Overview
I recently had to set up a new computer. After installing Windows and MS Office, I noticed that there was a link to an application called Power Automate. Not knowing what it was, I opened it. Microsoft Power Automate is a workflow engine that allows users to create automated process flows across Office and other applications. I really did not need it. I also realized that the application had potential security vulnerabilities. Power Automate is always on, and flows can bypass security policies. So, I decided to remove Power Automate from my system… or so I thought.
At the time, I had five browsers loaded on my system: Brave, MS Edge, Google Chrome, Vivaldi, and Firefox. After deleting Power Automate, I noticed that each of my Chromium-based browsers had a Power Automate extension loaded. Firefox was not affected. OK, I thought, I would just remove the extension in each browser and be done with Power Automate. But no!
The first time I created a browser profile, I received an error. By the way, I use browser profiles a lot. They are very useful. If you are not familiar with browser profiles, read “How To Create And Use Browser Profiles”.
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Browser_Profile_error-640x123.png)
When I investigated the error, I saw that a Microsoft Power Automate extension had been added. I further realized that every time I created a new profile in any Chromium-based browser, an extension was added. But how? Power Automate was not present on my system. Somehow, Microsoft was injecting Power Automate into my Chromium-based browsers.
Standard Registry Editing Warning: The following instructions will ask you to edit your Windows Registry. Be sure to make a backup of your Registry before you make any changes. Making mistakes in the Registry can cause hard-to-diagnose problems, or even keep Windows from functioning properly. If you don’t know how to back up your Registry, please read Windows Quick Tips – Backup/Restore Registry.
How To Fix This
Since Power Automate was not on my system, I realized that Microsoft must be injecting the extension into my browsers with an entry in the Windows Registry. First, I had to figure out what. I turned to Brave and opened the Extensions window. To do this, click ☰ in the upper right corner and select Extensions. I then toggled the Developer mode on. The Power Automate extension ID was now visible.
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Browser_Extension_Dev_Mode-640x314.png)
I did this for each of my Chromium-based browsers. This is what I found:
Brave | ljglajjnnkapghbckkcmodicjhacbfhk |
Chrome | ljglajjnnkapghbckkcmodicjhacbfhk |
Vivaldi | ljglajjnnkapghbckkcmodicjhacbfhk |
MS Edge | kagpabjoboikccfdghpdlaaopmgpgfdc |
Brave, Chrome, and Vivaldi all used the same ID, while MS Edge used a different one. Now, I had to remove both IDs from the Windows Registry. To do this, I had to open the Windows Registry Editor by pressing the Windows key + R, typing in regedit, and clicking on OK.
Next, I made sure I was at the beginning of the Registry by clicking on the Computer row.
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Top.png)
Then, I clicked Edit > Find, entered one of my IDs, and clicked Find Next and it found an entry.
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Find_1.png)
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Find_2-640x299.png)
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Find_3-640x160.png)
Yes, there it was. An entry telling the browser to go to Google Webstore and install the Power Automate extension. This had to be removed. To delete this entry, I clicked Edit > Delete and then Yes in the confirmation popup.
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Delete_1.png)
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Delete_2-640x170.png)
I continued going to Edit > Find Next and deleting the ID entries until there were no more ID entries in the Registry. Because I was deleting from the top of the Registry, a few times, the lower dependent entries could not be opened.
![](https://davescomputertips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Regedit_Delete_3-640x295.png)
After there were no more entries for the first ID, I repeated the above for the second ID.
Bottom Line
Now, when I open a new browser profile, there are no error messages and no unwanted Microsoft Power Automate extensions.
—