How To Fix Slow Microsoft Edge?

More than 80% of the people use Microsoft Windows operating system on their computers. The Windows 10 version offers Edge as the default browser along with optional Internet Explorer. Besides Microsoft’s unsuccessful campaigning of Edge is superior to Chrome or Firefox, many of us need to use Edge for various reasons. Especially many corporate companies still insist to use Windows 10 and Edge due to the security and dependency of their internal applications. Also there are no easy ways to disable Edge browser in Windows 10 unless you change the default browser settings to Chrome or Firefox.

Over period of time, Edge will start lagging in speed and open webpages very slow. If you have been thinking of a way to solve this problem, here is how to fix slow Microsoft edge browser in Windows 10.

Related: Fix slow Google Chrome.

How To Fix Slow Microsoft Edge?

Follow the below instructions to fix slow Microsoft Edge browser.

1. Check your internet connection
2. Troubleshoot network settings
3. Clear browsing history
4. Repair or reset Microsoft Edge
5. Set a location for temporary files
6. Remove Edge extensions
7. Do a full system scan
8. Scan for viruses and Trojans
9. Wait before updating Windows 10
10. Open blank page at startup
11. Clear DNS cache
12. Delete all favorites
13. Disable proxy server settings
14. Disable VPN

1. Check Your Internet Connection

Well, before looking going into troubleshooting mode, the first step is to check your internet connection. Sometimes the lagging may not even be from your Microsoft Edge; it may just be that your network server is down. So ensure your network is working and no problems with router, LAN cable or Wi-Fi connection.

You can simply use any other devices like mobile phone to open websites to ensure the network connection is working. Also check with other browsers like Chrome to narrow down the problem is with Edge.

2. Check Network Settings

Click on the network icon showing on your taskbar.

• Ensure that “Airplane mode” is not enabled by mistake.
• Click on the “Disconnect” button on the connected Wi-Fi network and again connect.

Check whether the internet connection is stable and Edge opens the webpages faster. If that does not help, then right click on the network icon on the taskbar and choose “Troubleshoot problems”. Now that Windows Network Diagnostics will start checking the problem.

Follow the instructions in the wizard to check and fix your network related problems.

3. Clear Browsing History Cache

There have been cases where excessive data in your browsing history slows down your browsing speed. You can try cleaning up your cache and data stored on the browser. Though this will impact the load time of the websites for the first time, it will help to remove the corrupted cookies and cached files. For example, if the website owner changed the design of the site then the previously stored content on your browser needs to be cleared. Otherwise it will affect the speed or you may see different content compared to the latest one available on the site.

Launch your Edge browser and press “Control + Shift + Delete”. You will see a settings menu sliding out from right side. Select the check boxes against browsing history, cookies, cached data, tabs and download history. Hit “Clear” button to delete all the selected historical items stored in Edge. It will take some time to clear the history depending the size of the cached data.

Now check the websites open properly in Edge, as mentioned the sites may load slower first time due to the deletion of local cache. But it should load faster from next time onwards.

You can also try to browse using InPrivate mode to check the speed is better.

• Open Edge and press “Alt + X” buttons to open settings.
• Select “New InPrivate window” option.
• Alternatively you can right click on the Edge icon on taskbar and choose “New InPrivate window” option.

Remember, Edge will not remember any history of your browsing during InPrivate mode.

4. Repair or Reset Microsoft Edge

Sometimes it is advisable to reset your browser to revert back any changes done to the browser. By resetting your browser, it automatically takes your browser configuration back to default. This will help to ensure whether the installed plugins or changed settings cause the slowness. Microsoft does not offer resetting option under Edge settings. Follow the below instructions to reset Edge from Windows settings.

• Press “Windows + I” shortcut keys to open Windows Settings app and click on “Apps” option.
• Go to “Apps & features” section and scroll down on the left pane to locate “Microsoft Edge”. Click on it and then click on “Advanced options” link.

• On the next screen, scroll down and click “Repair” button. You will see Windows relaunch Edge; check the sites are loading faster now.

If the problem is not resolved, go back to the app settings and try “Reset” option. Remember, repair will not delete any of the historical data stored on the browser but resetting will delete the history, preferences and sign-in details.

5. Set Location for Temporary Files

Browser store lots of temporary files to seed up the loading time of websites. It is a good idea to have sufficient space for storing your temporary internet files for the browser to work fast. Try the below steps to restore temporary files directory and aid your Edge work properly.

• Go to Windows search box and type “internet options”. Hit enter to select the first option, alternatively you can go to “Control Panel” and select “Internet Options”.

• This will open “Internet Properties” dialog box and click on the “Settings” button under “General Tab > Browsing history” section.

• It will open “Website Data Settings” dialog box where you can see the allocated disk space for temporary files under “Temporary Internet Files” section.

• Windows recommends to use 50 to 250MB while you can allocate anywhere between 8 to 1024MB. Enter the value greater than the current allocation like 512MB or even 1024 MB. Click “OK” button and then “Apply” to save changes.

Go back to Edge and check whether it helps to load the pages faster.

