Windows 10: Microsoft begins automatically pushing Chromium Edge to users
Microsoft this week announced it was deprecating its legacy Edge browser on Windows 10, and now the company is starting to automatically push the new Chromium-based Edge to Windows 10 users.
With the new Chromium-based Edge, Microsoft has changed tack for delivering its official browser by not shipping Edge with the operating system as it had done with Internet Explorer and Windows for the past two decades. Also, Chromium-based Edge is available for macOS, iOS, Android and Windows 7.
Windows 10
Instead, as Microsoft outlined ahead of the January stable release of new Edge, it will now distribute Edge to Windows 10 PCs via Windows Update, while giving enterprise organizations the Edge Blocker Toolkit to block it if necessary. However, until now, Windows 10 users had to manually download and install the new Edge.
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As spotted by Ghacks, Microsoft has now published the support articles KB4541301, KB4541302 and KB4559309, detailing the automatic Edge rollout, respectively, for Windows 10 version 1803 and 1809, Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909, and all Windows 10 versions from Windows 10 version 1803 to 2004.
"Microsoft has released a new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge," the company states in the articles. "This new version provides best-in-class compatibility with extensions and websites. Additionally, this new version provides great support for the latest rendering capabilities, modern web applications, and powerful developer tools across all supported OS platforms."
The automatic Windows Update delivery of the new Edge will remove legacy Edge. However settings, passwords and favorites will carry across to the new Edge automatically.
Microsoft is following Google's Chromium update cycle, with stable releases scheduled every six weeks, along with Dev and Beta channel releases.
Microsoft notes that after installing the new Edge, all current Start menu pins, tiles and shortcuts will migrate to the new Edge. Existing taskbar pins and shortcuts will also migrate, and the new Microsoft Edge will be pinned to the taskbar.
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There'll also be a shortcut on the desktop, and attempts to start legacy Edge will redirect to the new Edge. Also, the new Edge won't allow users to uninstall the update that delivers it.
Microsoft in March announced a new Edge Password Monitor feature that will notify users if the credentials they've saved to autofill have been detected on the dark web.
It's also working on vertical tabs in the new Edge, as well as a smart copy feature for copying and pasting web content, a private mode for Bing searchers, and an immersive reader.