How to stop background apps from running when microsoft edge is closed

Microsoft has introduced a couple of new options in the latest Canary build of the Edge browser. One of the options allows preventing web apps from running in the background when you close the Edge browser. By default, this behavior is enabled, and apps may remain active and continue to consume computer’s resources.

By default, Microsoft Edge permits web apps (e.g. PWA) and extensions to continue running in the background, even after you exit the browser. This behavior is enabled by default, and it can be finally disabled with a new option.

If you disable it, apps and extensions be will also terminated, and free up your device’s resources. This may also help to save its battery power, if it is a laptop or tablet. Let’s see how to manage this new option. Again, it is currently available in the Canary build of Edge (see its actual versions below).

To Disable Continue Running Background Apps when Microsoft Edge is Closed,

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Click on the Settings button (Alt + F) and select Settings from the menu.
3. On the left, click on System. If you don’t see the left pane, try to resize the Edge window, or click on the 3 bar menu button in at top left corner.
4. On the right, turn off the Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed option.

Actual Edge Versions

• Stable Channel: 83.0.478.58
• Beta Channel: 84.0.522.28
• Dev Channel: 85.0.552.1
• Canary Channel: 85.0.570.0

Download Microsoft Edge

You can download pre-release Edge version for Insiders from here:

The stable version of the browser is available on the following page:

Note: Microsoft has started delivering Microsoft Edge to users of Windows via Windows Update. The update is provisioned for users of Windows 10 version 1803 and above, and replaces the classic Edge app once installed. The browser, when delivered with KB4559309, makes it impossible to uninstall it from Settings. Check out the following workaround: Uninstall Microsoft Edge If Uninstall Button is Grayed Out.

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Source: Windows Central

On the new Chromium version of Microsoft Edge, extensions and other services can keep the browser running in the background even after it’s closed. Although this may not be an issue for most desktop PCs, it could be a problem for laptops and low-end devices as these background processes can increase battery consumption and memory usage.

If you’re using the new Microsoft Edge with a lot of extensions or websites with the push notification option enabled, you can disable the feature to prevent the browser from staying awake and running the background after you close it to improve system performance on Windows 10.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to prevent the Chromium Edge browser from continue running processes in the background after it’s closed to save system resources and improve battery life.

How to stop background processes after closing on Microsoft Edge

To stop Microsoft Edge from running in the background after it’s closed, use these steps:

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Click the Settings and more (three-dotted) button from the top-right.
3. Select the Settings option.
4. Click on System.

Turn off the Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed toggle switch.

Source: Windows Central

Once you complete the steps, when closing the browser, extensions and other services will also be terminated, freeing up resources and improving battery life.

If you change your mind, you can always revert the changes using the same instructions, but on step No. 5, make sure to turn on the toggle switch for the feature.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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Microsoft’s Edge browser is the most popular web browser among Windows 10 users. Microsoft is releasing the essential updates constantly in order to improve the performance of the end user. However, some users making use of Microsoft Edge have reported the problem with respect to playing media and audio in the Microsoft Edge browser.

Edge stops media playing when minimized

Some users have reported that while playing the audio or video media in Edge browser, if for any reasons you minimize the Edge to the taskbar, and then get back to the browser with the intention of resuming the audio or video play, the browser stops playing media altogether. On a related context, the media and even an audio stop playing when the screensaver starts. In order the resolve the issue you may have to allow Microsoft Edge to run in the background which by default will be disabled. By allowing Edge browser to run in the background, the Microsoft Edge would be able to receive information, stay up-to-date and even send a notification when users are not using the app.

The only reason to turn off the apps running in the background is to conserve the battery power. Turning on the Battery Saver would limit the background activity and reduces the power usage of apps that are running in the background One can choose all the apps to run in the background or choose only a few apps to run in the background in order to save some battery power and improve the battery life endurance. It is also worth noting that this background setting must be applied to any app which plays media or an audio file. In this article, we explain a solution to resolve the issue.

Allow Microsoft Edge app to run in the background

In the Start menu, search for Settings and open the Settings. Navigate to Privacy.

Search and locate Background apps from the list menu in the left column of the page.

Now Choose the Microsoft Edge app and turn on the toggle button to let the Microsoft Edge run in the background.

If the solution doesn’t work then you may want to check for latest the latest available Windows 10 updates an install them.

