The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge is now available
Microsoft has released the first stable version of the company's new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser to the public. While there have been stable releases before, all of these were not officially released by Microsoft.
Windows and Mac OS X users may download the new web browser manually from the Microsoft website; many Home users who run Windows will receive it via Windows Update in the coming months as Microsoft wants to use Windows Update to replace the classic version of the Microsoft Edge web browser with the new Chromium-based version.
The browser is available in 90 languages and Microsoft updated the mobile versions of Edge with new icons to match those of the new browser.
Microsoft will roll out the new Edge over the course of months to the Windows population that runs Windows 10 on devices. Users who don't want to wait until it is their turn may download the browser manually instead to get started right away.
Enterprise and Education devices won't receive the new Microsoft Edge web browser at this point in time.
Tip: check out our 10 tips to get started with the new Edge article.
The new Edge web browser is available for Windows 7 even though support for Microsoft's operating system ended on January 14, 2020 officially. Microsoft will continue to support the new Edge for Windows 7 for the time being.
Windows users who install the new Edge on their devices will have important data, passwords, favorites and form-fill data among it, imported automatically in the new browser. Import options from Google Chrome are provided next to that.
The new Edge web browser is based on Chromium, the same core that Google Chrome, Vivaldi, Opera, and numerous others rely on. In fact, there are only two main web browsers out there with a sizeable usage share, Firefox and Safari, that don't rely on Chromium.
While it may be tempting to switch to the new Edge right away, users need to be aware that core features are not available yet. The biggest missing feature at the time of writing is that some synchronization options, syncing of the browsing history or extensions, is not supported yet.
Now You: do you plan to use the new Edge browser?
I like that Edge picks up my dark theme from Windows, and it doesn’t flash white between pages as the other browsers do.
Also, I don’t like to use any of the built-in search features in any browser, as I use Context Menu Search by Ashu and bookmarks for all that. As such, I was happy to learn that I could remove Edge’s right-click search option from that menu. How? In the settings you can enter and choose your own search engine, so for the URL just enter NULL or whatever, or even a URI like edge://newtab, and select that as your search engine, and then it will not work or even show up.
Well it has been about month that I’ve been using this new Edge, and so far I think this is likely the best browser yet.
My only issue is that I can’t select some text if it’s part of a link, where you have to select the whole thing, which is also an issue with the other browsers, except for Opera for some reason.
Other than that, everything just works, better than I expected.
I still have Edge Dev (currently Version 81.0.403.1 (Official build) dev (64-bit)) as my default Browser under Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18363.628]. I am using DuckDuckGo as my default search engine. I can hardly believe Edge DEV is already as good as it is. It seems after decades Microsoft has finally committed the resources and strategy to build and maintain a first class browser. Time will tell.
Edge Version 81.0.396.0 (Official build) dev (64-bit) allows you to open an existing tab in a new page, a nice piece of Microsoft code coming to Chromium. Nice to see competition generating cooperation.
This is the best browser since 1994. You know, that year when a browser first appeared.
Currently using it and is less bloated than google chrome, so uninstalling google chrome.
I agree we don’t need bloatware. Edge and friends (Groove Music, Microsoft Photos, Movies & TV) are the definition of bloatware. I wish we could uninstall all of them.
Installed. I don’t see the difference with Chrome.
I prefer the original to the copy and I need my Google Synchronisation data
Can’t move browser cache to another drive – instant uninstallation.
Any particular reason why you would want to do such a thing with your browser cache?
Smaller boot drive maybe?
I moved from longtime use of Chrome beta x64 to Microsoft Edge Version 81.0.389.2 (Official build) dev (64-bit), and have no reason to return to Chrome. I find the new Edge Collections concept useful to keep Google Doodles I like. They tend to be from countries not normally presented to me, as Doodles are country specific.
I just noticed Microsoft Edge Version 81.0.396.0 (Official build) dev (64-bit) allows you to drag the url area to the right, showing not only https but all or most of the URL. However you do loose visibility to your installed extensions by doing so.
but you still using Chrome..lol you see, people are fooling themselves thinking by using Edge Chrome they might escape Google tracking them…instead now you get both Google and Microsoft tracking you….this fact is what most people who hate Google don’t understand…lol
I will never use it. Giving away my web activities to MS, no way. With Firefox shut down in about four years, Brave is the only browser I will continue to use , with four different profiles for logging in to my paid for email provider, my bank accounts, Google (Youtube and Google photos) and Flickr. The block Facebook extension works good too. It is essentially a huge host file on browser level.
