Edge optimization

[shvchk]

There are some default Edge settings, which some might find suboptimal for privacy, performance or other reasons. Like Startup boost, running in background, new tab page with news and whatnot, telemetry, crypto wallet functions, etc.

Would be nice to include changing some of these to Sophia script and SophiApp.

One good annotated list is https://github.com/TairikuOokami/Windows/blob/main/Windows%20Tweaks.bat#L1181 and of course there is official https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-policies

[farag2]

Hm... I will check later. 6.15.3 is ready to be released.

[shvchk]

Ok, no hurry 😉
There are also Douloureux/MS-Edge-Hardening, Dreista/FuckEdge and melody tweaks — not annotated, but gives an idea what settings people are interested in changing.

[shvchk]

Gonna just leave some notes here, which might be useful for implementation of this feature. Ignore for now : )

Settings types: mandatory and recommended

MS docs: Configure Edge

Microsoft Edge supports mandatory and recommended policies. Mandatory policies override user preferences and prevent the user from the policy. Recommended policies provide a default setting that the user can override. Most policies are only mandatory but there's a subset that is mandatory and recommended. If both versions of a policy are set, the mandatory setting takes precedence. A recommended policy only takes effect when the user hasn't modified the setting.

Path for both mandatory and recommended is documented in MS Edge policy docs.

E.g., for Startup boost setting:

Windows Registry Settings:

• Path (Mandatory): SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge
• Path (Recommended): SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended
• Value Name: StartupBoostEnabled
• Value Type: REG_DWORD

Determine most wanted settings

List of settings which are changed by at least 2 of 5 repos: all mentioned previously + LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools:

