Microsoft Edge is the default web browser of Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system. It replaced Internet Explorer as the default browser even though Internet Explorer 11 is also still available on devices for backwards compatibility reasons.

Microsoft Edge loads quite fast when you run it on Windows 10 devices after sign in to a user account. If you check the Task Manager, you may notice that several Microsoft Edge processes run on the system even before you start the browser manually.

The processes that you may see are MicrosoftEdge.exe, MicrosoftEdgeCP.exe, and MicrosoftEdgeSH.exe. All three are listed as suspended and the only reason they do get launched on the system is that Edge will open faster because of the preloading that is involved.

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May be useful to users who use Microsoft Edge actively. If you don't use Microsoft Edge or prefer that the browser is not preloaded during system start, you may block it from being loaded.

The feature is new in Windows 10 version 1809, the soon-to-be-released next feature update of Windows 10. If you run Windows 10 Insider Builds you have the option available to you already on the device.

Note: The Group Policy Editor is only available in professional versions of Windows 10. Check the Registry section below for a method that works with any edition of Windows 10. Run winver to check the version of the operating system.

Disable the preloading of Microsoft Edge in the Group Policy

Windows 10 version 1809 introduces two new policies to control the preloading of Microsoft Edge and Start / New Tab content before users load the actual browser.

  1. Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc, and hit the Enter-key to load the Group Policy Editor if you are on a professional version of Windows 10.
  2. Go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Edge.

Allow Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at Windows startup, when the system is idle, and each time Microsoft Edge is closed

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Double-click on the policy to open the configuration. You can set it to not configured, enabled, or disabled.

Set the policy to enabled to activate it and pick "prevent pre-launching" to disable the preloading functionality built-into the operating system so that Microsoft Edge starts faster when you run it.

You can undo this at any time by either selecting "allow pre-launching", or by switching the state of the policy to disabled or not configured.

Effect: Microsoft Edge won't be preloaded on sign-in to the Windows system, when the system is idle, or when it is closed by users of the system.

Allow Microsoft Edge to start and load the Start and New Tab page at Windows startup and each time Microsoft Edge is closed

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The second preloading preference determines whether Microsoft Edge may preload the browser's Start and New Tab page content. It is a bit older as it is present in Windows 10 version 1803 as well.

To disable this preloading, set the policy to enabled and select "prevent preloading" from the configuration menu that becomes available when you enable the policy.

You can undo the change at any time by setting the policy to "allow tab preloading", or by changing the state of the policy either to disabled or to not configured.

Effect: Microsoft Edge won't preload the New Tab page or the Start page when you do.

The Registry keys

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You may configure the preloading options in the Windows Registry directly. The option works on all editions of Windows 10 including Windows 10 Home.

1. Tap on the Windows-key, type regedit.exe, and hit the Enter-key to open the Registry Editor.
2. Confirm the UAC prompt that is displayed.
3. To disable the preloading of Microsoft Edge:

  1. Paste the following address into the address bar of the Registry Editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Mic rosoftEdge\Main
  2. Right-click on Main and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
  3. Name it AllowPrelaunch.
  4. Double-click on the new Dword and set it to 0 if it is not set to 0 by default.

4. To disable the preloading of New Tab Page and Start content by Edge:

  1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Mic rosoftEdge\TabPreloader
  2. Right-click on TabPreloader and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
  3. Name it AllowTabPreloading.
  4. Double-click on the name and set its value to 0.

A value of 0 means preloading is disabled, a value of 1 that it is enabled.

You can use the following Registry script to disable both Edge preloading features right away. Please note that this works only on Windows 10 version 1809 and newer.

Download the file with a click on the following link: edge-disable-preload.zip