Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 5, 2021.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 24, 2021 to reflect new update timelines for specific version...
Updated May 06, 2021
Version 4.0
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New Microsoft Edge to replace Microsoft Edge Legacy with April’s Windows 10 Update Tuesday release
It looks to me that Edge (Chromium) acts as malware. Last week I installed the Edge (Chromium) browser. When I started the program I got a message which I found rather disturbing, in Dutch:
(translated):
x@y.com has signed up on this device so we signed you up on Microsoft Edge too
(followed by the suggestion to synchronize profiles)
I was wondering where Edge hijacked my e-mail address from??
I log into Windows with a local account, not with a Microsoft account. I do not use Microsoft mail programs which use my e-mail address. So the Edge pop up window telling that I signed in on the Pc is not even true.
Apart from the intruding action, hijacking a mail address and login me in without my consent, the program also pins to the taskbar and even into Quick Launch which Microsoft abandoned years ago despite being much more logical and usable than the Pinning to Taskbar (but which fortunately still can be put to work). By even using that abandoned Quick Launch it seems that Microsoft desperately wants to spam the use of Edge everywhere where possible.
One more remark: I see that Edge is imposed from KB5000842 (OS Builds 19041.906 and 19042.906) Preview. After that, Edge can not be deinstalled (Delete is greyed out in Programs and Features). Although Microsoft claims that Edge is a necessary component of Windows 0, Edge can still be easily removed by just deleting the Edge and EdgeUpdate directories from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft.