The default settings in Microsoft Edge aren’t optimized for performance, privacy, or overall user experience. While some features are helpful, they can track your activity, consume system resources, and clutter the interface. For these reasons, here are some settings I always keep disabled in Microsoft Edge.
1 Search Suggestions
When you type a query in Microsoft Edge, related search suggestions appear below the search bar to help complete your query more quickly. While this feature can be helpful, I find it distracting and often inaccurately tries to predict what I actually want to type. For this reason, I prefer to keep search suggestions always turned off.
To turn off this feature, click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner, select “Settings,” then go to “Privacy, Search, and Services.” Scroll down to the Services section, navigate to “Address Bar and Search,” then “Search Suggestions and Filters,” and toggle off the option next to “Show me search and site suggestions using my typed characters.”
2 Autofill Settings
Edge has an Autofill feature that saves details such as passwords, payment information, and addresses when you enter them for the first time. This makes it easier to fill in these details automatically the next time you visit a site. While convenient, it’s a security risk because if your browser is compromised, anyone could access this sensitive information.
Although you can choose not to save these details even when the feature is enabled, there’s still a risk of accidentally saving them if the popup appears. For peace of mind, I keep this feature turned off. To turn it off, go to Settings > Profiles, click on “Open Wallet,” then navigate to “Settings” and toggle off any autofill permissions you don’t want to grant to Edge.
3 Preload Pages for Faster Browsing
Microsoft Edge has a feature called page preloading, which loads pages in the background with the aim of making overall browsing faster. While it can be useful, it uses extra data and system resources, which can slow down browser performance. For this reason, I prefer to keep the preloading of pages disabled.
To turn off page preloading, click on the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner and select “Settings.” Next, go to Cookies and Site Permissions > Manage and Delete Cookies and Site Data, and toggle off “Preload pages for faster browsing and searching.” This ensures that Edge only loads pages when you actually choose to visit them.
4 Startup Boost
By default, Microsoft Edge continues running certain processes in the background, even when you’re not actively using it. This feature, called Startup Boost, speeds up the browser’s launch time but consumes unnecessary system resources. Since it affects my computer’s performance, I prefer to keep it disabled, letting Windows use resources for other tasks.
In my experience, it only saves a few seconds during startup, but the constant strain on system resources isn’t worth the minor time savings. To turn off Startup Boost, go to Settings > System and Performance, then toggle off the option next to “Startup Boost.” Once disabled, Edge will only use resources when you open it, rather than run in the background all the time.
By default, Microsoft Edge displays news feeds, weather updates, and promoted links on the New Tab page, which can make the page feel cluttered. Since I prefer a clean interface, I disable these features to maintain a simple New Tab page with just a background and a search bar. These elements also have a small but noticeable impact on browser performance.
To remove these elements and customize the New Tab page, click on the gear icon in the top-right corner. Then, toggle off the “Show Promoted Links” option to remove the extra links in the Quick Links section. Next, turn off the “Show Feed” option to turn off the news feed. For an even cleaner interface, you can also turn off the “Show Weather” toggle.
6 Personalized Ads and Recommendations
Microsoft Edge tracks our browsing habits, including history, usage, favorites, and web content, to show personalized ads and content recommendations. I find this an intrusive and serious privacy concern, as it means Microsoft is tracking my activity to target me with specific promotions. For this reason, I prefer to disable this personalization.
To turn off personalized ads and recommendations, click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner and go to “Settings.” Then, navigate to “Privacy, Search, and Services” in the left sidebar. Scroll down to the “Personalization and Advertising” section and toggle off the relevant setting. This will help protect your privacy and reduce the number of intrusive ads.
7 Microsoft Rewards
Microsoft Rewards is a feature in Microsoft Edge that lets you earn points by using Bing as your search engine and browsing with Edge. I chose to keep this feature disabled for a few reasons. First, I don’t actively engage in the rewards program or complete any related tasks, and the points earned through web searches aren’t significant enough to make it worthwhile.
Also, while Microsoft doesn’t explicitly state this, there’s a chance that they track my activity and collect other data as I browse. You may also receive notifications or prompts to participate in challenges or check your rewards, which can clutter the interface. To turn off this feature, go to Settings > Profiles > Microsoft Rewards and turn off the toggle.
Microsoft has an autoplay feature for videos and media that is set to “Limit” by default. This means that videos, including ads, will autoplay the next time you visit sites where you’ve interacted with media, while autoplay is blocked on other websites. If set to “Allow,” videos will autoplay on every site you visit. I find this annoying, so I always disable it.
To turn off autoplay, click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner and open “Settings.” Then, go to the “Cookies and Site Permissions” tab on the left. Scroll down, click on “Media Autoplay,” and select “Block” from the dropdown menu next to “Control if audio and video play automatically on sites.” Remember that you can play videos normally; they just won’t autoplay.
These are some of the settings in Microsoft Edge that I always keep disabled. Some of them improve browser performance, others improve my privacy, and some make the interface cleaner for a better browsing experience. If you’ve never adjusted these default settings, I highly recommend turning them off to eliminate unnecessary distractions and annoyances.