Fun fact: Brave shields blocks way more trackers as Ublock origin and all other privacy extensions, except when these are used in Firefox.
I do not trust Brave either, but it is the lesser evil, as far as I can see for the moment. Maybe they will screw up big time too in the near future. Then it is time to install Adguard for Windows.
Pi-Hole? The newest version does not support adblock like lists anymore, according to the Dutch security site Security.nl: https://www.security.nl/posting/625383/Nieuwste+Pi-hole-versie+ondersteunt+geen+adblocklijsten+meer
So now we have Chromedgium, Oldwhiteedgium and Internet Explorium. All three can be open simultaneously. Along with Flash. :) Then there’s the system browser and the built in Intel NIC for remote admins, neither of which users directly encounter.
Chromedgium can be blocked from installing fairly easily with a registry setting or a toolkit to make the two policy settings needed. They all work.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/how-to-block-windows-10-update-force-installing-the-new-edge-browser/
Somehow, these three browsers interconnected is going to cause an even huger Windows train wreck than all the others. Google holes, MS holes, Hidden holes and Obsolete holes, what can go wrong?
Pick one and block the other two in Defender Firewall if a browser by MS is what you want. IE and edge can be disabled in Settings but some weird side effects can occur.
I shall be nice to Microsoft for once. Since the OS ships with a web browser, it’s a good thing the browser isn’t the worst piece of supergarbage known to mankind. Is this browser better than Google Chrome? For ME? You know.. it PROBABLY IS! Google Chrome is a bloated behemoth that has tons of things nobody ever need or ever asked for, it wants to be your virus scanner, it has a software reporter tool which only function is to bring your CPU to its knees on a regular basis etc etc.. Now, I’m not too familiar with the innards of this new Edge but I tried it, installed my favorite extensions from chrome web store and set everything up the way I like. Everything worked as expected, so.. Good for you Microsoft! Now leave it as is. It’s a browser, it shows web pages. That’s enough.
No thanks, why on earth would I give my OS AND my web activity to the same company?
Well, since I’m gonna be forcibly and deeeeeeply tech-sodomized anyway on Windows 10, I’d rather have it done by one guy instead of two. I’m weird that way.
since Edge now runs on Google’s Chromium now you’re being tracked by both google and Microsoft, lol that’s the sad reality.
lol.. you think Google Chrome and Chromium are the same thing lol.. you actually think that when Microsoft uses Chromium codebase in their Edge that they don’t remove all Google bits found in there..lol…lol again lol
Microsoft etc is not a guy, it’s a company that tracks you and makes a profile of you and your habits. This browser doesn’t really offer nothing more than Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi etc to justify giving everything of you to a single company and help them to create a “master” profile of you. And this bloated etc excuses make no sense. Today you can download browsers even as portable applications.
The thickness of you and your tinfoil hat is astounding. My main rig is KDE Neon where I use Chromium. I am also forced to use Windows 10, where my main browser is also Chromium. https://chromium.woolyss.com/#windows-64-bit The point here was that this new Edge is superior to the old one, warts and all. Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it “better” than Google Chrome? Hell yes. Since everyone using Windows 10 is anyway a massive victim of privacy violations it makes zero difference if this new Edge calls home or gather data like a son of a bitch, so did the old Edge even if you never ever even started it. And BOY so does Google Chrome.. My whole point, that you totally missed, is that with this new Edge there is now very little or even SANE reasons to use Google Chrome. You do it anyway, because you are a slave to your own habits, like most of us. In the end it comes down to this: does Edge show you youtube videos and all other webpages? Does Edge let you use extensions? Yeah. In a perfect world Windows 10 would not include a built-in browser and other crap, but it does.. And now that browser ain’t a horrible joke anymore. Deal with it. Oh, and in the name of all that is holy: Switch to linux.
Again,,, no thanks. I don’t want to be tracked by Bing, MSN and Microsoft accounts. If I used google’s services, I would use Chrome. I am not using them and that’s why I don’t use Chrome. Microsoft services, Bing search, Bing translate etc are useless to me, so there isn’t any SANE reason to use Edge unless you use Microsoft web services when you can just download a portable browser in seconds.
