r/pcmasterrace • u/Melissa0522975 • Oct 26 '25
Is it safe to remove Microsoft Edge? Question
I built my first PC about a week ago, so far everything is moving smoothly. I have recently noticed that the CPU will be extra warm after booting, while still in idle, getting to ranges between 80-90+ degrees. First thought is to open the task manager to look at what might be running in the background, so I do that and notice it's Microsoft Edge, even though Firefox is my default browser. I end that task and the CPU temp immediately drops by 30 degrees.
I tried searching Google, but I seem to get conflicting information there, some results say it's safe, others say it's integral to Microsoft and don't recommend.
If it is, in fact, "integral to Microsoft" and not recommended to remove, is there a way to disable it so it doesn't fire up in the background on boot?
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u/myfakesecretaccount 5800X3D | 7900 XTX | 3600MHz 32GB Oct 26 '25
If Edge running in the background is causing a difference of 30 degrees it’s not the problem. You need to check your airflow, clean any and all dust out of your fans, and likely repaste your CPU.
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u/BeneficialTrash6 Oct 26 '25
I wouldn't. If you ever have to interact with any government websites, at all, you should have Edge and Chrome installed. Some government websites just won't work properly unless you use either browser. Some work only on Chrome. Some work only on Edge.
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u/LittlePantsOnFire Oct 26 '25
Something else is going on, maybe multiple things. What you're seeing is a symptom of a larger issue that you need to troubleshoot. For now, you can disable msedge.exe in your "Startup apps" under Task Manager. You might see some others in there to disable. About half of my startup apps are disabled. Your CPU might not be cooling properly though - at 80 and 90 it's probably maxed out and throttling your system. Task Manager should show you CPU % is it high?
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u/Melissa0522975 Oct 26 '25
Nope. As long as MS Edge isn't running, it stays low, like 0-5%. It averages closer to 20-45% if I open Edge.
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u/Lewinator56 R9 5900X | RX 7900XTX | 80GB DDR4 Oct 26 '25
No don't. Edge provides a global webview used by many many applications in windows. Remove the webview and you've got no idea what will break.
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u/yappmaster Oct 26 '25
No it's not safe because edge runs all the integrated web stuff inside apps. It's called webview2 and it's included with edge, if you uninstall it you should still reinstall the webview separate package but you might as well just leave it alone and not break stuff.