Edge now putting icons on the desktop at update


Recommended Posts

In windows 10 I've now noticed that Edge will put an icon on the desktop out of no where after an update (last update that did this was 109).0.1518.55... 

 

anyone else see this? I also noticed Google is doing this randomly with Google Earth Pro too when it does an update.... so annoying

  • Like 3

I've noticed several programs do this (Google Earth, Adobe Acrobat and now Edge).  Can't really say it bothers me though...I just drag it to the recycle bin.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
On 17/01/2023 at 16:45, Jim K said:

I've noticed several programs do this (Google Earth, Adobe Acrobat and now Edge).  Can't really say it bothers me though...I just drag it to the recycle bin.

Just annoying, don't know what possesses them to suddenly do this, they feel the start menu isn't putting them front and center enough now?

On 17/01/2023 at 14:41, neufuse said:

In windows 10 I've now noticed that Edge will put an icon on the desktop out of no where after an update (last update that did this was 109).0.1518.55... anyone else see this? 

I noticed it a day or two ago. Thought it was odd, deleted it, and moved on. Then it turned up again (perhaps on another machine?), so deleted it again. Another nag from MS?

A major "project" I'm working on won't need the internet on that one PC, so I'll just uninstall Edge and all other net-related stuff from that machine.  

On 17/01/2023 at 16:55, nerim said:

I noticed it a day or two ago. Thought it was odd, deleted it, and moved on. Then it turned up again (perhaps on another machine?), so deleted it again. Another nag from MS?

A major "project" I'm working on won't need the internet on that one PC, so I'll just uninstall Edge and all other net-related stuff from that machine.  

It's reappeared one one system 3 times now after deleting it, usually after another update applies... I got it again after this months CU, then again after the Edge 109 update

On 18/01/2023 at 08:47, neufuse said:

Just annoying, don't know what possesses them to suddenly do this, they feel the start menu isn't putting them front and center enough now?

Then uninstall Edge as I have done. It isn't difficult and doesn't harm the system at all. Then you can stop complaining about the Edge virus and Microsoft who are user hostile in not respecting user browser preference. 

Just flush the Edge virus.

Edited by foolsfolly
On 17/01/2023 at 17:45, foolsfolly said:

Then uninstall Edge as I have done. It isn't difficult and doesn't harm the system at all. Then you can stop complaining about the Edge virus and Microsoft who are user hostile in not respecting user browser preference. 

Just flush the Edge virus.

that's great and all but some of us have to use edge for testing also.. maybe MS could stop playing games like the OOBE random startup trying to force you to use edge every so often too on boot?

I've noticed Edge has done this recently on a couple of machines, I deleted the shortcut and I don't think it has come back yet.

Adobe Acrobat has been doing this for years and seems to require admin rights to delete that shortcut, that one does annoy me a bit as some people will ask me to delete it for them.

On 18/01/2023 at 02:52, neufuse said:

that's great and all but some of us have to use edge for testing also.. maybe MS could stop playing games like the OOBE random startup trying to force you to use edge every so often too on boot?

I must admit I switched to Edge from Chrome, however the all that and the random price comparison bloat / side menus are starting to get a bit much. Same with the search results in the start menu, I can't help but feel Microsoft getting a bit too much like Google in exploiting their userbase.

This sorta reminds me of the windows 98 days when literally every program wanted to be in start menu, desktop, and quick launch bar! Yes it's annoying, and it's troubling that Microsoft thinks that Bing rewards belongs in the "pro" skus, since their often used by small business. 

I'm also not big fan of the "restore required" warning in Settings just because i'm not using bing as a search engine.

I like edge, and Windows, but Microsoft are trying their hardest to change that. 

 

image.png.1befe3e62e7a311cadd4230bfeff293b.png

The good news is most of the rubbish is pretty easy to turn off

  • Like 2
On 17/01/2023 at 16:41, neufuse said:

In windows 10 I've now noticed that Edge will put an icon on the desktop out of no where after an update (last update that did this was 109).0.1518.55... 

 

anyone else see this? I also noticed Google is doing this randomly with Google Earth Pro too when it does an update.... so annoying

I was wondering about that. Only noticed it on 1 computer that I just upgraded from Windows 7 to 10, so thought it was part of the install, but just got on wife's computer and there's the icon!

On 17/01/2023 at 14:41, neufuse said:

In windows 10 I've now noticed that Edge will put an icon on the desktop out of no where after an update (last update that did this was 109).0.1518.55... 

