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Microsoft Edge may have the familiar appearance you’ve seen before, but don't be fooled, Microsoft has finally rebuilt it’s browser from the ground up, and if you’re looking to try something other than Chrome, you should definitely check out what new features Edge has to offer.
Instead of relying on it’s own web engine, Edge is now powered by the Chromium code base and the Blink web engine, both of which also power Chrome. This change should mean better performance and compatibility with websites.
Here are some of the new features you should try:
1. Importing Data
The first time you start up the browser, Edge will offer to import data from Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Depending on which one you’re coming from, that could include bookmarks, passwords, browsing history, settings, and any tabs you have open. This is a lot easier than manually adding everything, and takes the stress out of switching to a new browser.
If you choose to skip this, you can come back to it later by opening the Edge menu, choosing Settings, Profiles, and Import browser data. Choose the browser you want to get data from, then choose your categories. You can opt to choose or not choose what to bring over.
2. Control Your Privacy
Privacy is very important today, especially online. Microsoft has made the process of choosing these privacy settings easier than ever before. Open the browser menu, click Settings, then choose Privacy and Services to find the three levels of privacy Edge has to offer; Basic, Balanced, or Strict.
3. Immersive Reader
You’re trying to read an article, but images clutter the page. Immersive Reader now allows you to simplify the page so you only see the text. You can adjust the colors of the page and the size of the text from the Text Preference box. You can even have the text read aloud to you by clicking on the Read Aloud button.
4. Page Layout
When first launched, Edge will ask you to make some customizations to the browser layout, but if you missed something you can always find these settings from the cog icon—top right on the new tab page—or through Settings and New Tab Page on the Edge menu. Here you have four options to choose from. Focused, Inspirational, Informational, and Custom. All ranging from the simplest, to the most custom.
Focused style
Inspirational style
Informational style
5. Sync Devices
Many of us are using browsers on more than one device. So it makes sense to want all your data synced across them all. This includes, bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history. To do this on Edge, you’ll need to sign in to your Microsoft account on all the devices you want synced. Go to Settings and Profiles from the Edge menu to put in your credentials.
Once you've got your devices signed in, you can pick which data you want to sync. Open the Edge menu, choose Settings then Sync, and you can enable or disable the syncing of certain categories of browsing data.
6. Dark Mode
Most devices and apps are now using some kind of dark mode feature, and now Edge is one of them. You can make the change from light to dark and vice versa by going to Settings then Appearance from the menu, next to Theme, choose Dark.
7. Extensions
One of the advantages of Edge using the Chromium platform, is that all the browser extensions that are available to Chrome, are now available on Microsoft Edge. Go to Microsoft's Microsoft Edge Add-ons page (https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/category/Edge-Extensions), and click Get to install something. Just make sure you only install extensions from a reputable developer, since they often involve handing over permissions.
Our top choices would include Grammar Checker, Edge Translate and Reddit Enhancement Suite
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Don’t forget to upgrade to Windows 10 to enjoy all the up-to-date features and security you need to get the best experience from your browser.
