microsoft edge is useless, can't use it at all

Question

not sure what happened. all of a sudden one day I could not use it at all. It will not provide a secure whatever no matter what site I use. hulu, facebook, google, whatever. I enter any site and it will not load. keeps telling me to check my connection, goes to a https and says cant connect, site isnt secure the list goes on. Ive tried everything its suggested I do and nothing works

ive read so many issues with edge and you can't edit it or uninstall it. I am not sure what to do. i have had to install google chrome to be able to search the web, even then that's got issues but I can watch movies on it without getting a error code.

ive tried updating edge, nothing. I used to be able to figure out and fix issues with browsers before, but with this I am at my wits end trying to figure out how to make it work again. ive tried going to my firewall and antivirus to hopefully fix the connection issue and I can't get it to work still

am I the only one who has issues like this with edge? it worked great, up until about nov/dec and I had to start using wave browser, now that's acting up too. keep getting an error code when trying to play a video or any kind of video.

what can I do to get edge to work again

it was suggested that I try to disable my mcafee web advisor extension. I used to get a blue box that said "this app cant run on your pc" or something like that and I need to contact the site admisinstrator I believe.

I disabled it and I don't get that now BUT i enabled it I get that blue box, but it'll say site is secure, when I go to youtube, BUT then it'll say that I'm not connected to the internet, which I am.

Answer 1

Hello Candace C!

Welcome to the Q&A forum and thanks for sharing detailed information.

I understand you're facing issues with Microsoft Edge that it suddenly became unusable and will not load any websites, displaying errors related to connection issues across various sites (e.g., Hulu, Facebook, Google...).

Since you’ve already tried various troubleshooting methods without success, here are a few additional steps you can try:

1. Clear Edge cache

Open Edge > Menu (⋯) > Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data > Cached images and files > Clear now

2. Use InPrivate mode / different profile

Menu (⋯) > New InPrivate window > test sites

Or: Profile icon > Add profile > Sign in with another account

For more solutions, check out: What to do if Microsoft Edge isn't working

3. If the issue persists, you can reinstall Microsoft Edge using one of the methods below:

Method 1: This method reinstalls Edge without removing profiles, settings, or cache.

1. Close Microsoft Edge
2. Open Settings
3. Go to Apps > Installed apps
4. Find Microsoft Edge
5. Click ⋯ (three dots) > Modify
6. Click Repair

Windows will download and reinstall a fresh copy of Edge from Microsoft servers.

Method 2: Clean reinstall (clean profile reset)

This method removes the local Edge profile and starts Edge fresh.

1. Close Edge
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc > end all Microsoft Edge / msedge.exe processes
3. Press Win + R, paste: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge
4. Rename User Data to User Data.old
5. Reopen Edge

Edge will recreate a new User Data folder and start like a fresh install.

Important note: If you sign in and have Sync enabled, your old settings and extensions may return. Turn off Sync first if you want a truly clean test.

Hope this helps and let me know how it goes!

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