Microsoft Edge is a hot mess because of CoPilot AI garbage...

[Gerowen]

Warning, there is adult language in this video because I'm getting annoyed.

I haven't used Edge much in quite a while, but boy is it a mess now.  If for whatever reason gets taken off YouTube I'll have a link to the same clip on my Nextcloud:

Nextcloud (Link expires in 30 days): https://cloud.marcusandash.net/index.php/s/ZmjsQFqcQmENEgR

YouTube:

 

[Gerowen]

I switched my bash script over to using Chromium instead of Edge and it's a much better experience.  Supports my bluetooth XBox controller for gameplay and menu navigation and launched the first time with no nonsense, no popups, nothing.  It just worked.

[Gerowen]

I have a first draft of the setup script available here if anybody is curious.  It'll work well enough for me, but obviously adapt it to your own needs as necessary.

Link: https://gitlab.com/-/snippets/4876568

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I'm yet to get the Copilot Vision prompt in Edge, however I do agree out the box Edge is a total mess these days. So many settings have to be switched off / tweaked on a new install just for Edge to be usable.

I dislike the current trend of forcing Ai assistants into everything too, its just not needed... in addition does present privacy concerns if / where my data is getting leaked to.

[Gerowen]

On 31/07/2025 at 04:37, InsaneNutter said:

I'm yet to get the Copilot Vision prompt in Edge, however I do agree out the box Edge is a total mess these days. So many settings have to be switched off / tweaked on a new install just for Edge to be usable.

I dislike the current trend of forcing Ai assistants into everything too, its just not needed... in addition does present privacy concerns if / where my data is getting leaked to.

I had two previous startups where I ran that same command and it took me thru different oobe/first-run setup processes.  After I finished those and went ahead and signed into my Microsoft account (since I was gonna use it to stream XBox anyway), the next time I ran my command, instead of doing what I wanted, I got whatever in the heck that thing was that started talking to me.

I installed regular Chromium, told it to go to that URL in kiosk mode and it did exactly, and ONLY that.  No sign in requests, no data syncing setup, no CoPilot or AI nonsense, nothing.  It just opened in kiosk mode and went to the site I told it to.

[BenCuttinng]

Edge was already decent on its own, but all this forced CoPilot/AI bloat just makes it feel heavy and annoying. Microsoft really needs to give users the option to disable it instead of shoving it down everyone’s throat.

[BoondockSaint]

When Edge relaunched, it really was a great browser. It was fast & light, everything you want from a browser, but now it's a bloated mess.

It's still reasonably quick, but you have to turn off so many things out of the box. And the AI garbage, ugh.

[Gerowen]

On 15/09/2025 at 07:57, Anuj Abhiwan said:

Many users feel Microsoft Edge struggles because the CoPilot AI integration can be intrusive, slow, or inaccurate, affecting the browser’s performance and usability.

This comment sounds like something straight out of ChatGPT, which is ironic given the nature of this topic, :-p