Date: June 18, 2018 Tags: Edge, Media

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Visual Studio will generate a cryptic error when deploying to a RS5 (or RS4 with OpenSSH enabled) IoT image unless a SDK from RS4 or greater is installed that Visual Studio can access.

Background applications are applications that have no direct UI. Once deployed and configured, these applications launch at machine startup and run continuously without any process lifetime management resource use limitations. If they crash or exit the system will automatically restart them. These Background Applications have a very simple execution model. The templates create a class that implements the “IBackgroundTask” interface and generates the empty “Run” method. This “Run” method is the entry point to your application.

There is one critical point to note: by default, the application will shut down when the run method completes. This means that apps that follow the common IoT pattern of running a server waiting for input or on a timer will find the app exit prematurely. To prevent this from happening you must call the “GetDeferral” method to prevent the application from exiting. You can find more information on the deferral pattern here.

Where can Background Applications be installed from?

You can download and install IoT templates to enable Background Applications from the Visual Studio Gallery here. Alternatively, the templates can be found by searching for Windows IoT Core Project Templates in the Visual Studio Gallery or directly from Visual Studio in the Extension and Updates dialog (Tools > Extensions and Updates > Online).

What languages are available?

Background Application (IoT) templates can be found for:

• C++ File > New > Project > Installed > Visual C++ > Windows > Windows IoT Core
• C# File > New > Project > Installed > Visual C# > Windows > Windows IoT Core
• Visual Basic File > New > Project > Installed > Visual Basic > Windows > Windows IoT Core
• JavaScript File > New > Project > Installed > JavaScript > Windows > Windows IoT Core

How are background applications used?

Creating a background application is very similar to creating a Background Task. When the Background Application starts, the Run method is called:

When the Run method ends, unless a deferral object is created, the background application ends. The common practice, for asynchronous programming is to take a deferral like this:

Once a deferral is taken, the background application will continue until the deferral object’s Complete method is called.

How do background applications start?

This question can be broken into deployment and invocation.

To deploy a background application, you can either:

• Use Visual Studio’s F5 (which will build, deploy, and invoke). For more details, see our Hello World sample where we describe how to deploy and launch from Visual Studio.

This will not configure your background application to start when the device boots.

• Create an AppX in Visual Studio by selecting Project > Store > Create App Packages. Once you have created an AppX, you can use Windows Device Portal to deploy it to your Windows 10 IoT Core device.

To invoke a background application, you can either:

• As mentioned above, Visual Studio’s F5 functionality will deploy and immediately start your Background Application.

This will not configure your background application to start when the device boots.

• For a background application that has been deployed to an IoT device, you can use the iotstartup.exe utility to configure your background application to start when the device boots. To specify your background application as a Startup App, follow these instructions (substitute your app’s name for BackgroundApplication1 below):

Start a PowerShell (PS) session with your Windows IoT Core device as described here.

From the PS session, type:

[]: PS C:\> iotstartup list BackgroundApplication1

1. You should see the full name of your background application, i.e. something like:

Headed : BackgroundApplication1-uwp_cqewk5knvpvee!App Headless : BackgroundApplication1-uwp_1.0.0.0_x86__cqewk5knvpvee

The utility is confirming that your background application is an ‘headless’ application, and is installed correctly. You will likely see a Headed entry as well for your Background Applications, but this can be disregarded.

Now, it’s easy to set this app as a ‘Startup App’. Just type the command:

[]: PS C:\> iotstartup add headless BackgroundApplication1

1. The utility will confirm that your background application has been added to the list of headless ‘Startup Apps’:

Added Headless: BackgroundApplication1-uwp_1.0.0.0_x86__cqewk5knvpveeplication1

1. Go ahead and restart your Windows IoT Core device. From the PS session, you can issue the shutdown command:

[]: PS C:\> shutdown /r /t 0

1. Once the device has restarted, your background application will start automatically and Windows 10 IoT Core will make sure that it gets restarted anytime it stops.

Once a background app is registered to run automatically, if the app exits or crashes it will be automatically restarted. The app isn’t informed of the reason that it’s being started or restarted so if you want to take special action on a restart you will need to track the app state in your app.

