There is no denying that Microsoft Edge is a great modern browser, but its rich feature set may feel a bit overwhelming, even for experienced customers. Although you can customize Edge in its settings, many parts of the browser are only configurable via policies, which is not something many users are even aware of.
Fortunately, there is now a third-party script that can automate certain policies for toggling specific features on or off.
MSEdge Tweaker is an open-source script you can get from GitHub. Its first release lets you turn off the initial experience, splash screen, data import from other browsers (that thing that begs you to let it siphon your Chrome data), and more. Here is the full list of currently supported policies:
- Disable the first run experience and splash screen
- Disable importing from other web browsers on launch
- Disable browser sign in and sync services
- Disable collections feature
- Disable edge sidebar
- Disable shopping assistant
- Disable sponsored links in the new tab page
- Disable insider banner in about page
According to the project's GitHub description, the developer plans to implement more options and policies in future updates. Keep in mind, though, that using policies for configuring Microsoft Edge and its features results in the latter showing a banner with a message that the browser is managed by your organization.
Also, as of right now, there is no way to revert the changes. You can bypass this by opening the script in Notepad, checking what registry keys each option creates or modifies, and then manually reverting them in the system registry.
If you are interested in MSEdge Tweaker, you can give it a spin by downloading it from GitHub. Extract files in a convenient folder, run MSedgeTweaker.cmd as Administrator, and select the desired features from the list of available policies.
5 Comments - Add comment