I use Microsoft Edge daily and appreciate features like vertical tabs, collections, device sharing via Drop, and workspaces.

However, I’ve been frustrated by one of the improvements in Microsoft Edge: opening a new tab (Ctrl+T) leads to a Microsoft Bing search page, which I find both intrusive and distracting.

Using about:blank instead

Edge provides extended configuration options. You can disable most of the extra features that appear when opening a new tab, but the Bing search stubbornly remains.

Fortunately, you can configure a registry key under software policies to navigate to about:blank instead when creating a new tab:

1Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
2
3[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended]
4"NewTabPageLocation"="about:blank"

This tweak makes Edge feel less bloated and more focused, ideal for productivity.