Items tagged with microsoft edge
Even though Microsoft and Google are currently involved in a war of words regarding paying for aggregated news content, things are a lot more cordial when it comes to browser software. Google announced earlier this week that it is shifting to an accelerated four-week release cycle for the browser. "As we have improved our testing and release processes for Chrome and deployed bi-weekly security updates to improve our patch gap, it became clear that we could shorten our release cycle," said Google at the time. Given that the Microsoft Edge browser also uses the Chromium engine, it was only a matter of time before the Redmond-based software giant made the same shift in its release...
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Google is stepping up its game by shortening its Chrome release cycle, but it's not like other browser makers are standing still. Such is the case with Microsoft, which just released Edge 89. Microsoft is touting the performance of Sleeping Tabs, which launched in beta earlier this year. As its name implies, Sleeping Tabs allows unused tabs to go dormant; hence they consume fewer system resources. Microsoft's analytics shows that the feature has resulted in a 26 percent reduction in CPU utilization and a 16 percent drop in memory usage. That's great news for laptop users that are frequently away from a power outlet. Vertical tabs in Edge 89 Next, Microsoft revealed that vertical...
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Browser extensions like password managers and shopping aids can be very handy tools, or they can be up to no good, such as hidden crypto miners and keyloggers. Some of them even embed game console emulators and ROMs as a means to bypass typical download sites or torrents. In one weird case, however, Microsoft itself advertised illegal copies of many classic games hidden away in browser extensions on its own Edge Extensions store. Microsoft's @MSEdgeDev Twitter account tweeted a link to download extensions that hosted Sega and Nintendo properties like Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros, and Mario Kart 64. Nintendo in particular is often particularly quick to catch illegal downloads of...
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It's been roughly a year since Microsoft released the first public/stable version of its Chromium based Microsoft Edge browser. Before that point, Edge had been using Microsoft's own EdgeHTML engine, and wasn't doing much to gain market share in the browser space. However, the switchover to Google's Chromium project has led to a quickening pace of development and an increase in market share for Microsoft. To celebrate its 1-year anniversary, Microsoft has announced some big feature updates for Edge. One such addition is a new sidebar search feature, which can be invoked when highlighting a word on a website and clicking "search in sidebar". The sidebar will then slide over...
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If you're the proud owner of a new Apple M1-based Mac and have taken a shine to Microsoft's Edge browser, we've got some good news for you today. An official public channel release of the native M1 version of the browser will soon be upon us, as it just arrived via the beta channel. Microsoft first launched an M1-specific version of Edge via its Insider Canary Channel back in mid-December. Then, on January 7th, support was added via the Dev Channel. With support now being extended to the Beta Channel, an official Stable Channel release can't be too far down the road. For those that are not familiar with Microsoft's software channels, Canary builds are the most unstable, and are released...
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Suppose you want to block ads or find a deal on a product; thus a browser extension could come in handy. Just a simple download from the browser’s extension store, and you are ready to rock holiday deals without popups. The only catch is, just like any software you download, it can contain malicious code. In fact, researchers at the digital security company Avast found at least 28 third-party browser extensions that included malware. According to Avast, the 28 malicious extensions found, made for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, could “redirect user’s traffic to ads or phishing sites and to steal people’s personal data, such as birth dates, email addresses, and active...
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While Microsoft is continuing efforts to kill Adobe Flash, this company is also trying to put Internet Explorer out of its misery. Next month, users who try to go to websites like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and more will be automatically redirected to the page opening in Microsoft Edge. This “forced IE-to-Edge” action is part of Microsoft’s broader plan to extinguish Internet Explorer in favor of the newer Microsoft Edge browser. This month, Microsoft sent an email out to businesses warning them of the phaseout of Internet Explorer and how it would affect them. At that time, Microsoft said Internet Explorers support would be “ending for Microsoft...
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Microsoft Windows 10 users are finally receiving the October 2020 Update, and it brings some UI freshening and new features. The Windows 10 Start Menu is finally getting a new look with updated icons and transparent logos. Microsoft Edge is also getting some new features to streamline usage across the Windows experience. Microsoft is calling the update to the Start Menu “A refreshing Start,” and it certainly feels that way. Icons and tiles got a uniform, transparent background that “creates a beautiful stage for the redesigned app icons like Calculator, Mail, and Calendar.” This redesign works in both light and dark themes, and if you want some color, you toggle it in...
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Mozilla has definitely seen better days, and it is coming under increasing pressure in the browser market. Mozilla's Firefox was once in a distant second to Google Chrome in the desktop browser market, but has been recently supplanted by Microsoft Edge; a move that happened after Microsoft ditched its own EdgeHTML engine in favor of Google's Chromium (much to Mozilla's chagrin). Despite these obstacles, Mozilla is moving forward with Firefox development, and just released version 82 to the public channel. There are a number of updates with Firefox 82, including a new picture-in-picture button. The button has been completely redesigned to make discoverability easier. The browser also...
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When it comes to modern web browsers, Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser is already pretty energy efficient compared to its peers; especially compared to Google Chrome. However, Microsoft is working on a new feature that could further improve your runtimes for those of you with laptops. Microsoft is introducing what it calls Sleeping Tabs, which in effect will suspend any of your inactive tabs that are lingering around in the background. By suspending activity, the hope is that resources will be freed up, thus improving the overall efficiency of the Edge browser. However, in order to access this new feature, you need to be running the experimental Canary version of the Edge browser...
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Microsoft has been working on their Chromium-based Edge web browser for quite some time. The company began rolling it out this past June, but a recent update will install this new browser on a much larger number of Windows devices. The KB4576754 update forces the installation of the new Edge browser on Windows 10 version 2004, version 1909, version 1903, and version 1809. The KB4576754 update will install the new Chromium-based Edge and remove the previous EdgeHTML-based version. Data from the old version of Edge, such as a user’s passwords, will transfer over to the new version. The same applies to start menu pins, tiles, taskbar pins, and shortcuts. The new Edge will automatically be...
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Just last month, dissidents of Microsoft Edge wished to get rid of the browser and sought workarounds for its removal. Now, Microsoft has updated their explanation on why it cannot be regularly uninstalled. Back in June, the Chromium-flavored Microsoft Edge began its rollout to Windows users through Windows updates. This struck a nerve with some people, so a movement to uninstall Edge began. When that happened, Microsoft released a note stating that because it was part of a Windows update, it could not be removed. Even though that was said, users still found a way to remove the browser and ignored the note. Now, Microsoft has updated what they have to say on the matter: Why can't I uninstall...
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Microsoft has announced that it will remove support for the Adobe Flash Player in its Edge Browser “at the end of 2020”. In Microsoft parlance, this refers both to Microsoft Edge Legacy (EdgeHTML engine) and New Microsoft Edge (Chromium engine) browsers. If you’re still using the crusty old Internet Explorer 11 browser, Microsoft is ending support there as well. There was one a time when Adobe Flash ruled the internet, providing everything from interactive content for websites, to addictive online games, to powering online ads. Its quick rise in popularity meant that it was also a frequent target for malicious content, and many malware writers used Flash to deliver disastrous...
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Internet Explorer long ago ruled that roost amongst web browsers and played a pivotal role in how many websites were designed for years. Internet Explorer's dominance faded, however, with the arrival of Google Chrome. And by the time Internet Explorer 11 rolled out in 2013, Microsoft had become an also-ran in the browser wars. Microsoft hoped to regain momentum with its all-new EdgeHTML-based Edge browser introduced with Windows 10 in 2015, but it too failed to attract much of an audience as internet users continued to flock to Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. With this in mind, Microsoft this week revealed its plans to sunset support for both Internet Explorer 11 and its legacy Edge Legacy browsers. ...
