I've rebooted several times and it seems to get worse. I have Microsoft 10 and on a recent update, I think they installed an uninstallable version Edge.

I see instructions for going into the OS and making cryptic changes, but I'm too scared of breaking it and not being able to recover from my changes.

let's you uninstall it.

Download a free spyware/antivirus program like

Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download

or

Spybot: https://www.safer-networking.org/products/spybot-free-edition/

or

AVG: https://www.avg.com/en-us/homepage#pc

and see if there's anything wiggy going on.

multiple Firefox instances (can that even be done?) and that hints that your registry is corrupted, and perhaps bogus Firefox instances. FWIW, a wild guess based on no web search, but recollections of past jobs (and malware) Malware always likes to edit the registry to launch multiple versions of itself.

In any event, a thorough check of the system and the registry are always a good idea. However you can do that.

Good luck.
I'll edit/delete if any of this is wrong.

When there are multiple tabs open. Doesn’t explain why Edge would be open though….

... and show up as separate items in task manager. The main browser application will usually show a much larger memory size/usage than the other things.

You can access the extensions control panel via the browser menu, usually in the 'other tools' (or something similar), to see if you have unwanted/unneeded stuff running. You can disable or delete them from there.

NB: I use Win7. I'm assuming that subsequent versions still have a task manager function, whatever it may be called.

It uses multiple instances to better handle crashes and for better performance. The number of processes can vary depending on how many tabs you have open and how many extensions and add-ons are installed and running.

It does this in part so that it can isolate a problematic web page in a crash rather than crashing the entire program.

Even when I close Edge with the little 'x', It will hang up the cleaner that came with my AVG antivirus. The AVG cleaner will ask if I want to force close it, but then the AVG cleaner is unable to close it. So I had this problem with Ccleaner too but it always force closed Edge after asking. So I keep a free Ccleaner just to close EDGE completely for cleaning.

Another way to close Edge completely is to reboot. Or to keep it closed altogether while using your computer, which I can't do because it runs my email website the best. And some bank websites.

I'd say if Edge is uninstallable then the next best option, if you can do it, is to just not use it after your next reboot.

If this sounds quirky, I'm an old guy who worked in IT operations during the heyday of IBM and Univac Mainframes, so I observe and think a little differently some times.

After playing around with it for awhile, I realized that Edge, for some reason, became the default for opening PDF files, which is how it is getting triggered in some cases.

I use a lot of bandwidth on my computer - day trader. I'm thinking that my computer is just not keeping up with the demands being put on it. Need to upgrade as they pile on more and more junk.

Old guys like you are deep fonts of tech knowledge. Greatest respect.

Old gal...