The new Edge is one year old. And, since its initial launch in January 2020, Microsoft‘s new browser has changed a lot, for the better. The company is doing everything it can to overcome its main rival, Chrome, as soon as possible, and for this, in addition to adopting its own engine, it is focusing many of the improvements and features of this browser on privacy and security, two of the weakest pillars of its rival. And the new Edge 88 has arrived focused, above all, on these characteristics.
Edge’s first year of life has been… strange. Due to the pandemic, users have spent much more time connected to the Internet, and that has also increased the dangers. Little by little, the new Edge has been adapting to the needs of users, offering, in the background, a basic protection of the security and privacy of all who have opted for it. And now, with the arrival of the new version 88, we are going to find a lot of news that will keep you on the same path.
What’s new in Edge 88
Like its rival, Chrome, Microsoft’s new browser has come with important changes that will help us maintain basic security in our online accounts. The first of the novelties that we find in this new version is a monitor of the status of the passwords . Thus, like other browsers, the new Edge will notify us when our passwords are present in stolen databases, and will invite us to easily change them.
In addition, Microsoft has finally included a strong password generator . We can use it every time we go to register on a web page, or to change the passwords of the webs that have a vulnerable password and may endanger our online security.
This new version of the web browser also brings new options, clear to understand, to manage data and privacy . We will have much more control over the cookies that the websites generate and save (and how to delete them), as well as new privacy options that are much clearer and easier to understand in order to choose the level of privacy we want when we connect to Internet. Enough of confusing options.
InPrivate mode has also changed the default privacy level, which is now “Strict”. And Edge brings a new option that will allow us to change, from the browser itself, the DNS server that we want to use, being able to choose a secure and anonymous server that is used exclusively for our browsing (without changing the operating system).
Other important news that we find in this new version of the browser are:
- The new search bar is now available.
- Emails appear on the browser’s home page.
- We can synchronize the history and the tabs.
- Many improvements and new features for macOS.
- Edge icons now look much more neat.
- Sleeping Tabs feature is now available to save CPU and RAM.
- Support for themes.
Like Chrome 88, the new Edge 88 also completely removes Flash from the browser, and blocks all FTP connections. Of course, various glitches have also been fixed to address certain issues when using Edge.
Download and update
This new version of the browser is now available to all users.
Those of us who use the latest version of Windows 10 will already have Edge installed as standard in the browser, since Microsoft has already replaced the classic Edge. This browser, like Chrome, is updated automatically without us having to do anything, so, surely, we already have this new version. We can check it from the Settings, in the ” About Microsoft Edge ” section.
Those who do not have this browser installed yet, have to look for it from Windows Update, or check that they are using an updated version of the operating system. There is no way to download Edge and install it manually as before, only if we use a system like Windows 7 or 8.1, in which case we can download the latest version from its website .