I really like most everything about Microsoft Edge, but having the latest news show up on every blank tab is really annoying. Can I get rid of that “feature” in Edge on Windows 10?
Microsoft is really doing a great job developing and improving its Edge Web browser. The latest generation with Google Chromium as the underlying rendering engine is quite one of the best browsers you can use on any platform, actually, and it’s well integrated into the Windows experience too. I mean, hey, it’s from Microsoft! 🙂
Browsers are also quite a bit more complex and sophisticated than they were even a few years ago and Microsoft Edge doesn’t disappoint with zillions of features and just as many settings and preferences to match. So there are indeed not only settings that let you fine tune what news you see in that newsfeed on blank pages, but some settings that let you get rid of the feature entirely. Heck, you can even selectively filter out some news sources while leaving others if you just want, say, sports news from ESPN…
To start out, here’s the default:
Weather, a news feed, a row of my most visited Web sites with icons, a search box, lots going on on this new tab. Let’s start by noting that there are three preference controls here on the screen. First, you can hide the news feed by clicking on the tiny “Hide Feed” just below your profile picture on the top right (on mine it’s just above the last of my Top Sites buttons). You can also click or tap on that gear icon and get to some other settings for blank pages. Finally, adjacent to “My Feed” (just above the photo) is “Personalize”.
Let’s start there. Tap or click on “Personalize” and you’ll see quite a few different categories of news:
Love celebrity and entertainment news but never want to see money or world news? Check or uncheck the boxes as appropriate. Easy, really. The news feed on blank pages and tabs will forevermore reflect your preferences.
Now click on the gear icon and you’ll find that there are a number of ways you can customize the entire display layout:
The default is “Top sites and my feed” but you might prefer to just have “Top sites” and get rid of the newsfeed entirely. Give it a try; change options near the top then click on “Save”.
I could get used to that layout, actually. Less busy, less chaotic. Change your mind? Either use the gear icon to change the settings back or just click on “SHOW MY FEED” at the bottom.
And if you do keep your news feed, here’s a handy trick: See this typical little display tile?
Click or tap on the “•••” on the lower right and a tiny menu pops up:
As highlighted, choose “Hide stories from…” and you can permanently filter out that particular news source from your newsfeed. Handy, given that Microsoft has a pretty, um, broad definition of what sites offer up legitimate and credible news. 🙂
Anyway, that’s how you can wrest back control over what’s shown on the blank pages and tabs of your Microsoft Edge browser. Now go and customize to your heart’s content!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Windows since the 3.x days and have a ton of really useful windows help tutorials on the site. Please check it out while you’re here!