Stopping the msedgewebview2.exe Process to Free Up Memory

I recently discovered that Task Manager was showing *12* instances of msedgewebview2.exe using 268M RAM, which was unusual as I hadn't encountered this executable in Windows 10 before. Assuming it was related to new features in Windows 11, I tried searching for information on msedgewebview2.exe but didn't find anything useful.

Upon checking the Startup tab in Task Manager, I found that Microsoft Teams was set to auto-start, so I disabled this setting. After restarting the system, the number of msedgewebview2.exe instances had decreased to just six.

Further investigation in the Details tab revealed that the widgets.exe process was running. Terminating this process caused the remaining six instances of msedgewebview2.exe to disappear.

Anticipating that widgets.exe would reappear after another reboot, I attempted to prevent its automatic launch. However, I couldn't find any setting related to it in Task Manager's Startup tab, Registry's Run or RunOnce key, or Task Scheduler.

To stop widgets.exe from auto-loading, I tried renaming the file, but I lacked the necessary SYSTEM credentials. Using "TakeOwnership Pro" didn't solve this issue either. In an attempt to preserve the file, I accidentally moved it to the Desktop instead of making a copy. Unfortunately, I couldn't move it back due to "Destination folder access denied," even after granting write permissions to my username.

As a result, widgets.exe is now missing from its original location, preventing it from auto-starting and freeing up over 250M of RAM. Note that this experience occurred on Windows 11 Version 21H2, OS Build 22000.194.