remove the Insider banner from About
Once the changes are applied, it is necessary to restart the computer for Edge to register them correctly. Now, MSEdge Tweaker is not perfect by any means. Any potential Microsoft Edge user has the obligation to go through its configuration section manually and keep disabling junk, but this script is a good starting point. Link below!
(Editor's note: Windows Defender isn't liking its latest update, and reports it as malicious. Everything seems to indicate it's a false positive, and we can always inspect the .cmd content to see exactly what it does.)
Official site: Click here
