Solved Edge stopped working and computer is slow with app freezing

Asus Laptop (see My computer for specs)
Yesterday I was very pleased after an Edge update to 139.0.3405.86. I could finally set Google as my default search engine.
Problems began today after lunch with a restart. Everything was taking years to happen,
If I right click on a shortcut it was taking almost 5 minutes to launch the menu so I could select properties.
Same delay to open any application. Something was going on on the background but I couldn't figure what.
So I ran a offline chkdsk /f on C: and D: (no problems) then SFC and Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth and Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and then SFC (found no problems)
On Task Manager, CPU and memory was always above 50% and I noticed that Antimalware service was above 20%
So I went to check what has recently been updated. And today it was only KB2267602, a security intelligence update for Microsoft systems and their built-in antivirus tool – Microsoft Defender.
The curios is that, late afternoon, after some restarts, computer began to work normally, except that Edge doesn't work. I give a URL address and it never finds the site. Firefox works normally, except if Edge is trying to load a site.
I already downloaded and reinstalled Edge without success.

Any ideas on how to reset Edge so it works again?

Megahertz said:

Any ideas on how to reset Edge so it works again?

Click to expand...

Does EDGE have a safe mode or troubleshoot mode, like Firefox?

Did you try setting the search engine back to Bing, or whatever?

You reinstalled Edge, but it’s still broken, you may have to reinstall Edge with profile wipe. This will clear everything.
The regular installer keeps your old profile, so hidden corruption can apparently persist.

To force a fresh profile:

Also, you may want to check if Microsoft Defender isn’t complicating things.
Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection history.

Look for recent blocked items or quarantines related to msedge.exe or its modules.
If you see one, restore it (if you trust it — in this case, Edge should be safe).

If Edge stopped working, I would first look to your browser extensions.
If uninstalling extensions doesn't work you can repair edge.
Settings>apps>installed apps>Find Microsoft Edge in list>3dots>modify>Repair.. This process reinstalls the browser without affecting your data and settings.

If the issue persists, you can reset the browser by clicking 3 dots, reset settings in left pane.. However this sets it to default so be sure to backup stored passwords, favorites, and make note of any other changes you have made to Edge because it zaps everything and takes it back to virgin.

antspants said:

You reinstalled Edge, but it’s still broken, you may have to reinstall Edge with profile wipe. This will clear everything.
The regular installer keeps your old profile, so hidden corruption can apparently persist.

To force a fresh profile:

Powershell:

taskkill /F /IM msedge.exe
rd "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data" /S /Q

Also, you may want to check if Microsoft Defender isn’t complicating things.
Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection history.

Look for recent blocked items or quarantines related to msedge.exe or its modules.

Click to expand...

antspants said:

If you see one, restore it (if you trust it — in this case, Edge should be safe).

Click to expand...

For an unknown reason the powershell codes didn't work so I deleted the D:\Users\Luiz\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data and it began to work again. Thanks

glasskuter said:

If Edge stopped working, I would first look to your browser extensions.
If uninstalling extensions doesn't work you can repair edge.
Settings>apps>installed apps>Find Microsoft Edge in list>3dots>modify>Repair.. This process reinstalls the browser without affecting your data and settings.

If the issue persists, you can reset the browser by clicking 3 dots, reset settings in left pane.. However this sets it to default so be sure to backup stored passwords, favorites, and make note of any other changes you have made to Edge because it zaps everything and takes it back to virgin.

Click to expand...

The profile was so corrupted that I wold get a freeze only by opening Edge. Thanks anyway .

I may have found the reason to all the problems.
I have a small (128G) SSD for OS and programs and I have used Sysprep during installation to move C:\Users (SSD) to D:\Users , a 1T HDD, as I've been doing since 2011 on my desktop.
I found that the HDD had 4 Current Pending Sector Count (SMART C5) so it could explain the Edge corruption.

What I cant explain is that, after deleting D:\Users\Luiz\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data, SMART shown all good.