 

anyone else see this? I also noticed Google is doing this randomly with Google Earth Pro too when it does an update.... so annoying

Yeah, it updated mine when I was in Windows 10 and put the shortcut on the Desktop.  Not a big fan of Desktop icons frankly.

I have desktop icons hidden but I just checked and quite a number of programs have put a shortcut onto the desktop. Both Edge and Firefox have got a shortcut there and I'd be surprised if other browsers didn't.

On 18/01/2023 at 05:15, cooky560 said:

The good news is most of the rubbish is pretty easy to turn off

Yes, and I do that regularly as well. But MS gets a bit desperate on occasion, methinks. I have to go into Settings once in a while to check that my "choices/selections" haven't been altered. 😉

I love Edge... but I cannot stand how sometimes when they update the browser, they feel compelled to try and reset your browser settings to default or "suggested", which means getting Bing back.

What's worse is when Windows updated the other day, I proceeded to get a prompt once again about Edge, how I should buy Office (even though I have a license from work), along with some OneDrive storage push before I can finally get back to my Windows profile. It's obnoxious, and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to try things like Edge if they keep doing this nonsense.

  • Like 3

I loved the chromium based Edge when they first released it but as others have mentioned they seem hard pressed to just keep adding more and more bloat to it now that NO ONE has asked for.

I was on it for a good while since released but all this bloat in combination with all the V3 extension manifest BS going on (though admittedly that has now been delayed) I ended up switching back to Firefox at home for the first time in nearly a decade. I still use Brave at work and on my phone but don't expect me to touch Edge or vanilla Chrome much anymore.

  • Like 2
On 19/01/2023 at 13:03, dead.cell said:

I love Edge... but I cannot stand how sometimes when they update the browser, they feel compelled to try and reset your browser settings to default or "suggested", which means getting Bing back.

What's worse is when Windows updated the other day, I proceeded to get a prompt once again about Edge, how I should buy Office (even though I have a license from work), along with some OneDrive storage push before I can finally get back to my Windows profile. It's obnoxious, and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to try things like Edge if they keep doing this nonsense.

I had the same thing happen to me after an update, and then I had to go through a mini first-setup screen where they again tried to push me to reset all defaults to Edge (including opening PDF files, despite the fact that I have a PDF editor installed), sign up for Office (I also have it through work), and get some more OneDrive space for safe measure (I already have 200 GB, which is more than enough).  Then when Edge updates it's this whole 12 screen walkthrough wizard you need to endure so see all the features of the browser that I likely will never use.  Then you get this survey question about whether I would recommend Windows to a friend.  For one, I don't recommend operating systems to friends because no one really gets a choice in their operating system that they would need a 'recommendation'.  I guess if OEMs like Dell and HP were my friends I could honestly answer 'NO' I would not recommend Windows to them.

On 18/01/2023 at 04:08, InsaneNutter said:

Adobe Acrobat has been doing this for years and seems to require admin rights to delete that shortcut, that one does annoy me a bit as some people will ask me to delete it for them

Wait... People need to come to you for help because you have admin rights on their computer and they don't? LOL

 

On 18/01/2023 at 13:55, DonC said:

I have desktop icons hidden but I just checked and quite a number of programs have put a shortcut onto the desktop. Both Edge and Firefox have got a shortcut there and I'd be surprised if other browsers didn't.

Firefox puts a icon on the desktop if you don't uncheck that option during install (offline installer) but it doesn't put the icon back when it updates.

What seems ridiculous and ties in the bloat added is the size of Edge on the hard drive! Granted, space is cheap nowadays, but compared to say Firefox or another chromium browser, Opera,the Edge folder is huuuge...Why do we have to have sevearal instances of the same file in different folders.

I seem to have a the Program Files (x86) Microsoft/ (Edge/EdgeCore/EdgeUpdate/EdgeWebView/Temp) taking up 1.62GB of space, not including the AppData folder which has nearly 500MB.

3 the same versions of msedge_pwa-Launcher.exe, 3 of msedgewebview2.exe, 3 or even 4 of  nearly everything...why 🤬

Opera has 1 old verion to roll back to if anything fails and even with that is a third of the size, just because we have the space doesn`t mean you can take the hit and ######.

This is aswell as shoving a shortcut on the desktop randomly!

On 24/01/2023 at 14:51, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

Wait... People need to come to you for help because you have admin rights on their computer and they don't? LOL

Totally normal in a business environment, no one outside of I.T. requires admin rights to do their job.

