Advice Request Am I crazy for wanting to use the Edge browser?!

[ParaXY]

I have been using Firefox 1.x for many many years. I stopped using IE when IE7 came out (couldn't stand the GUI). I don't use IE at all anymore. I use Chrome as a backup browser.

Since installing Windows 10 on my machine I haven't really considered using or trying out the new Edge browser. So last night I started reading up on it and experimenting. I like the sand boxing feature.

So I imported all my bookmarks from Firefox and added the Adblock Plus extension. I also installed the Roboform extension but I need to upgrade my version of Roboform before it'll work.

I then had Edge and Firefox side by side on my dual monitors and interestingly, they almost look the same!

There are some nice touches like setting tabs aside and pinning a tab. The one thing that is annoying is that you can't set new tabs to open to a specific URL...grrr.

I also have a folder of daily links I always open in Firefox (you right click the folder and select open all in tabs and every bookmark opens). I tried this in Edge and it worked too. If I do this in Edge it does use more memory though:

This is with about two dozen tabs. I don't mind the memory usage at all as I have 32GB and free memory is wasted memory!

So before trying Edge I hated it. Not sure why as I had hardly ever used it or given it a chance. Now I am now planning on using it for a month to see how it goes.

Am I crazy for joining the 2% of the market share that actually use Edge? Is Edge a waste of time? Is it more secure than Firefox? (I do use Chrome as a secondary browser but this is rare).

I'm interested to hear the forums thoughts on this!

 

[Evjl's Rain]

I hate Edge and I will
when I gave it some chances, it always failed me. There is almost nothing edge has but chrome/firefox doesn't have
furthermore, their extension support is questionable because I don't think developers will update their extensions as frequent as for chrome/firefox and they may drop the support permanently

the browsing speed was not impressive and the most importantly, the disk activity was x2-3 compared to chrome. I felt the pain while using it, it was so sloooooow. It's hard to notice if you use an SSD. Edge will degrade our SSD/HDD if we use it extensively

chrome also has sandboxing feature, Firefox has partially implemented it
google safebrowsing is definitely better than smartscreen for edge and after a malware passes through google SB, it will go through windows's smartscreen => double protection

 

[ParaXY]

Thanks for the feedback! I haven't noticed any hard drive activity with Edge that looks problematic. I am using an SSD for my boot drive.

In the limited time I have been using Edge I haven't noticed any slowdowns (yet).

 

[frogboy]

I find Edge good for Netflix it has a higher screen resolution than Chrome or Firefox.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Thanks for the feedback! I haven't noticed any hard drive activity with Edge that looks problematic. I am using an SSD for my boot drive.

In the limited time I have been using Edge I haven't noticed any slowdowns (yet).

because SSD is too fast that you can hardly notice anything. Moreover, you have tons of RAM and a fast machine while I have a 6-year old laptop with 5400rpm HDD. I can notice any difference easily

 

[frogboy]

Reference. How to change the Netflix video quality on your computer - gHacks Tech News

 

[ParaXY]

Aaaah, fair enough!

I have RoboForm working now with Edge so that seems to be ok.

 

[Weebarra]

I don't think you are crazy, if you've tried it and you like it then who are we to say you are crazy, certainly not me, we all use what we prefer and you seem to prefer this over FF so go for it

 

[TheSuperGeek]

The most important thing for a browser is to be up to date. Edge is. So you can use it if you like it

 

[ParaXY]

This should be an interesting experiment considering I didn't like/use Edge up until last night.

I'll still keep Firefox on standby should I change my mind.

Two things annoy me about Edge so far:

1. Can't open a new tab to a specific URL
2. When browsing untrusted certs there doesn't seem to be a way to import them to the trusted CA area in certificates to stop the annoying warning:

 

[TheSuperGeek]

When browsing untrusted certs there doesn't seem to be a way to import them to the trusted CA area in certificates to stop the annoying warning:
View attachment 180955

I think you have to add the certificate to windows.

 

[ParaXY]

Thanks! I have just imported my own CA into the Windows certificate store as a trusted CA and now I can browse the HTML5 interface on my ESXi servers without the warning.

 

[samit]

I have been using Edge since the first release of Windows 10. It was really buggy initially. After lots of the update, I think Edge has got a lot better and currently, it is my primary browser. I also use Chrome as a secondary browser for those websites which doesn't render properly in Edge because some lazy web developers used chromium specific HTML and CSS codes.
Do you use any extensions with Edge? Currently, I use LastPass, Pocket, Grammarly, IDM and Adguard extensions in Edge and they are well supported and are frequently updated by developers.

 

[Ink]

Microsoft Edge is still a work in progress with new additions with every Windows 10 OS Update, but you are NOT crazy for wanting to use it.

Available and soon-to-arrive features:

• PDF and eBook support
  
• Inking
• Touch Support
• Cortana (limited country support - try English US)
  
• Mixed Reality Support
• Sets (in testing)
  
• PWA Support

Edge is also available on iOS and Android, respectively using their rendering engines.

TechAltar video

 

[LahiruRajinda]

It is okay to use edge as a backup browser. But I don't think it can be the default browser for me. Not yet.
What I expect from a browser is... well... browsing without interference. I don't need it to send notifications, display ads or fail to play videos when I need. And transfer all the downloads to IDM. Chrome & Firefox are excellent at these tasks and Edge is somewhat struggling.

 

[ParaXY]

I have been using Edge since the first release of Windows 10. It was really buggy initially. After lots of the update, I think Edge has got a lot better and currently, it is my primary browser. I also use Chrome as a secondary browser for those websites which doesn't render properly in Edge because some lazy web developers used chromium specific HTML and CSS codes.
Do you use any extensions with Edge? Currently, I use LastPass, Pocket, Grammarly, IDM and Adguard extensions in Edge and they are well supported and are frequently updated by developers.

I've installed two extensions so far: RoboForm and Adblock Plus. Both seem to be working fine so far. I haven't had a look through the other extensions yet but do plan to. In Firefox I have a look add-in which shows me the IPv4/IPv6 addresses of websites which I find helpful. I do with Edge gave me certificate info for SSL enabled websites.

Microsoft Edge is still a work in progress with new additions with every Windows 10 OS Update, but you are NOT crazy for wanting to use it.

Available and soon-to-arrive features:

• PDF and eBook support
  
• Inking
• Touch Support
• Cortana (limited country support - try English US)
  
• Mixed Reality Support
• Sets (in testing)
  
• PWA Support

Edge is also available on iOS and Android, respectively using their rendering engines.

TechAltar video

I'm looking forward to see what Edge brings in the 1803 release for Windows 10. I'm a Windows Insider but haven't looked at Edge yet. on my current 1709 machine I have used Edge for epub books a couple of times.

I'm curious to know what Edges security features are. I know it has sandboxing but is there anything else that makes Edge secure?

Edit: I think I like the using Edge as a PDF viewer. I have been using PDF XChange Editor but since upgrading it to version 7.0 I don't like the new interface so much.

 

[ParaXY]

It is okay to use edge as a backup browser. But I don't think it can be the default browser for me. Not yet.
What I expect from a browser is... well... browsing without interference. I don't need it to send notifications, display ads or fail to play videos when I need. And transfer all the downloads to IDM. Chrome & Firefox are excellent at these tasks and Edge is somewhat struggling.

I'm going to use it as my primary browser until the end of March

What are send notifications? What videos fail to play? I've only tried YouTube using HTML5 and it seems to work ok. What is IDM?

 

[plat1098]

No, "crazy" was using Internet Explorer in Windows 10. OK? Using Edge now because it's matured a lot; it's very fast and error-free. Not a big browser user but it has a clean and decent user interface for me. Cons: it doesn't support a lot of extensions and can't be used w/Sandboxie, obviously. I don't have a lot of control over it.

Something I learned: you can type about:flags in address bar for additional settings. These are experimental, though, and I haven't tried any of them.

Source: Change about:flags Settings and Features in Microsoft Edge

Might try Opera when the next big upgrade comes, so my Sbie sub doesn't go to waste.

 

[ParaXY]

No, "crazy" was using Internet Explorer in Windows 10. OK? Using Edge now because it's matured a lot; it's very fast and error-free. Not a big browser user but it has a clean and decent user interface for me. Cons: it doesn't support a lot of extensions and can't be used w/Sandboxie, obviously. I don't have a lot of control over it.

Something I learned: you can type about:flags in address bar for additional settings. These are experimental, though, and I haven't tried any of them.

Source: Change about:flags Settings and Features in Microsoft Edge

Might try Opera when the next big upgrade comes, so my Sbie sub doesn't go to waste.

Yeah, got no time for IE11. Edge has matured and been built from the ground up. I find Edges interface quite clean and minimalistic which I like. I would say its a tad on the bland side. I do like the fast launch times with Edge.

I'm not too worried about having lots of extensions. Less is more IMHO. As long as I can block ads and manage passwords I am happy.

Thanks for tip re about:flags. Was having a look at this earlier.

 

[Deleted member 65228]

Microsoft Edge is a nice browser in my opinion and I know many who use it.

I'd have used it myself if it wasn't so badly performing for me. Start-up times are slower in comparison to Google Chrome/Brave/Firefox for me, and searching speeds are also slower with it for me. It's been this way across multiple systems with many different configuration's. It's just the way it is for me, sadly.

I might be cursed when it comes to Microsoft Edge working for me, but that doesn't mean you are too. I'd say go for it if you like it, why not? Who's to tell you not to use it? It's all opinionated. Microsoft Edge is quite secure.

I'd say that Microsoft Edge is more secure than some other browsers simply because it has "less" to offer in terms of "bonus features". This brings down the attack vector; less for an attacker to exploit for RCE.