Downloaded the new Edge two days ago on Windows 10 Home. I did not sync because I did not want to be locked into my Microsoft account. So far so good.
Where to get the offline installer package for Win7?
I was able to download a Windows 7 version from this url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge?form=MO12GB&OCID=MO12GB
There is one bizarre thing, though, it installed two separate icons on the taskbar.
It’s only for the stable Enterprise edition though
https://winaero.com/blog/download-msi-installer-for-microsoft-edge-chromium/
It’s not available !
I tested Edge for the Mac when it was in Beta. It is a nice-looking Chrome-y browser and all the extensions and privacy features worked exactly as I thought they would — except for Edge’s insistence on switching to a less private mode and gathering my browsing and location data. This is the same thing that concerns me and happens with Google Chrome. I like Chrome-based browsers but I just don’t trust the companies who make them. I also tested the Avira Chrome browser and now it turns out Avira has been collecting data from its users too.
All loaded and I’ve added additional extensions. Appears to be working very well.
Back again.
I just tried Edge in the Comodo Sandbox. It does not work. I had the same problem with Firefox.
For both I put an icon on the desktop that automatically loaded the browser into the sandbox.While Comodo Dragon works perfectly every time, both Edge and Firefox only work the first time. If you exit and restart the browser, nothing happens. You have to empty the sandbox and then start the browser to get them to work again. Since I won’t browse without sandbox protection, this means that Comodo Dragon is my go to browser.
I just installed it for experimentation. It’s OK. I like that it’s Chromium based. I used to use Chrome but migrated to Comodo Dragon because, in Chrome, the ‘clear on exit’ feature did not work. It works reliably in Comodo Dragon. I’ll experiment a bit with Edge to see if it works or fails where it is most important to me.
Edge also has a feature I will test about not clearing apps on exit. I use a 2nd browser for Hulu, Netflix, and a couple of other sites to make screen icons just so I do not have to enter a password every time I start one up. We’ll see how well this feature works.
I don’t use a Microsoft Account to sign in and will never do so. Hopefully, this won’t be a problem.
I’ve accepted Microsoft Firewall and Defender as decent apps, finally. Comodo Firewall is impossible to work with as it can stop almost everything if you want and it’s not easy to unblock some things. It’s a throwback to the days when routers didn’t have SPI or NAT. Almost unnecessary. I use Comodo antivirus with the containment sandbox.
I use Dragon, and will use Edge, in the Comodo Sandbox, their containment feature. It adds security to the system, especially now that Sandboxie is abandonware. Sandboxie also does not work with Chrome anymore – you see weird SBIE errors all over the place in Chrome and all Chromium based browsers in Sandboxie.
I’ll stick with Firefox and Qwant for privacy.
I actually like that it syncs with Microsoft account. You continue to browse from your phone to your computer. Better this than Google pushing ads down your throat and not letting you use adblockers in their android phones.
Thanks Ghacks.net (Martin),
for letting me know but I am staying behind after reading your article with some fundamental questions, about this new reboot.
Not only I am question or this typical Microsoft behavior to lunch a product where there supposedly worked years on, without the core applications? Is this what you call panic soccer?
Why do such a thing when you know that the appeal of the product will be less and because of that the probable change percentage that the product succeeds will be much lesser, (that the product makes a not so good first appearance) in this competitive nice of the automation market?
Is the first appearance most of the time not the most important thing especially when you having a bit of a reputation that your not into this specific market nice anymore (knowing what you doing) for the last decade or so?
Also I am also wondering why not implement the update two days ago in the last monthly update?
Oh, I overlooked that it can only downloaded manually at the time being.
Does the Edge browser collect your browsing data like chrome does.
don’t be a fool….all browsers do track its users…hence why they’re all given way for FREE..
I was not offered the new Edge via Windows Update. Therefore, I have downloaded it from the Microsoft homepage. Guess should be the same version. Am I right?
Abosuletly correct. The Microsoft Store has it.
It really is a pretty nice browser. I am glad to see the old Edge go. I’ve been using it for half of my browsing as I will need to support it at work. The full manageability via group policy and the IE mode will have me looking into making it the default on our systems.
