Opening a new browser tab is one of the most frequent micro-actions performed on a computer every day. Whether you need to look up documentation, open a client portal, check an analytics dashboard, or draft an email, clicking the new tab button should provide a swift, focused springboard into your next task.
By default, however, the New Tab page in Microsoft Edge presents a high-stimulus sensory assault: sensationalist MSN news headlines, celebrity gossip, animated weather widgets, sponsored shopping links, and autoplaying video clips. Every time you open a tab, your attention is hijacked by clickbait. Fortunately, Microsoft Edge includes deep layout customisation controls that let you strip away the tabloid clutter and transform your New Tab page into a calm, minimalist productivity portal.
Understanding Edge New Tab Page Layout Presets
Microsoft Edge offers several pre-configured layouts through its quick-settings gear icon:
- Focused: Strips away background photography and hides the news stream beneath the fold, leaving only a clean search bar and your pinned shortcut tiles.
- Inspirational: Features Microsoft’s daily Bing high-resolution wallpaper or video background alongside quick links, with news hidden until scrolled.
- Informational: Maximises news widgets, weather forecasts, financial markets, and trending articles front and centre.
- Custom: Unlocks granular toggles allowing you to turn off specific elements individually (such as turning off the news feed completely while retaining a blank or custom background).
Step-by-Step: Disabling News and Distractions in Edge
The fastest way to achieve a distraction-free New Tab experience is using the Custom layout mode.
- Launch Microsoft Edge on your Windows PC or Mac.
- Click the + icon in the tab strip (or press Ctrl + T / Cmd + T) to open a New Tab.
- Look in the upper-right corner of the new tab page and click the Page Settings button (the gear symbol).
- In the settings dropdown menu, click Custom.
- Configure the granular switches as follows:
- Background: Choose Off to replace photos with a plain, neutral background (or keep Image/video of the day if you enjoy aesthetic landscape photography).
- Quick links: Select 1 row or 2 rows to keep your favorite bookmarks accessible, or set to Off for complete minimalism.
- Recent bing searches: Toggle this switch to Off.
- Content: Click the Content dropdown menu and change it from Content visible to Content off.
The entire MSN feed, tabloid news cards, sports scores, and video reels instantly vanish. Your New Tab page is reduced to a pristine, lightning-fast workspace containing only your search bar and preferred navigation shortcuts.
Disabling Sponsored Links and Shopping Prompts
Even with news feeds turned off, Edge occasionally displays sponsored shortcut tiles or shopping discount notifications on the New Tab page. You can clean these up thoroughly:
- On your newly decluttered New Tab page, inspect the Quick Links tiles below the search box.
- If you see pre-populated sponsored shopping tiles (such as Amazon, Booking.com, or Temu) that you did not add yourself, hover your cursor over the tile.
- Click the three dots icon on the top corner of the tile and select Remove.
- Open Edge’s master settings via the three dots menu in the top-right browser corner > Settings.
- Navigate to Privacy, search, and services.
- Scroll down to the Services section and toggle off Save time and money with Shopping in Microsoft Edge.
Configuring Edge to Open a Custom Minimalist URL Instead
If you prefer an entirely blank page or want new tabs to automatically launch your company intranet or a designated dashboard:
- Open Microsoft Edge Settings (via
edge://settings). - In the left sidebar, click Start, home, and new tabs.
- Under the When Edge starts section, you can define specific startup pages (such as
about:blankor your preferred productivity hub). - To override the new tab page completely with a blank canvas or custom dashboard, consider installing a lightweight open-source new tab extension from the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store.
Edge New Tab Layout Comparison
| Configuration Item | Default Setting | Recommended Focus Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Content (News Feed) | Content visible (Continuous MSN scroll) | Content off (Completely removed) |
| Background Graphic | Daily dynamic image/video | Off (Clean grey or dark backdrop) |
| Quick Links Tiles | Multiple rows with sponsored ads | 1 Row (Hand-picked essential bookmarks) |
| Weather & Stock Tickers | Active widget bar | Off |
Performance and Memory Benefits
Beyond the immense cognitive benefits of eliminating visual distractions, disabling the MSN content feed provides tangible hardware improvements:
- Instant Tab Creation: New tabs open instantaneously without waiting for remote news APIs, telemetry beacons, and graphic assets to download.
- Reduced Memory Footprint: Removing heavy JavaScript feeds and autoplaying media prevents the browser process from consuming hundreds of megabytes of surplus RAM.
- Bandwidth Savings: Essential when tethering your laptop to a mobile hotspot with limited data allowances.
Customising your New Tab page in Microsoft Edge takes less than two minutes and immediately turns your everyday web browser into an efficient, professional workstation.