1. You can remove your background application from the list of headless Startup Apps by typing the command:

[]: PS C:\> iotstartup remove headless BackgroundApplication1

1. The utility will confirm that your background application has been removed from the list of headless ‘Startup Apps’:

Removed headless: BackgroundApplication1-uwp_1.0.0.0_x86__cqewk5knvpvee

See Also

To add a background app when building a custom image see Create an Appx package

If you upgraded to new version of Microsoft Edge web browser, you might have noticed that the browser keeps running in background even after closing Microsoft Edge program window.

When you launch Microsoft Edge browser, its executable MSEdge.exe starts running in background. You can check it using Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) tool. But when you close the browser, MSEdge.exe process doesn’t stop and keeps running in Task Manager.

So in simple terms, multiple MSEdge.exe processes always run in background irrespective of Microsoft Edge is opened or not.

Following screenshot shows multiple msedge.exe processes running in Task Manager in Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge browser was not running in the device at that time:

It happens due to a new feature introduced in Microsoft Edge which is called “Startup Boost“. This feature has been implemented in Microsoft Edge to make the browser launch faster.

By default, Startup Boost feature is activated and enabled and it allows MSEdge.exe process to always run in background. Since the process keeps running in memory, whenever the user launches Microsoft Edge browser, it launches instant without any delay.

You can consider Startup Boost feature as preloading the browser in system memory to speed up Microsoft Edge launch. It allows Microsoft Edge process to start as soon as you sign into your user account in Windows.

If Microsoft Edge is primary browser in your system and you use it regularly to browse websites, then it should not be a problem to you as Microsoft Edge will open quickly.

But if you don’t use Microsoft Edge as primary browser and use it less frequently, then you might not like this feature as MSEdge.exe will keep consuming system resources.

If you don’t want this new functionality and want to prevent or restrict Microsoft Edge browser executable (MSEdge.exe) from always running in background, this tutorial will help you.

Fortunately, Microsoft has provided a built-in option to turn on/off Startup Boost feature so users who didn’t like the feature, can deactivate it manually.

Once you disable Startup Boost feature, Microsoft Edge will no longer run in background if the browser window is closed.

Following steps will help you in disabling Startup Boost feature in Microsoft Edge browser to block it from always running in background:

1. Open Microsoft Edge browser and click on the 3-dots menu button present at the right-side of the toolbar. Now select Settings option from the main menu.

Alternatively, you can press ALT+F keys together to show Edge Menu and then press S key to open Settings page. You can also directly open Edge Settings page using edge://settings/ URL in address bar.

2. Now click on System tab in left sidebar and in right-side pane, you’ll see Startup Boost option.

If “Startup Boost” option is enabled i.e. ON, it means preloading feature is enabled in Microsoft Edge and the browser’s executable (msedge.exe) will always run in background.

To stop Microsoft Edge from always running in memory, disable i.e. set the Startup Boost option to OFF.

Also disable “Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed” option.

That’s it. Now close Microsoft Edge browser window and MSEdge.exe will also quit and will no longer run in background.

Published in: Microsoft Edge

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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There is also a group policy for this:
The policy files are available here:

Microsoft probably considers this a “feature”, whereas many of us (including me) would call it a waste.

Microsoft Edge may keep running in the background even though you close it in Windows 10. If you don’t like this behavior, you can stop it from opening by following these instructions mentioned in this post from MiniTool. Now, let’s see how to fix Microsoft Edge running in background.

Microsoft Edge Running in Background Windows 10

In Windows 10, there is a built-in web browser called Edge and you can use it to visit web pages, watch videos online, etc. Sometimes, you encounter some issues when using this browser, for example, Microsoft Edge is being used for sharing, Microsoft Edge not working, and more.

On the other hand, you find it works well but it keeps running in the background after you close it. For most desktop PCs, this may not be a problem but it could be an issue for low-end devices or laptops since the background processes can increase memory usage and battery consumption.

Fortunately, you can stop Microsoft Edge from running in background by following these instructions. Let’s see them.

How to Fix Microsoft Edge Running in Background

In this part, we will offer 4 simple methods to stop Microsoft Edge from opening in Windows 10 – using Edge Settings, Windows 10 Settings, Registry Editor and Group Policy.

Turn off Edge via Its Settings

In the settings page of Microsoft Edge, you can see an option that lets you disable it from running in the background all the time.

Step 1: Open Edge, type edge://settings/system to the address bar and press Enter.