Show

# of 5	Setting	Description
4	AddressBarMicrosoftSearchInBingProviderEnabled	Enable Microsoft Search in Bing suggestions in the address bar
4	BackgroundModeEnabled	Continue running background apps after Microsoft Edge closes
4	DiagnosticData	Send required and optional diagnostic data about browser usage
4	EdgeCollectionsEnabled	Enable the Collections feature
4	EdgeShoppingAssistantEnabled	Shopping in Microsoft Edge Enabled
4	NewTabPageContentEnabled	Allow Microsoft News content on the new tab page
4	NewTabPageHideDefaultTopSites	Hide the default top sites from the new tab page
4	PersonalizationReportingEnabled	Allow personalization of ads, Microsoft Edge, search, news and other Microsoft services by sending browsing history, favorites and collections, usage and other browsing data to Microsoft
4	PromotionalTabsEnabled	Enable full-tab promotional content
4	ResolveNavigationErrorsUseWebService	Enable resolution of navigation errors using a web service
4	ShowMicrosoftRewards	Show Microsoft Rewards experiences
4	StartupBoostEnabled	Enable startup boost
3	AdsSettingForIntrusiveAdsSites	Ads setting for sites with intrusive ads
3	AllowGamesMenu	Allow users to access the games menu (deprecated)
3	DefaultGeolocationSetting	Default geolocation setting
3	DefaultJavaScriptJitSetting	Control use of JavaScript JIT
3	EnableMediaRouter	Enable Google Cast
3	FamilySafetySettingsEnabled	Allow users to configure Family safety and Kids Mode
3	HideFirstRunExperience	Hide the First-run experience and splash screen
3	NewTabPagePrerenderEnabled	Enable preload of the new tab page for faster rendering
3	NewTabPageQuickLinksEnabled	Allow quick links on the new tab page
3	NewTabPageSearchBox	Configure the new tab page search box experience
3	PasswordMonitorAllowed	Allow users to be alerted if their passwords are found to be unsafe
3	SearchSuggestEnabled	Enable search suggestions
3	ShowRecommendationsEnabled	Allow feature recommendations and browser assistance notifications from Microsoft Edge
3	SitePerProcess	Enable site isolation for every site
3	UserFeedbackAllowed	Allow user feedback
3	DNSInterceptionChecksEnabled	DNS interception checks enabled
3	EdgeFollowEnabled	Enable Follow service in Microsoft Edge
3	HubsSidebarEnabled	Show Hubs Sidebar
3	SpotlightExperiencesAndRecommendationsEnabled	Choose whether users can receive customized background images and text, suggestions, notifications, and tips for Microsoft services
2	ApplicationGuardFavoritesSyncEnabled	Application Guard Favorites Sync Enabled
2	ApplicationGuardTrafficIdentificationEnabled	Application Guard Traffic Identification
2	AudioSandboxEnabled	Allow the audio sandbox to run
2	AutofillAddressEnabled	Enable AutoFill for addresses
2	AutofillCreditCardEnabled	Enable AutoFill for payment instruments
2	AutomaticHttpsDefault	Configure Automatic HTTPS
2	BingAdsSuppression	Block all ads on Bing search results
2	BrowserSignin	Browser sign-in settings
2	ClearCachedImagesAndFilesOnExit	Clear cached images and files when Microsoft Edge closes
2	ConfigureShare	Configure the Share experience
2	DefaultSensorsSetting	Default sensors setting
2	DownloadRestrictions	Allow download restrictions
2	FavoritesBarEnabled	Enable favorites bar
2	ForceSync	Force synchronization of browser data and do not show the sync consent prompt
2	InPrivateModeAvailability	Configure InPrivate mode availability
2	InternetExplorerIntegrationLevel	Configure Internet Explorer integration
2	LocalBrowserDataShareEnabled	Enable Windows to search local Microsoft Edge browsing data
2	LocalProvidersEnabled	Allow suggestions from local providers
2	PasswordGeneratorEnabled	Allow users to get a strong password suggestion whenever they are creating an account online
2	PasswordManagerEnabled	Enable saving passwords to the password manager
2	PasswordRevealEnabled	Enable Password reveal button
2	PromptForDownloadLocation	Ask where to save downloaded files
2	QuickViewOfficeFilesEnabled	Manage QuickView Office files capability in Microsoft Edge
2	ShowCastIconInToolbar	Show the cast icon in the toolbar
2	TranslateEnabled	Enable Translate
2	AlternateErrorPagesEnabled	Suggest similar pages when a webpage can't be found
2	CryptoWalletEnabled	Enable CryptoWallet feature
2	EdgeEnhanceImagesEnabled	Enhance images enabled
2	MicrosoftEdgeInsiderPromotionEnabled	Microsoft Edge Insider Promotion Enabled
2	QuickSearchShowMiniMenu	Enables Microsoft Edge mini menu
2	ShowPDFDefaultRecommendationsEnabled	Allow notifications to set Microsoft Edge as default PDF reader
2	SmartScreenEnabled	Configure Microsoft Defender SmartScreen
2	StandaloneHubsSidebarEnabled	Standalone Sidebar Enabled
2	TabServicesEnabled	Tab Services enabled
2	VisualSearchEnabled	Visual search enabled
2	SleepingTabsEnabled	Configure sleeping tabs
2	WebWidgetIsEnabledOnStartup	Allow the Search bar at Windows startup
2	DirectInvokeEnabled	Allow users to open files using the DirectInvoke protocol
2	TrackingPrevention	Block tracking of users' web-browsing activity
2	VerticalTabsAllowed	Configures availability of a vertical layout for tabs on the side of the browser
2	ExperimentationAndConfigurationServiceControl	Control communication with the Experimentation and Configuration Service
2	NetworkPredictionOptions	Enable network prediction
2	BackgroundTemplateListUpdatesEnabled	Enables background updates to the list of available templates for Collections and other features that use templates (deprecated)
2	SpellcheckEnabled	Enable spellcheck
2	WebWidgetAllowed	Enable the Search bar
2	WPADQuickCheckEnabled	Set WPAD optimization
2	DefaultFileSystemReadGuardSetting	Control use of the File System API for reading
2	DefaultFileSystemWriteGuardSetting	Control use of the File System API for writing
2	DefaultInsecureContentSetting	Control use of insecure content exceptions
2	DefaultNotificationsSetting	Default notification setting
2	DefaultWebBluetoothGuardSetting	Control use of the Web Bluetooth API
2	DefaultWebHidGuardSetting	Control use of the WebHID API
2	DefaultWebUsbGuardSetting	Control use of the WebUSB API
2	SmartScreenDnsRequestsEnabled	Enable Microsoft Defender SmartScreen DNS requests
2	NewTabPageAllowedBackgroundTypes	Configure the background types allowed for the new tab page layout
2	TyposquattingCheckerEnabled	Configure Edge TyposquattingChecker
2	SiteSafetyServicesEnabled	Allow users to configure Site safety services

Those changed by 3+ of 5 are probably the most wanted settings : ) Might be useful to cherry-pick some from 2 of 5 part of the list, too.

UPD: added settings description, extracted from MS Edge policy docs. See code in Jupyter Notebook if interested to reuse for other settings.

Misc

Extracted all lines mentioning Edge from TairikuOokami/Windows (might be good for reference): https://gist.github.com/shvchk/f05c0bdcdde2071b7cad223bb5785bed

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There is also an option to install extensions by default, using Edge Addon ID, e.g. uBlock Origin:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\ExtensionInstallForcelist]
"1"="odfafepnkmbhccpbejgmiehpchacaeak"

[farag2]

I thought out and do not consider adding any Edge related settings. Sophia Script is for Windows )).

[shvchk]

Well, Edge is part of Windows now : ) Its settings, like auto-start in the background, will impact every Windows user by default.

But that's your call. Hope you reconsider at some point. Keep up the good work 💪

[farag2]

I've no desire to configure it. Probably, because I'll never use it. Also, adding that tons of features will make the script is even heavier.

[shvchk]

Me too. But that's the thing: even if you don't use it, it will still start automatically and run in the background by default, if you started it even once (which I think most people do, at least to download another browser 😄 ). That "feature" is controlled by HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\StartupBoostEnabled (0/1).

[shvchk]

Since this probably won't be in Sophia script any time soon, I've created edge-please.reg for those who still want this. It changes 15 most irritating Edge settings by default, has 50+ more optional (not applied by default, uncomment to your liking). Every setting has a description and a link to official docs.