Related: Fix slow Mozilla Firefox.

6. Remove Edge Extensions

Microsoft makes it simple by disabling browser extensions by default. This will help to protect your browser and computer from malicious software. You can go to “about:flags” in the address bar and enable the checkbox “Enable extension developer features” option. As also indicated in the option, some browser extensions can put your device at risk and make browser to run slow. The difficult part of this is that you can barely detect which of the extension is making your browser slow. If you have installed many extensions on your browser, we would suggest that you disable them one after the other to narrows down the issue to specific browser.

Click the three horizontal dots at the right corner of Edge browser and go to “Extensions”. Right click on an extension to remove it from your browser.

You should also ensure that all your extensions are up to date before you consider deleting them. This part is very necessary because sometimes your extensions may just need an update instead of being taken off totally.

7. Do Full System Scan

Windows 10 has an embedded scan option that fixes various system errors, it’s called the SFC scan and it can be helpful in fixing Edge issues as well.

Here’s how to go about it.

• Press “Windows + X” keys to open power admin menu.
• Click on “Windows PowerShell (Admin)” option. If you don’t see PowerShell, choose “Command Prompt (Admin)” option.
• At the command prompt, type sfc /scannow and hit enter.

• Windows will start scanning your computer. The process will take considerable time depending on your computer’s size and memory.
• After completion of scanning, restart your computer and check Edge can serve the webpages faster.

8. Scan for Viruses and Trojans

Most of the time viruses attack your computer when you browser on the internet. It not only affects the computer but also the browser you use. So when you feel the Edge browser is very slow and suspicious activities on your computer, then scanning for virus is essential to find the problem.

Edge has a built-in Windows Defender SmartScreen function to stop websites that will harm your computer. For doing a virus scan, open Windows Defender Security Center and click on “Scan now” button available under “Virus & threat protection” section.

9. Wait Before Updating Windows 10

As you might have noticed, the recent Windows 10 updates have all sorts of problems. So, some updates may impact the browser speed negatively depending upon the apps you are running on your computer. We strongly recommend updating after few months of release instead of hurrying.

If you notice Edge problems after upgrading then try repairing or resetting Edge to default settings.

10. Open Blank Page at Startup

Similar to Chrome and Firefox, Microsoft Edge also shows top sites and news feed when you open a new tab pages. Undoubtedly, this will slowdown the browser with the feed needs to directly load from the internet. Follow the below instruction to setup a blank page as a new tab page so that you will see a blank white page on startup with full speed.

• Click on the three horizontal dots button on the top right corner of the browser and go to “Settings” option.
• Choose “New tab page” option for “Open Microsoft Edge with”.
• Choose “A blank page” for “Open new tabs with”.

This will help to load a blank page when you launch Edge as well as whenever you create a new tab.

Related: How to remove thumbnails from new tab page of Chrome and Firefox?

11. Clear DNS Cache

Besides the browser cache, you computer will also cache the DNS entries to speedup the browsing. Sometimes, corrupted DNS cache on your computer may slow down specific websites when there are DNS changes at the server side by the site owner. Follow the instructions in this article to clear DNS cache in Windows 10.

Other options are to use Google public DNS or assign static IP address for your computer.

12. Clear Your Favorites

Having hundreds of favorites may impact the loading speed of Edge. So delete all your favorites and check the speed is better. Before deleting the favorites, you can export them in HTML file so that you can import back after checking.

• Open Edge and press “Alt + X” then click on “Settings”
• Click on “Import from another browser” option under “Import favorites and other info” section.
• Click on “Export to file” button under “Import or export a file” section.

• Choose the location on your computer to save the favorite links in HTML file format.
• You can import these favorites using the HTML file again using “Import from file” option.

13. Disable Proxy Servers

Proxy servers used to bypass the internet connection through your internet service provider and route through the proxy settings. Generally, people use proxy to access blocked websites. if you notice the Edge browser speed is very slow then check whether you have enabled proxy settings on your network connection.

• Click on three dots button and go to “Settings”.
• Scroll down and click “View advanced settings” button.
• Click on “Open proxy settings” button under “Proxy setup”.

• Disable both automatic and manual proxy setting in the Windows settings page.

Now open Edge and check the speed of the webpages.

Also go to “Internet Properties” dialog box and disable all options for “Local Area Network (LAN) Settings” under “Connection” tab.

14. Disable VPN

Do you have a VPN app for Edge browser? Or accessing VPN anonymously through Windows VPN app installed on your computer. At any case, we strongly recommend to disable VPN and check the browser speed.

Most of the times, the VPN app will show that the connection is successful but might have been blocking the speed. Especially, VPN access will be very slow when you load video sites like YouTube. Also the VPN server may be very slow affecting your internet which has no relation to Edge browser.

Conclusion

We have explained all solutions to fix slow Microsoft Edge and we hope this article has been helpful. We are certain that one of the above listed steps should have solved your slow Microsoft Edge issues. Feel free to use the comment box below, suggestions or better options for fixing Microsoft Edge issues is welcome.