Our Favorite Tips for Microsoft’s New Edge Chromium Browser

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Microsoft has finally released the official stable version of its Chromium-based Edge web browser. And while that doesn’t mean your old school edge is going away today, Microsoft will start rolling out the Chromium browser in small batches before eventually replacing it via Windows Update this summer.

You can of course download it today as well. And I recommend doing it. It’s a great, fast browser that is much more enjoyable to use than Microsoft’s legacy Edge. You get more options to customize the look. you can use all the fun extensions that Chrome users get from their online store and get a lot of extra features to play with.

Of course, this means that you have to switch your browser from one to the other, which can seem frustrating. To help you, we’ve created a quick guide to some important Edge Chromium issues.

Where can I get Edge Chromium?

If you don’t want to wait for Microsoft to lay its updated browser on your lap, you can download it for yourself right now. Visit this website , select the correct browser version for your operating system and download it. After launching the installer, you will be prompted to import data from your existing browser. I recommend doing this to at least save you the hassle of setting up everything from scratch. (Edge even shows you a preview of what it looks like if you click between the two options Import and Continue Without Importing.)

You will then be asked to customize how you want your new tab to look and you will be given three options to choose from: Inspirational, Informational, and Focused. As before, clicking any of these options changes the browser configuration in real time to give you an example of what your change looks like – a feature I’m starting to love.

You will then be asked if you want to sync your passwords across signed-in devices, assuming you switch to Edge on other devices you have. Finally, Edge will ask you if it can use your browsing history to improve personalized ads, search results, and news. And it’s all. Edge is ready to go with no fanfare. Now let’s set it up.

Edge Chromium settings to take care of

Click the three-dot icon next to your name in the upper right corner and click Settings. If you’re a Chrome user, the following screen should look familiar to you.

First, I recommend visiting the Sync part of the Profiles section to make sure everything you do in Edge syncs with your Microsoft account – in case you switch between different machines (or even use Edge on your Android or iPhone ). You will notice that some data will not sync yet : your browsing history, your open tabs, your extensions, and so on. These options are coming soon, but Microsoft isn’t ready for them yet.

In the ” Privacy & Services ” section on the left sidebar, you can choose from three different modes of operation for Edge with different browser trackers. Pick your poison, but later on I’ll have some suggestions on how to take it one step further.

This is also where you’ll be able to tell Edge to clear various bits of data every time you close your browser – another handy step for privacy-minded people. Click “Choose what to clean every time you close your browser” and you can choose one of the following options:

Back at the main Privacy & Service screen, be sure to check the box to send Do Not Track requests, even if the website completely voluntarily complies with this assignment.

At the bottom, click Address Bar, which will allow you to turn your back on Microsoft’s Meh Bing search engine – Edge by default, of course – and switch it to something more useful (Google) or private ( DuckDuckGo ).

Now click on the ” Appearance ” section on the left sidebar. Here you can choose whether you want your browser to have a light or dark theme, or just keep an eye on what Windows is doing at the moment. You can also adjust the font size if you need it larger (or want it smaller) and have the favorites bar dock to every tab you open (not just new tab pages).

The Startup Settings tab is simple but important; it is how you choose what you want your browser to show you on startup: it could be a new tab, whatever you opened the last time you left your browser, or a specific page (or pages). I’m a big fan of the middle option, which is why I have an insane amount of browser tabs currently in the background in Chrome. If you prefer a cleaner interface, the default option in Edge removes every open tab every time you close your browser.

Likewise, the new tab page section will allow you to customize any new tab page you previously selected, or select a new one if you don’t like your choice. You won’t be able to customize much if you select the Custom option, but you can at least give yourself access to the daily news, for example, without having tons of stories flying all over your browser’s new tab page. And if you don’t like the daily image you get in Edge because you don’t like fun, you can turn that off as well.

Moving on to the System section, I would like to draw your attention to the “Continue running background apps when closing Microsoft Edge” option. I’m a purist and I don’t like apps running in the background unless I really need them, so I disabled that. I doubt I’ll notice an increase in Edge load times without affecting my extensions and day-to-day use in any way. Also, uncheck “Use hardware acceleration where possible” if you’re having unusual extension issues – in my case, this was the only way to get my extensions to work “create PDF from web page”.

Finally, be sure to check out the About Microsoft Edge section. Like Chrome, this is a section you’ll want to visit whenever you want to manually check for browser updates.

Are there flags in Microsoft Edge too?

Yes. Just like in Chrome, you can type “edge: // flags /” into your browser’s address bar, hit Enter and load a number of additional features and / or preview features that may or may not be enabled. Right now, Tab Freeze , or Chrome’s feature that automatically pauses your background tabs after five minutes of inactivity, comes to mind, saving you precious system resources.

I also like Custom Audio Content, which lets you mute entire websites, not just individual tabs, using the right-click context menu.

What useful Edge extensions should I install?

Where to begin. How to customize your browser with add-ons and extensions is up to you, but there are a few that I recommend to everyone. If you want a decent browsing experience without all the bullshit, I highly recommend that you install the following (via the Microsoft Store or Chrome Web Store after you agree to allow extensions):

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