On 24/01/2023 at 10:39, InsaneNutter said:

Totally normal in a business environment, no one outside of I.T. requires admin rights to do their job.

I am very aware how things work in a business environment as I work in IT but none of that context was mentioned in your comment. it sounded like friends and family were asking you for computer help.

Edited by Good Bot, Bad Bot

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Microsoft Weekly: Surface Laptop Ultra, Windows 11 context menus, Build 2026 recap, and more by Taras Buria This week's news recap is here, with Microsoft announcing the new Surface Laptop Ultra, fresh chips from NVIDIA for Windows on ARM, a no-build week, fixes for Windows 11's context menus, gaming news, reviews, and more. Quick links: Windows 10 and 11 Windows Insider Program Updates are available Reviews are in Gaming news Great deals to check Windows 11 and Windows 10 Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions. At Computex 2026, together with NVIDIA, Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Ultra, its most powerful laptop to date, powered by NVIDIA's RTX Spark processor. Details about this computer are currently scarce, as Microsoft has only revealed certain parts of its specs. So far, we know that the computer has a 15-inch mini-LED display, a rich set of ports, a powerful processor, and all-day battery life. It also comes with a new wallpaper, which you can already download here in full resolution. The Surface Laptop Studio is not the only NVIDIA-powered Surface, which Microsoft unveiled this week. At Build 2026, the company also debuted the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, an odd-shaped desktop with a 20-core NVIDIA Grace CPU and an NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores and fifth-generation Tensor Cores with FP4 precision, connected via the NVIDIA NVLink-C2C chip-to-chip interconnect for high performance. According to Microsoft, it can run models with up to 120 billion parameters locally without relying on cloud GPU infrastructure. These two new Surface devices are likely to cost quite a lot, and for those who need a more affordable device, Microsoft is preparing the next-gen Qualcomm-powered Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. This week, details about these two devices leaked in plenty of detail. Other announcements at Build 2026 include the following: Microsoft unveils new security tools for IT admins and developers building AI products Microsoft announces Scout, an OpenClaw-powered personal agent for enterprise customers Microsoft unveils MAI-Thinking-1 reasoning and MAI-Code-1 coding models Microsoft announced a new Windows 11 native command-line utility Microsoft unveils Majorana 2 quantum chip, accelerating commercial timeline to 2029 Microsoft believes that AI agents will eventually replace apps through Project Solara Microsoft introduces Web IQ, a Bing-powered search system built for AI agents Last week, Microsoft released a new Experimental build, which introduced a major Start menu upgrade. It now lets you toggle off specific parts of the menu without affecting other features, resize the menu, and hide additional UI elements. We published a closer look here, so if you want to know what Microsoft is cooking without enrolling in the Insider program and installing unstable builds, check it out. Speaking of new features, many users are very annoyed about the way Microsoft delivers them. Recently, a frustrated user shared their experience with gradual rollouts, and even Microsoft engineers admitted there is a flaw in the system that prevents new features from applying properly. One of those new features includes the ability to uninstall AI models in Windows 11 with a single click. Windows 11 is finally getting fixes for its slow context menus. Marcus Ash from Microsoft confirmed that the company is working on fixing Windows 11's context menus. Reworked context menus are going to be faster, simpler by default, and "configurable to what you use most." According to Marcus, Microsoft will share more details soon. Windows Insider Program Windows 11 preview builds, released last week, are now available for download as standalone ISO files. These days, Microsoft regularly pushes new images, allowing users to clean-install its recent Windows 11 preview builds faster and easier. If you want to try the latest Windows 11 features without jumping through the Windows Update hoops, get those new images here. Sadly, Microsoft did not release new Windows 11 preview builds this week. Come back next time. Updates are available This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties. Microsoft is preparing new features for Teams. Later this month, the messenger will receive a new download manager with auto-dismissing notifications, reducing clutter and making the overall experience less annoying when dealing with downloads. Mozilla released Firefox 151.0.3, a new bug-fixing update for the browser. It is a small release, which fixes problems with pasting into text fields and the oversized VPN button on the toolbar. The update is now available for all users in the Release channel. Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting: VS Code 1.123 introduces massive upgrades for persistent AI developer workflows Microsoft OneDrive is getting a simple yet much-needed feature Microsoft faces heat after quietly blocking promised Office features on Apple systems Microsoft resumes forced Copilot app installation on some Windows PCs Browser vendors pen an open letter to Microsoft, saying "enough is enough" Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week: AMD Radeon Software 26.6.1 with optimizations for F1 25: 2026 Season, World of Tanks: HEAT, and various bug fixes. Reviews are in Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week Steven Parker dropped more mini PC reviews this week. GEEKOM Air12 2026 Edition is a low-power, affordable computer with an Intel Tiger Lake Pentium Gold processor, up to 16GB of memory, and 512GB of storage, costing just $349. It is light, quiet, energy efficient, and has modern ports on the front. However, the front-facing USB Type-C is data-only, and there are some quirks with the computer's memory, so check out the full review. The AMD RX 9070 GRE has been released worldwide, and we published a benchmark review comparing this powerful graphics card to the RX 9070 XT, 7800 XT, the NVIDIA RTX 5070, and RTX 4070. It has solid, balanced performance, plenty of RAM, and low temperatures, but watch out for mediocre ray tracing performance and not the best efficiency. Also, we reviewed the Cuktech 10 Ultra, a compact, high-power charger with four ports and a big display full of various stats. This tiny charger can pull nearly 120W and spread that power according to each connected device's needs. It also comes with a high-quality 240W cable, three power modes, and retractable prongs. The best part? It is quite affordable, just make sure you have an outlet placed in the right spot to benefit from the built-in display. On the gaming side Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more. Do you remember the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Microsoft's first handheld console designed in partnership with ASUS? This week, ASUS revealed a new version of the device to celebrate twenty years of its Republic of Gamers brand. The new ROG Xbox Ally X20 features an OLED display, a transforming D-Pad, TMR sticks, and other changes. However, the chip inside the console is still the same. Forza Horizon 6 launched last month to critical acclaim, but the game will soon have a new rival made by those who used to work on Forza Horizon titles. Mike Brown from Maverick Games announced Clutch, an upcoming racing game with a story-driven campaign, deep car customization, and rich multiplayer. The game is coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 in Spring 2027. The next update for Minecraft now has a release date. This week, Mojang announced that Chaos Cubed will be available on June 16, 2026. In addition, Mojang published a teaser of the next Minecraft movie. A Minecraft Movie Squared has now been confirmed for a release somewhere in 2027. NVIDIA GeForce Now is getting 18 new games in June. Those include Jurassic World Evolution 3, Fatekeeper, GOALS, Gothic 1 Remake, NTE: Neverness to Everness, and more. If you are a Game Pass subscriber, you can also get new games soon: Persona 5 Royal, Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, and more are coming to the service this month. Sumer Game Fest 2026 happened this week, where we saw plenty of new games, including Alien Isolation 2, Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3, Gen Atlas from the Shadow of the Colossus creator, a new Cuphead game in 8-bit style, a new expansion for Mafia: The Old Country, and more. Finally, here are this week's Weekend PC Game Deals, full of discounts and the latest freebies from the Epic Games Store. Other gaming news includes the following: God of War Laufey announced, introducing Kratos' wife as the new protagonist Ori studio's No Rest for the Wicked 1.0 release and console plans announced Microsoft launches Godot Sample to streamline Xbox PC game development on the engine Great deals to check Every week, we cover many deals on different hardware and software. The following discounts are still available, so check them out. You might find something you want or need. Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB NVMe - $389.99 | 39% off Sonos Sub 4 - Wireless Subwoofer - $759 | 16% off Logitech MX Creative Console - $159.99 | 20% off This link will take you to other issues of the Microsoft Weekly series. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing for extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option.
    • Let's goooooooo! I've been loving the entries so far! I still have to finish Rebirth (things have been busy!)! Excited for this next installment.
    • "Revelation?" I was hoping for this episode to be called "Reunion". Oh, well... In a related note, the Final Fantasy VII compilation has received an EC entry, short for Ever Crisis. For those who don't know, it already had AC, BC, CC, and DC entries, short for Advent Children, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, and Dirge of Cerberus. I hope it doesn't get an FC entry becaude that would be a freakin' crisis.
    • Uh, after intense testing now, 'Samsung Browser' is not the best one outside of 'Microsoft Edge' after all. Opera Air is that. It has "some" bloat, but it's far less than what both Microsoft Edge and Brave browser have.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      JKR earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      moog19 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Mentor
      grik went up a rank
      Mentor
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      511
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      278
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      75
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      68
    5. 5
      +Edouard
      66
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!