The use of secure connections when we connect to the Internet is essential if we do not want to take risks and endanger our security and our data. Today, almost all websites work with HTTPS and allow us to navigate with this additional layer of security without impact on performance. However, there are still many that, at the same time, allow access through HTTP , having not disabled the previous protocol. And, if we enter them like this (for example, by mistake when writing the URL), we can be in danger. Luckily, the next Edge update will eliminate this problem.
Although the new Edge 91 has just arrived to users, Microsoft already has prepared the most important news of what will be its next update, Edge 92. This new version of the browser will bring with it several improvements and novelties. But the most important will be the use of HTTPS by default for all connections, even if we write “http” in the address bar.
HTTPS by default on Edge 92
When we visit a website, as long as the server supports the use of the secure protocol, this will be used by default to establish the connection. This novelty, already present in other browsers, works in a similar way to some extensions such as HTTPS Everywhere . With it, Microsoft wants users to be much safer when browsing the Internet by blocking all those websites that still use HTTP and are not compatible with the HTTPS standard.
Everything we send over HTTP travels unencrypted, including passwords and credit card details. Thanks to HTTPS connections, our data is encrypted end-to-end, preventing anyone or anything from seeing it. Thus, we prevent hackers, for example, from capturing or modifying the data that we send to a website or receive from a server using MITM techniques.
This new option is available within the privacy settings panel, which we can access from edge: // settings / privacy . But Microsoft is still slowly enabling it to users. If it does not appear, we can force its activation from the flag edge: // flags / # edge-automatic-https .
Of course, we must bear in mind that activating this function can cause us to see many more connection errors on the webs. Therefore, if we have problems, we can also deactivate it from its configuration.
Other news and corrections
In addition to this novelty, Microsoft is preparing other improvements for the new version of its web browser. Some of those that we can find in the latest beta version of it are:
- New flag to activate immersive reading automatically when visiting certain websites.
- Enhancements to the PWA menu to show only relevant options.
- New extensions menu, smart search history and price history.
- Enabled by default the option to set the favorites or history menus.
In addition, Microsoft has fixed one of the most annoying aspects of Edge 91. With the release of the current version of the browser, Edge began to show very annoying prompts to configure and use Edge as the default search engine. These messages should disappear in the latest versions of Edge 91, and not exist from Edge 92 onwards.