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Earlier this year, the Chromium-flavored version of Microsoft Edge began to roll out with updates beyond Windows 10 version 1803. Even though it looks and feels nice, some users wished to remove all traces of Edge and found that they couldn’t, so we have a handy workaround. It seems the issue of removing Edge became a bit of a regular complaint, as Microsoft has a support article talking about it. In this article, they essentially hand-wave away concerns by basically saying, “our platform is better and baked into Windows, so you cannot uninstall it.” The problem here is that if you tell people on the internet they cannot do something, they will find a workaround, and that they...
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Back in April, we reported that the Edge browser is quickly gaining market share now that Microsoft has transitioned from the EdgeHTML engine to the more widely used Chromium engine (which also underpins Google's Chrome browser). At the time, Edge slipped into the second-place slot for desktop web browsers, with a 7.59 percent share of the market. This dropped Mozilla’s Firefox – which has long been the second-place browser behind Chrome – into third place. Now, at the start of August, we’re getting some fresh numbers in for the desktop browser market, and things aren’t looking good for Mozilla. Microsoft increased its share of the browser market...
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Over the past six months, Microsoft's new Edge browser has become very popular with computer users. However, Edge users began reporting an issue yesterday with the Chromium-based browser crashing when attempting to type in the address bar to search. Oddly, the crash issue only surfaced when Google was set as the default search engine. The crash happened with the official version of Microsoft Edge 84.0.522.48, as well as the Beta version of the browser. Other versions may have the issue as well, but those are the only versions confirmed to crash. Luckily, there is an easy workaround for users who are fighting the crash issue. The steps the workaround are: Launch Microsoft Edge Click the three...
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Over the weekend, Microsoft was catching flak over its new Edge browser reportedly importing user data (bookmarks, passwords, etc) without permission. One user reported that they were asked if they wanted to import the data, but bookmarks from their other browsers were showing up behind the import acceptance dialogue window. Users must interact with this dialog window during Microsoft Edge setup before any data is transferred -- in theory at least. Multiple users have reported similar experiences with Microsoft Edge. The main issue users are reporting is that Edge appears to be importing data from other browsers before it's given permission. Users are allowed to opt-out of importing data, and...
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Many Windows 10 users have already had Microsoft's latest version of its Edge browser pushed out via a software update. Now users of older versions of Windows will get the same treatment, whether they want the Edge browser or not. Microsoft is currently pushing the new Chromium Edge browser to users on Windows 7 SP1 or later and Windows 8.1 and later that are on Home, Professional, Ultimate, Starter, or Core editions. The good news for network administrators in large organizations is that Microsoft promises any of those editions that are running on Active Directory or Azure Active Directory domain will be excluded from the automatic update. Microsoft very much wants all Windows users, no matter...
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The cogs are turning behind the scenes at Microsoft as the company continues development on its Surface Duo dual-screen Android device. Microsoft is working to give developers the tools they need to ensure websites and other software will function optimally in a dual-screen form factor. Microsoft has begun rolling out support for the Surface Duo emulator to the stable version of the Edge browser. Previously, the Duo emulator could be enabled on the Canary, Dev, and Beta branches for Edge and Chrome. The roadmap shows the emulator is supposed to be completed in July 2020, but it can be enabled now in the previously mentioned branches. Microsoft's developer tools page reportedly shows there will...
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Microsoft delivered the first production, public release of its new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser back in January. However, Windows 10 users actually had to go out and “seek” the software from Microsoft’s website and download the executable to install it on their machines. Now, however, Microsoft is rolling out the browser through Windows Update, which should make it available to a broader range of Windows 10 users. Windows 10 is currently installed on over 1 billion PCs around the globe, so that will give Microsoft a huge footprint with the Edge browser. According to the KB4559309 support article, Microsoft Edge will be pushed to Windows...
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Microsoft was once apprehensive about Linux, with Steve Ballmer likening the operating system in 2001 to a “cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.” While that wasn’t a very flattering portrayal of Linux and open source software by the then Microsoft CEO, the company has since embraced the open source movement, and Linux in particular. At Microsoft’s BUILD 2020 event, which is streaming online right now, the company announced that it is ready to take its tight relationship with Linux to the next level. That means that full GUI support for Linux apps is now coming to Windows 10. Not only will there be Linux GUI support...
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