How to Delete Microsoft Edge on Windows 10/11

If you are fed up with Microsoft shoving Edge down your throat like me, follow this simple guide to get rid of the Edge malware.

Windows doesn’t let you uninstall Edge. It is one of the “core” apps supposedly. Don’t worry there is nothing special about it. You’ll be just fine without it.

Open an elevated cmd prompt and go to the following folder:

cd %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application

There should be a folder in there corresponding to the version of Edge you have installed. Mine was 98.0.1108.43 in Feb 2022. Go down that folder then “Installer”

There you can run from the cmd line:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\98.0.1108.43\Installer>
setup --uninstall --force-uninstall --system-level

That should do the trick! Windows will still try to launch Edge from system UI such as start menu but it will fail. Great!

You can still repair Edge from the settings app. Go to Settings -> Apps -> Apps & Features and search for Edge in the search box.

Happy malware free browsing!

Rant Appendix

Microsoft Edge is THE BROWSER for windows. “It is fast, reliable, secure, better than chrome, blah blah” Microsoft says. We have been hearing that since 2009 when Internet Explorer went under. Microsoft started constantly false-advertising IE 10 and 11 and Edge. Edge was initially just a reskin of IE. After that fiasco they surgically replaced the engine from TRINET (legacy engine dating back to 1990s) to chromium. Hopefully Microsoft will have some sense to replace the front with chromium too and just dump Edge.

After a decade of shoving a shitty browser down its loyal customers’ throats, I find it really hard to believe the 2022 version of Edge to be anything but disappointment. I haven’t tried it though but have too much negative emotional baggage from Microsoft to even give it a try. Plus Firefox, Chrome, Chromium and Thor browsers are fine browsers. Why bother?

While I have installed Firefox and have it as the default browser, Windows still opens Edge at any chance it gets. Whether it be a link in settings app or a search in the start menu. Ughghgh disgusting…

End rant. Back to work.