Page 619 - Windows 10 May 2019 Update The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box

Chapter 9. The Edge Browser

Internet Explorer was the most famous web browser on earth, thanks in part

to several years of Justice Department scrutiny. But it may have been too
successful for its own good. Because it was built into Windows, because
everyone used it, Internet Explorer became a prime target for hackers. Over

the years, it had become old and slow, and riddled with holes and patches.
In Windows 10, Microsoft decided to start over. It wrote a brand-new
browser—called Edge.

Internet Explorer is still on your computer (in the Windows Accessories
folder). If you care about it, read the free downloadable PDF appendix to
this chapter, “Internet Explorer,” on this book’s “Missing CD” page at

missingmanuals.com.

But as far as Microsoft’s future is concerned, Edge is it. It’s far faster and
more modern than IE ever was—and much simpler. You cannot believe

how much cruft Microsoft hacked out of it. A ton of stuff nobody used
(Trusted Zones, anyone?) and a lot of shortcuts and refinements you may
miss. (Microsoft says, “Give us time.” With each version of Windows 10,

Microsoft brings more features to Edge.)

Edge is designed to eat up very little screen space with controls, so the web
pages you’re reading get as much room as possible. Yet the big-ticket

features you’d expect are in place, like bookmarks, a Downloads list, a
History list, Reading view (text and graphics only—no ads or blinkies),
private browsing, Find on Page, password storing, and Print.

Edge is a fresh start, a clean canvas, modernized and ready for the next 10
years. And the best news is that Edge now accepts extensions (feature plug-
ins), just like the ones that make Chrome so attractive to so many people

(*cough* ad blockers *cough*).

To open Edge, click its icon on the taskbar. It comes preinstalled there—a
blue lowercase e, so as not to throw off people looking for the old Internet