Step 2: Switch the toggle of Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed to OFF.

After disabling this option, extensions and other services will be terminated when closing Edge. This is helpful to free up the resources of your computer and improve battery life.

This article tells you how to make laptop battery last longer in different ways. You can use one or more of these methods to extend laptop battery life.

Prevent Microsoft Edge from Running in Background

In Windows 10, you can disable Microsoft Edge as a background app in Settings.

Step 1: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy.

Step 2: Scroll down to find Background apps from App permissions.

Step 3: Locate Microsoft Edge and switch its toggle to Off.

Apart from the above ways, you can use Registry Editor or Group Policy Editor to block this browser from running in background. If you want a surefire alternative method or you have multiple users, they are useful.

Fix Microsoft Edge Running in Background via Windows Registry

Before editing your Windows Registry, back up registry keys in Windows 10 to avoid system accidents caused by mistaken operations.

Then, follow these steps:

Step 1: Press Win + R, type in regedit in the Run window and click OK.

Step 2: Navigate to this path:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\MicrosoftEdge\Main

Step 3: In the Main folder, right-click the blank area of the right side, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it AllowPrelaunch.

Step 4: Double-click this key and set its value to 0. This will stop Microsoft Edge from running in background.

Use Group Policy Editor to Stop Microsoft Edge from Opening

If you are not a Windows 10 Home user but a Pro user, you can use this method to disable Microsoft Edge in background.

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Type gpedit.msc to the Run window and press Enter.

Step 2: Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Edge and find the policy Allow Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at Windows Startup.

Step 3: Double-click it, check the box of Enabled and choose Prevent pre-launching from Configure pre-launch.

Step 4: Save the change. Then, Microsoft Edge won’t pre-launch during Windows startup, when the system is idle, or each time Microsoft Edge is closed.

Final Words

Is Microsoft Edge running in background in Windows 10? How to stop Microsoft Edge from running after it is closed? Now, you can easily disable this web browser following these methods mentioned above.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 5 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.

Google Chrome and the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge can gobble up a lot of resources even when closed. Some extensions and apps including Facebook can continue to run in the background and also show notifications. Those who need to free up resources including laptops and gamers might find stopping Chrome and Edge from running in the background to be just what you need.

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The good news is that it’s simple to shut off background apps.

Google Chrome

Click the hamburger icon (three dots in the top right corner) and click on Settings.

Scroll to the bottom and click on Advanced.

Uncheck the box that says Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed.

Restart Google Chrome.

Microsoft Edge

The Chromium-based Microsoft Edge is similar to the Google Chrome method.

Click the three dots in the top right corner and select Settings.

On the left side, click on System.

On the right side, uncheck the box that says Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed.

Even after closing the Edge browser, it runs in the background. Here’s a way to stop the Microsoft Edge browser from running in the background.

The new Edge browser is built on Chromium, just like Google Chrome. Like most browsers built on Chromium, the Edge browser runs silently in the background even after you fully close it. Unlike Google Chrome where you can see an icon in the taskbar when it is running in the background, the Microsoft Edge browser doesn’t show any indication that it is running in the background.

In case you are wondering, constantly running in the background lets the Edge browser deliver notifications, launch faster, and even update itself as and when the updates are available. However, as you can assume, while it is running in the background it consumes your system resources, albeit in a tiny amount.

If don’t you like this behavior or if you just want the browser to close completely when you close the main window, you have to change a couple of hidden settings. Let me show you can block the Microsoft Edge browser from running in the background in Windows.

Steps to Stop Edge Browser Running in the Background

The settings page in Microsoft Edge has an option that lets you stop it from running in the background all the time.

First, open the Microsoft Edge browser, type “edge://settings/system” in the address bar and press Enter. In the Settings page, toggle the switch next to “Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed” to OFF position.

That it. From now, the Edge browser will not run in the background. When you close the browser, it is closed completely. Keep in mind that you will not receive any notifications from your subscribed websites.

Alternative Ways

Apart from the settings page, you can also use the Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor to block the Edge browser from running the background. The below methods are useful if you have multiple users or if you are looking for a surefire alternative method.

Via Group Policy Editor

1. Open Group Policy Editor by searching for “Edit Group Policy” in the start menu. Once opened, go to the following folder on the left panel.

