{"id":143560,"date":"2019-07-08T16:30:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T16:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=143560"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:44:06","slug":"microsoft-edge-tracking-prevention-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/microsoft-edge-tracking-prevention-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Edge gets a privacy boost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-143570\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Microsoft_Edge_adds_tracking_prevention_oxn09j.jpg\" alt=\"Edge browser on a HP laptop\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft knows only too well about Google Chrome\u2019s dominance in the web browser world. Just look at what happened to Microsoft\u2019s more than competent web browser, Edge, that came packed with Windows 10. Despite being a capable browser, complete with unique features and handy loading speeds it barely made a dent into Chrome\u2019s market share.<\/p>\n<p>We recently commented on how Chrome coming pre-loaded on Android devices helped it <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/google-chrome-5-billion-downloads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">notch up 5 billion downloads<\/a> and assert market dominance. If only the same could be said for Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 devices. It got so bad that scammers were hijacking Bing search results for Google Chrome as the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/hackers-find-a-scary-new-way-to-target-new-windows-10-users\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">only time people were using Edge was to download <\/a>the Google browser.\u00a0This then led to Microsoft pulling the plug on a fully autonomous Edge browser and instead carrying \u00a0it over to the open source Chromium software that sits at the heart of Google Chrome. That\u2019s right, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/microsoft-edge-browser-on-windows-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft Edge is now built out of the same code that built Google Chrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whereas this could sound like defeat for Microsoft it has made Edge a more competitive browser thanks to its compatibility with Chrome add-ons. Another factor is the familiarity to the Chrome experience. We often turn to other browsers but then find ourselves going back to Chrome in search of that warm feeling we get from something we\u2019re extremely comfortable working with. In many ways this new similarity to Chrome allows more new Edge users to experience the different features that might give Microsoft\u2019s web browser, well, an <em>edge<\/em> over Chrome.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/06\/web-browser-192.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Better than chrome? see what other browser offer<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/what-is-the-best-web-browser-for-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">read now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/what-is-the-best-web-browser-for-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<h2>The next Microsoft Edge update will include tracking prevention<\/h2>\n<p>Chrome has given its rivals a little room to maneuver against it recently. The move to ban ad blockers has caused a lot of unrest among the Chrome user base and a clear path for its competitors to offer something different to Google\u2019s offering. The other big thing recently, however, is privacy with it coming to light that there are <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/google-chrome-cookies-threat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">thousands of cookies active on Chrome<\/a>, tracking every click you make and site you visit. You can disable tracking on Chrome, but trust has certainly been affected.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the tracking is done for advertising purposes. It is why you always see ads that are based on sites you\u2019ve visited recently. Some people think this is useful and that is how the tech giants try to sell it to us. They tell us to allow them to track our web behavior so that we\u2019ll only see ads that are relevant to us rather just the random ads we\u2019d see, if we stop them from tracking us.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_143573\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-143573\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-143573\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/edge_tracking_prevention_zi1bhs.jpg\" alt=\"Man spying on the world\" width=\"700\" height=\"477\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-143573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most websites will track your online behavior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are many reasons people could be against having their web activity tracked, not least because big companies are hacked, and data is leaked all the time. It is these privacy focused users that Microsoft is targeting with the latest Edge update. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.windows.com\/msedgedev\/2019\/06\/27\/tracking-prevention-microsoft-edge-preview\/#ZH6zxteGpAOLCWUd.97\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Edge is getting new privacy protecting tools<\/a> that will turn off trackers and, \u201cWhen tracking resources don\u2019t add meaningful functionality to the page, we may even block them entirely.\u201d This could mean that certain tracking elements could be blocked by default as Mozilla is doing with its latest Firefox Preview browser.<\/p>\n<p>Increased privacy could become a key battleground in the battle of the modern web browsers. Chrome has done a lot to annoy its user base recently so through offering something unique even while feeling similar to the Google browser, Microsoft might finally see Edge get the user numbers it always dreamt of. It might be time for Edge to do more than download Chrome.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/11\/security-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">How to enable private browsing mode on different browsers<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-enable-private-browsing-mode-on-all-browsers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Read now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-enable-private-browsing-mode-on-all-browsers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next Microsoft Edge update will include tracking prevention<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":143571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[2379,1068,1045,1072,1631],"usertag":[839],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-143560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionmicrosoft-edge","tag-google","tag-google-chrome","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-edge","usertag-vpn"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325772,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143560\/revisions\/325772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143560"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=143560"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=143560"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=143560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}