How to Disable Preloading Microsoft Edge at Startup

When you used Wise Care 365 and Wise Disk Cleaner to clean up the system, have you ever been confused by the pop-up message "Edge is running, do you want to close it"? But in fact, you are not running Edge.

On Windows 10, Microsoft Edge loads some processes as well as the New Tab and Start pages in the background during startup to improve the speed when launching the application. If you don't use Microsoft Edge (legacy), you should disable its startup processes to avoid wasting system resources as you sign in to Windows 10.

Starting Windows 10 version 1809, there are 2 ways to prevent loading the Start and New Tab pages of the Edge as the system starts up, Group Policy Editor and Registry.

Part 1: How to disable preloading Microsoft Edge at startup using Group Policy

If you're running Windows 10 Pro, the easiest way to prevent Microsoft Edge from starting processes during startup is using the Local Group Policy Editor. Please use the following steps:

1, Press Win + S to open the Search window.

2, Type gpedit and click Edit Group Policy.

3, Browse the following path: Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Microsoft Edge

4, On the right side, double-click the policy Allow Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at Windows startup, when the system is idle, and each time Microsoft Edge is closed.

5, Select Disabled, click Apply, then click OK to close the window.

6, Double-click the policy Allow Microsoft Edge to start and load the Start and New Tab page at Windows startup and each time Microsoft Edge is closed.

7, Select Disabled, click Apply, then click OK to close the window.

8, Reboot the system.

Once you complete the steps, the Edge will no longer pre-load processes during Windows startup.

On step No. 5 and step No. 7, select the Not Configured option can roll back the previous settings if you change your mind.

Part 2: How to disable preloading Microsoft Edge at startup using Registry

If you don't have access to the Local Group Policy Editor, you can disable Microsoft Edge from preloading on startup by modifying the Registry. Important: Highly recommended to make a full backup of your PC before proceeding due to the editing of the registry is risky.

1, Press Win + r to open the Run window.

2, Type regedit and click OK to open the Registry Editor

3, Browse the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft

Tip: On Windows 10, you can now copy and paste the path in the Registry's address bar to quickly jump to the key destination.

4, Right-click the Microsoft (folder) key, select New, and click on Key, name it MicrosoftEdge.

5, Right-click the new created MicrosoftEdge, select New, and click on Key, name it Main.

6, Repeat step No.5 to create another new key, name the key TabPreloader.

7, Right-click the key Main, select New, and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it AllowPrelaunch.

8, Double-click AllowPrelaunch and set the value to 0.

9, Right-click the key TabPreloader, select New, and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it AllowTabPreloading.

10, Double-click AllowTabPreloading and set the value to 0.

Reboot the system. Once you complete the steps, the Edge will no longer pre-load processes during Windows startup. You can revert the changes by deleting the MicrosoftEdge key.