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Microsoft Edge

2. On the right panel, double-click on the “Allows Microsoft Edge to pre-launch at Windows Startup, when the system is idle, and each time Edge is closed” policy appearing on the right panel.

3. Now, select the “Disabled” radio option and then select “Prevent Pre-launching” from the drop-down under the Options section. Click on the “Apply” and “Ok” buttons to save changes.

4. Finally, open Command Prompt as admin and execute gpupdate /force command. Alternatively, you can also reboot Windows to apply the policy.

Via Registry Editor

If you are on Windows Home edition, you need to use the Registry Editor. Before modifying, back up the registry to be safe.

1. Open Registry Editor by searching for “regedit” in the start menu. Once opened, copy the below path, paste it in the address bar and press Enter. You will be taken to the target folder.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\

2. Here, see if you have a folder named “MicrosoftEdge” under the “Microsoft” folder. If you don’t have the folder, right-click on the Microsoft folder, select “New → Key” and name the folder as “MicrosoftEdge”.

3. Select the MicrosoftEdge folder, right-click on it and select the “New → Dword Value” option. Name the value as “AllowPrelaunch”.

4. Double-click on the newly created value, type “0” in the Value Data field and click on the “Ok” button to save changes.

5. Close the registry editor and reboot Windows to make changes take effect.

That is all. It is that simple to stop the Microsoft Edge browser from running in the background in Windows.

If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible. If you like this article, do check out how to change the search engine from Bing to Goole in the Microsoft Edge browser.

Microsoft Edge happens to be the default browser that you get with the Windows 10 package.

Also, apart from everything else that the Edge boasts of, there is one aspect of it that might not be to the liking of everybody – its tendency to run continuously in the background.

That however is perfectly in tune with the Windows 10 working principle, that of allowing all its app to run in the background at all times.

Microsoft explains this happens to be a conscious design decision; something that will let the app be updated at all times and in turn can keep the user updated with timely notifications.

However, while that is definitely cool, it isn’t so for those who are not using the app.

That is simply because any unwanted app running in the background will eat up memory, will render the entire system slow and make it prone to get heated up.

While that should not be an issue with new age high-end PCs that have enough memory bandwidth, it can be crippling for those running older PCs with limited RAM.

In any case, it does not make much sense to let a program that you seldom use to keep your memory engaged, thereby depriving other genuine apps that you really care about.

So if you are one among those who are looking for ways to stop Edge from always running in the background, you are in the right place. And the solution to it is as simple as you might have ever imagined.

The solutions listed below are useful if you need assistance with on how to stop Edge from running in the background.

Quick Tip:

If you notice that Edge has a habit of continuously working in the background, or if it uses too much RAM, or has memory leaks, then maybe it is time you switch to a different browser.

We recommend Opera, primarily because it is also built using the Chromium engine, making it very modern and customizable.

One of this browser’s strong points is a low resource use, making it ideal if you are fed up with browsers that eat up your RAM, all while providing you with tools few other browsers dream of without the help of extensions.

Opera

Enjoy surfing the Internet with a browser that will stay closed once you exit it, and not run in teh background without your knowledge.

How can I stop Edge from running in the background?

1. Use Windows 10 Settings

1. Click on the Start button on the home screen, and select Settings.
2. Go to the Privacy tab.
3. From the list of options on the left panel, select Background App.
4. On the right, you will get to see all the apps currently installed in your PC.
   • If you haven’t tinkered with the settings here before, it is likely all the apps would be turned on to run in the background, as is the default on Windows 10.
5. Locate Edge and disable it to prevent the app to run in the background.
   • It is recommended to turn the setting off for all apps that you rarely/never use.

2. Edit your Windows Registry

1. Press the Windows key + R, and type in regedit.
2. Click OK.
3. Navigate to the following path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\MicrosoftEdge\Main
4. Go to the main folder, and right-click the empty area on the right side.
5. Select New, choose the DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it AllowPrelaunch.
6. Double-click this and set its value to zero.
7. This should help you stop Microsoft Edge from running in the background.

That’s it. And it’s as simple as that. There is no need to restart your system as well. The Edge browser (or any other app as specified by you) won’t ever be bogging down your resources ever again.

If you have any other suggestions or questions, feel free to leave them in the comments sections below.

Still having issues? Fix them with this tool: