Serious Discussion Microsoft Edge Stable (Chromium) Now Available for Download

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ForgottenSeer 85179

I guess this is related:

Microsoft Edge 83: Progressive Rollouts
Starting with Microsoft Edge 83, a browser that is been released in May 2020, Microsoft changed the distribution of updates from being made available to all systems to a progressive rollout system.
 

razorfancy

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Progressive rollouts for Microsoft Edge Stable channel updates

Starting with Microsoft Edge 83 release, we will perform gradual rollouts of major updates to Microsoft Edge Stable channel over the span of a few days. This progressive rollout allows us to monitor upgrades and safely update the browser across the organization.

Note
This applies to Microsoft Edge Stable channel version 83 or later.

Why do we need progressive rollout?
By monitoring the health of our updates closely and rolling out the updates over the course of several days, we can limit the impact of issues that might occur with the new update. With Microsoft Edge release 83, Progressive Rollouts will be enabled for all Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1, and Windows 10 versions of Microsoft Edge. We will support Microsoft Edge on Mac as soon as it is ready.

How will the updates work?
Each installation of Microsoft Edge is assigned an upgrade value. When we start rolling out incrementally, you'll see the update when the value on your device falls within the upgrade value range. As the rollout progresses (within a few days), all users will eventually get the update. Browser updates with critical security fixes will have a faster rollout cadence than updates that don't have critical security fixes. This is done to ensure prompt protection from vulnerabilities.

How does this affect enterprises?
Microsoft Edge artifacts are distributed to enterprises using multiple mechanisms such as Microsoft Intune, Windows Server Update Service (WSUS), and Configuration Manager. These deployment tools behave differently with respect to Progressive Rollout:

  • Enterprises that manage distribution via Microsoft Intune are registered for auto-updates. Progressive Rollout is used, and all the users will see an update in a few days.
  • Enterprises that manage distribution through WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) or Configuration Manager are not registered for auto-updates. Administrators manage and apply the updates that will be available from the start. Progressive Rollout does not affect this process.
Please share your valuable feedback through user voice, the in-application feedback button, or below in the comments if you have any concerns or questions.

 

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Thanks all (y)
To wrap it all up:
Version 83.0.478.37 released on May 21

Release notes:
Feature updates
  • Microsoft Edge updates will now roll out gradually. Going forward, updates for Microsoft Edge will be rolled out to our users over a period of a few days. This enables us to protect more of you from accidental buggy updates, which improves your update experience. As a user you will continue to get seamless auto-updates. If your organization isn't enrolled for auto-updates you won't be affected by this change. To learn more, see the progressive rollouts article.
  • Microsoft Defender SmartScreen improvements: Made several improvements to the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen service, such as improved protection from malicious sites that redirect when loading, and top-level frame blocking, which completely replaces malicious sites with the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen safety page. The top-level frame blocking prevents audio and other media from the malicious site from playing which gives an easier and less confusing experience.
  • In response to user feedback, users can now exempt certain cookies from automatically clearing when the browser closes. This option is helpful if there's a site that users don't want to be signed out of, but still want to have all the other cookies cleared when the browser closes. To use this feature, go to edge://settings/clearBrowsingDataOnClose and enable the "Cookies and other site data" toggle.
  • Automatic Profile Switching is now available to help you get to your work content more easily across profiles. If you use multiple profiles at work, you can check it out by navigating to a site requiring authentication from your work or school account while on your personal profile. When we detect this, you will receive a prompt to switch to your work profile to access that site without having to authenticate to it. When you choose the work profile you want to switch to, the website will simply open in your work profile. This profile switching capability will help you keep your work and personal data separate and help you get to your work content more effortlessly. If you don't want the feature to prompt you to switch profiles, you can choose the don't ask me again option and it will get out of your way.
  • Collections feature improvements:
    • You can use drag and drop to add an item to a collection without opening the collection. During the drag and drop you can also choose a location in the collection list where you want to put the item.
    • You can add multiple items to a collection instead of adding one item at a time. To add multiple items, select the items and then drag them to a collection. Or you can select the items, right-click and then pick the collection where you want the items.
  • You can add all the tabs in an Edge window into a new collection without adding them individually. To do this, right-click on any tab and choose "Add all tabs to a new collection".
  • Extension sync is now available. You can now sync your extensions across all your devices! Extensions from both the Microsoft and Chrome Stores will sync with Microsoft Edge. To use this feature: Click the ellipses () on the menu bar, select Settings. Under Your profile, click Sync to see the Sync options. Under Profiles/Sync use the toggle to enable Extensions. You can use the SyncTypesListDisabled group policy to disable syncing of extensions.
  • Improved the message on the Downloads management page for insecure downloads that have been blocked.
  • Immersive Reader improvements:
    • Added support for Adverbs in the Parts of Speech experience we have in Immersive Reader. While reading an article within the Immersive Reader, open the Grammar Tools and switch on Adverbs within Parts of Speech to highlight all the adverbs on the page.
    • Added the ability to select any content on a webpage and open it in Immersive Reader. This ability enables users to use the Immersive Reader and all the Learning Tools, such as Line Focus and Read Aloud, across all websites.
  • Link doctor provides host correction and a search query to the users when they mistype a URL. For example:
    A user mistypes "powerbi as "powerbbi".com. Link doctor will suggest "powerbi".com as a correction and create a link to search for "powerbbi" in case the user is looking for something different.
  • Allow users to save their decision to launch an external protocol for a specific site. Users can configure the ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox policy to enable or disable this feature.
  • Users can set Microsoft Edge as their default browser directly from Microsoft Edge Settings. This makes it easier for users to change their default browser, within the context of the browser itself, instead of having to search through the operating system settings. To use this feature, go to edge://settings/defaultBrowser and click Make default.
  • Several DevTools updates, including new remote debugging support, UI improvements, and more. For more details, see What's New In DevTools (Microsoft Edge 83).
  • MCAS (Microsoft Cloud Access Security) warn scenario is now available. This enables admins to set up warn, a new category of MCAS blocks, where the user can override a MCAS block page. MDATP E5 blocks are natively integrated with SmartScreen blocks in Microsoft Edge for a seamless experience. This experience allows for a full page red block with the message "This website is blocked by your organization", instead of just a toast notification.
  • Disallow synchronous XmlHttpRequest in page dismissal. Sending of synchronous XmlHttpRequests during unload of a webpage will be removed. This change improves browser performance and reliability, but may impact web applications that have not yet been updated to use more modern web APIs, including sendBeacon and fetch. The Group Policy to disable this change and permit synchronous XHR during page dismissal will be available until Microsoft Edge 88.
    Until enabled-by-default in Edge 82, this change can be previewed by setting edge://flags/#allow-sync-xhr-in-page-dismissal to Disabled. For more information, see Site compatibility-impacting changes coming to Microsoft Edge.

Security Advisory:

We have now progressive rollouts for Microsoft Edge Stable channel updates:
Starting with Microsoft Edge 83 release, we will perform gradual rollouts of major updates to Microsoft Edge Stable channel over the span of a few days. This progressive rollout allows us to monitor upgrades and safely update the browser across the organization.

If you want the latest version right away, you can download it from here:
Tip from @Nightwalker :
 
Last edited:

Pat MacKnife

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ForgottenSeer 85179

Does anyone here experience a slight delay (up to 5 sec in my case) when closing Edge while the option "Cookies and other site data" under "Clear browsing data" settings is enabled? This doesn't occur on all websites. It just happens on a few websites like Reddit and Facebook.
I guess the two sites save heavily site data on your PC which may take that time.
Did you use a HDD or SSD? With SSD you shouldn't get that problem
 

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Introducing an improved spellcheck experience in Microsoft Edge:
Beginning with Microsoft Edge 83, we’ve introduced a new spellcheck experience for Windows users, powered by Windows Spellcheck. The feature is supported on Windows 8.1 and above.

Previously, on Windows, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium browsers used open-source proofing tools for spell checking. Moving to Windows Spellcheck has a number of benefits, including support for additional languages and dialects, a shared custom dictionary, and better support for URLs, acronyms, and email addresses.
 

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Windows Updates KB4541301, KB4541302 and KB4559309 replace old with new Microsoft Edge on Windows 10:
Microsoft released a Chromium-based version of the company's Microsoft Edge web browser earlier this year. Users had to download and install the new browser manually up until now but Microsoft made it clear that it would push the new Microsoft Edge to devices via Windows Update eventually.

It appears that the time has come; Microsoft published the support articles KB4541301, KB4541302 and KB4559309 which inform users and administrators about the update and the replacement of the old Microsoft Edge browser with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser.

The updates will be made available on Windows 10 version 1803 and later systems up to Windows 10 version 2004.
 

SeriousHoax

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Not used pre-loading for some time, I used to think it was most useful in the days of slow internet speeds/Pc's but now for me unnecessary.
uBlock Origin disables pre-fetching for valid reason and like you said nowadays its not really necessary.
a.PNG
 

Lenny_Fox

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I think that is an obsolete setting of uBlockOrigin from something of the past.

Short answer

1. It is not necessary anymore (improved privacy and security mitigations in Chroimum browsers nowadays)
2. It is only half baked protection (does not block pre-loading)
3. Enjoy the benefits of pre-fetching and pre-loading and use this option in your browser

Long answer addition

Check whether your Chromium based browser still has:
- [your browser]://flags/#prefetch-privacy-changes
- [your browser]://flags #prefetch-main-resource-network-isolation-key

Most likely your chromium variant has these flags enabled (or allready implemented). When you find the flags, you could still enable them for enhanced privacy. Since Google started to punish slow loading pages in SEO-ranking, most developers cleaned their websites. Opening the way for Google to further increase mitigations in relation to security which had a direct spin-of for privacy in regard to pre-fetching.
 

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