The Dissenter Browser has TWO downloads for Linux, but Microsoft Edge (Blink) has NONE.
Linux, the orphaned child who no one cares about, LOL.
Dissenter Browser? you mean the old brave browser where you couldn’t even really install extensions and you had no control over anything? I haven’t used it and I will not use Dissenter after using both Brave version, but I really don’t expect them to really make it a better browser. But not being able to install something like nano adblocker and depend on the browser to give me the protection without any control, it just doesn’t sound nice to me, I mean, can you install 3rd party Filter lists now or you depend on what Dissenter browsers has just like happened and still happens with Brave?
I used both Brave versions until I got tired of the little control I had over my browser even new Brave being able to install Chrome extensions but not being able to turn off the Brave shields was just causing many problems like not being able to control what cookies to block or whitelist, or 3rd party filter lists or even an easy way to block elements from website, it was a mess and I doubt it has improved. I just went back to Edge and then Edge Chromium when it was available since the first leaked version.
Sadly just like Brave seems to be all about the BATs system now, which seems to be a problem because everytime I get an email from the forum it is all about how they didn’t get the money lol, but It seems like Dissenter Browser is just to promote all the Gab trends and not really give the users what users really need for the supposedly privacy they promote (which I doubt 100% it is remotely true), I really doubt they have given the old Brave browser something more than what it really had besides Gab trends and all that. I wish they would have kept the browser extensions but it seems they just removed them and decided to ‘make’ the browser instead.
Anyway Microsoft already said they would support Linux and all that so that should be the next step, plus all the sync stuff missing like Extensions and History.
Now we can send all our browsing telemetry to microsoft as well as google…
@Martin, if Microsoft is going to GRADUALLY roll out Blink Edge, does that mean they will continue to patch Trident Edge for security vulnerabilities?
Blink Edge fails as an e-reader; whereas, Trident Edge is the best e-reader browser on the planet.
Also, apparently, people who are downloading Blink Edge are receiving the installation package in the WRONG LANGUAGE. If they can’t serve Blink Edge downloads in the proper language, it makes you wonder what else they screwed up in their new web browser.
I can delay Blink Edge until February’s patch Tuesday, but I’d absolutely download & install the GPO to stop the installation of Blink Edge if I know that Trident Edge was still being patched for security vulnerabilities by Microsoft.
How about Internet Explorer? It’s still around in case you need a Trident-based browser.
The new Edge has ‘IE Legacy mode’ which will support old enterprise applications and hardware that rely on IE.
I’m pretty sure that the classic Edge will be supported with security patches for the foreseeable future until it is phased out completely.
I don’t like how if you use Windows 10 with a local account and you install this Edge and synchronize, it automatically changes your local account into a Microsoft account.
It’s a really scumbag move from Microsoft.
You are misinforming.
Maybe next time you should read what the computer is asking you and not just click “finish”, if you have a question about it, it is better to look it up (maybe there is a Microsoft help for it to make you understand) before you spread misinformation only because YOU did what YOU you set the computer to do, in this case you told windows through Edge to grab the Microsoft account you are signing in and use it for Windows Microsoft account.
Let me explain you, When you sign in with your Microsoft account in Edge (or Office or any other app like that) it will ask you “Use this account everywhere on your device” and the text is “Windows will remember your account and make it easier to sign in to apps and websites. Clicking Next means that you’ll be able to find a lost device, sync your settings to other devices, and ask Cortana for help.”
It doesn’t directly says “do you want to transform your local account to a Microsoft account?” but it pretty much tells you so, because you need a Microsoft account to sync your settings to other devices and ask cortana for help.
You clicked the Finished button and not “Microsoft apps only”, which means your account will be only used for apps and not to change your local account to a Microsoft account. Your account will only appear in Emails & Accounts on Settings and then you would see it only on ‘Accounts used by other apps’ where you can even select if Microsoft apps sign you in or they need to ask you to use the account and there is where you delete it easily.
So next time you should slow down and read, again, if the text is not clear, maybe you should look it up or ask someone who might now in a forum or something. I mean, there is a reason it was asking you that, but you just clicked finish without really understanding what you were doing.
Really??? it didn’t happen to me
What’s the difference between a “local account” and a “Microsoft account”?