Browser Essentials - Icon Removal

[Danny0132]

A new issue is now we have a "Browser Essentials" Icon in the top toolbar. I downloaded and latest admx files to try and disable it via GPO and could not find the option.

Do you know of a registry setting or GPO setting to disable that icon?

Thanks for all your help. @Kelly_Y 

Danny

[#2]

You want to disable it using Group Policy or in your PC?
If you want to disable it in your PC, navigate to edge://settings/appearance and you may disable it.

[#3]

I'd like to disable it via GPO/Registry for my organization.

[#4]

@Danny0132 Hi!  I've reached out to the team about this.  I can see this has been requested by other customers as well.  We can follow up once there are any updates.  Thanks! 

-Kelly

[#5]

Thank you, we would also like to hide it with GPOs or registry settings for our users.

[#6]

@JoachimT @Danny0132 Hey!  The team has confirmed adding a policy is on the roadmap but no ETA yet.  We will follow up once there is more information.  Thanks! 

-Kelly

[#7]

Great! Thank you.

[#8]

Hi. This is mission critical that we have the ability to disable this in Group Policy. I have 135,000 users we manage in a critical health environment that is protected under Privacy Act and we absolutely cannot have this information collecting data icon sending private patient data to the cloud.

Microsoft should be providing the Group Policy BEFORE they deploy these Spam and advertising icons. We have disabled the BING bar and shopping and everything else.

It is like playing wack a mole with advertising now. It is worse than Spyware.

[#9]

Couldn't agree more.

[#10]

While I agree with the fact that the policy is needed and the team are aware of it.
However, you still have control over privacy.
The data related to dangerous site and dangerous download is by the SmartScreen filter which you could disable them and when you do, it won't show any data.
However, when you enable SmartScreen filter even if you disable this feature, data will be shared so it could detect and block malicious websites.

[#11]

@lforbes @Danny0132 @JoachimT Thank you for the feedback!  The team understands your concerns about the Browser essentials feature.  Browser essentials just displays browser performance and security information to users with suggestions to optimize their performance and browser protection.  At present, Browser essentials shows performance data on the devices to the user based on their current browser experience.  It does not collect any private patient data and send it to the cloud. 

Also, regarding performance and security, there is no additional information being passed to the cloud related to users browsing habits. 

We are actively working on creating a policy to hide the icon on the top toolbar.  Will this be sufficient for your organization? 

Please continue to provide feedback on Tech Community about Browser essentials. 

-Kelly

[#12]

@Kelly_Y  Yes please remove the icon on the toolbar!   And while you're at it, I can't have the "Download Microsoft Edge mobile app" pop-up showing after the latest update either..  114.0.1823.58.  Anyone know if there's already a policy to disable this?  

[#13]

@JLowis Hello - Have you tried using the ShowRecommendationsEnabled policy (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-policies#showrecommendationsenabled) to remove the pop-up to download the mobile app?

-Kelly

[#14]

@Kelly_Y The ShowRecommendationsEnabled policy was what I was looking for to remove the mobile app pop-up.  Thank you.  Looking forward to a policy to disable the browser essentials button.  

[#15]

@JLowis @Danny0132 @lforbes @JoachimT Hello All - The PinBrowserEssentialsToolbarButton policy is now available to hide the Browser essentials button on the toolbar.  Policy information here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-policies#pinbrowseressentialstoolbarbutt...

It is currently available in Microsoft Edge Beta Channel 116.  The latest Beta was just released today, Version 116.0.1938.36.  For Stable 115 and Extended Stable 114, the policy should be available in the upcoming releases for those channels this week.  

Thanks for your feedback! 

-Kelly

[#16]

Thank you for the update. I look forward to testing it out.

[#17]

Just FYI, it looks like there might be some delays with Microsoft Edge Stable and Extended Stable this week.  You can take a look at the Release Notes (Microsoft Edge release notes for Stable Channel | Microsoft Learn) for notification of when they are deployed.  Thanks! 

-Kelly

[#18]

Microsoft Edge Stable v115.0.1901.200 and Extended Stable v114.0.1823.106 was released today.  Please provide any feedback after testing.  Thanks! 

-Kelly