My default browser, Microsoft Edge, often starts playing YouTube music on its own, even when I'm not using it. I only notice this when I mute or unmute my sound and see what's playing. When I check Task Manager, I see multiple instances of Microsoft Edge, but I can't close them by ending the task.
Hey there, sound like a pretty weird issue
It’s possible that there’s a rogue extension or a specific tab causing this. Let’s try to troubleshoot this step by step:
- Check for suspicious extensions: Open Microsoft Edge, click the three dots in the top right corner, and select “Extensions.” Review the list and remove any extensions you don’t recognize or need.
- Close all unnecessary tabs: You might have a YouTube tab running in the background that’s causing this. Open Edge, and go through all your open tabs. Close any YouTube tabs or other tabs that might be playing audio.
- Check for background apps: Press the Windows key + I to open Settings. Navigate to “Apps” and then “Apps & features.” Look for any apps that might be related to music or YouTube and uninstall them.
Since you mentioned you can’t close the Edge instances in Task Manager, let’s try to restart Edge via the command line:
- Open Command Prompt as an administrator: Press the Windows key + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
- Type the following command and press Enter:
taskkill /im msedge.exe /f
This will force close all Microsoft Edge instances. After that, reopen Edge and see if the issue persists.
If none of these steps solve the issue, you might want to consider resetting Microsoft Edge or reinstalling it altogether. If you’re still having trouble, feel free to provide more details, and I’ll do my best to help you out.