Every browser has a unique new tab page design that displays various elements. The fast links and news feed, along with the search bar, favorites bar, and a few other elements, are displayed by default on Microsoft Edge's new tab page. Here's how to get rid of fast links and the news feed on your Edge new tab page if you're tired of them.
Why to Remove Quick Links and News Feed?
The Edge browser, which is based on updated Chromium code, will appear as seen below when it launches. Although the screenshot is of the Mac version, the crowded interface will be the same in Windows. There are fast connections and an area with news feeds underneath the Edge logo. When you initially open the browser, quick links will display thumbnail shortcuts for select default websites, such as Office.com and Bing.com. It will then start retrieving stuff from your history and displaying frequently visited pages. MSN.com, Bing.com, and other Microsoft websites are included in the news stream. The stream may be customized, or you can scroll down to see the most recent and well-liked local news.
There are many reasons you need to remove quick links and news feed:
Quick links can be useful to access the webpages, however, it can affect your privacy by showing the pages from your browsing history. You may feel annoyed to see unwanted thumbnails when launching the browser in front of your colleague or family member.
The news feed can easily distract you when you want to do some important tasks. You will be last with the vast news and end up in wasting the time. In addition, you may not like msn.com or bing.com pages showing by default in the feed. Finally, there are advertisements in the news feed that can annoy use and slow down the browser when you open a new tab page.
At any case, it is good to remove the clutter on your browser and keep it clean to focus on your task.
How to Remove Quick Links and News Feed in Edge?
Good part is that you can customize the new tab page in Edge in different ways as per your convenient. We will explain all possible ways and you can choose the best option that fits for you. Though Chrome browser also uses the same source code, removing thumbnails in Chrome is somewhat different process than Edge.
1. Delete Individual Quick Link Thumbnail
The first option is to remove individual thumbnail of a webpage shortcut showing in the quick links section.
Hover over the mouse on the item you want to delete and click on the three dots icon.
It will show you two options for renaming and deleting the icon.
Select “Remove” option to delete it from the quick links section.
This is useful if you want to delete a single item and you will not visit the page again. Otherwise, the shortcut will start appearing again from your browsing history section.
2. Manually Hide or Show Quick Links
The next option is to hide the quick links and show them manually when you need. Click on the small up arrow button just above the quick links section that shows “Collapse quick links”.
Now, Edge will hide all thumbnail favicons and you can manually click on the “Quick links” link to show them again.
Edge will remember your settings and will hide or show quick links when you launch the browser next time onwards.
3. Disable Quick Links Section in New Tab Page
This option will completely remove the quick links section from Edge new tab page.
Click on the gear icon showing inside the top right corner of the Edge browser’s new tab page.
By default, Edge will use “Inspirational” page layout. Click on “Custom” option.
You will see the “Quick links” section by default uses 1 row option. Select “Off” to turn off quick links in new tab pages.
4. Disable News Feed in Edge
You can click on the “Personalize” button showing above the news feed section and customize the appearance of your feed on new tab page. However, you can also disable the news feed to avoid distractions.
Click on the gear icon and then click “Custom” page layout option.
By default, the “Content” section uses the option “Content partially visible”.
Click on the “Content” dropdown and select “Off” option.
This will completely disable the news feed in Edge new tab page. Below is how the browser will look without quick links and news feed.
5. Customize Startup and Home Pages in Edge
Sometimes, what you want is not to change the new tab page but to customize the startup or home page. For example, you want to set a custom startup page of your favorite news website so that you can read the news when launching the browser. Similarly, you may want to set a custom home page to manually visit the page.
Go to edge://settings/ shortcut URL in the browser’s address bar.
Navigate to “start, home, and new tabs” section from the sidebar.
Here you can customize the startup behavior under “when Edge Starts” section. Select “Open these pages:” option and click on “Add a New Page” button. Enter the website URL that you want to open when launching Edge and add to this section. Now, Edge will launch with the entered webpage instead of a new tab page.
Similarly, you can set a custom home page to avoid opening a new tab page as your home.
Remember, startup and home page settings will not change your new tab page. However, you can avoid opening a new tab page frequently by using custom pages for these settings.
Note: clicking on “Customize” button under “New Tab Page” section in this settings page will ultimately take you to the new tag page. you can click on the gear icon and customize the quick links, background and feed content as explained above. If you want to use news feed in your new tab page, make sure to enable “Preload the new tab page for a faster experience” option to improve the loading speed.
6. Customize New Tab Page with Edge Add-ons
The last option is to use a third-party add-on and customize the appearance of your new tab page. New tab also contains few more items like search box, Edge icon showing at the center, weather, app launcher and favorites bar. You can remove the favorites bar by going to the “Appearance” section of the edge://settings/appearance page. However, you need a custom theme or add-on for removing other items.
Go to Edge add-ons page and search for “new tab”.
You can find plenty of add-ons for changing the new tab page to blank or force to use custom URL.
Install the add-on you like and use the new tab page as per your convenient.
You can also try custom themes or use extensions from Google Chrome Web Store on your Edge browser. Since, Edge runs with Chromium base code like Google Chrome browser, all Chrome extensions will also work on your Edge browser.
Conclusion
We hope now you can remove quick links and news feed in Microsoft Edge new tab page. Instead of quick links and news feed, you can use bookmarks bar and custom startup/home page respectively. This will help to keep the browser clean, allow you to access the pages that you like without forced distractions. If required, you can also use third-party extensions offering custom themes to change the appearance of your new tab page. If you find this article very useful, please consider sharing and comment on any suggestion of yours and we'll be glad to assist you. Happy Reading!!!
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