Configuring Microsoft Edge Browser By Tom Krauser

Browsers are the interface between the computer and internet. They provide the frame in which the website content is displayed. Having more than one browser on your computer is highly recommended in the event that the installed default browser, Microsoft Edge, gets damaged and you would be unable to connect to the internet to try and repair the browser.

The following link does a review of some popular browsers by PC Magazine: https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1815833,00.asp

See the article on Browsers and Search Engines for more information on this topic. This article is written to discuss some of the settings used to configure the Microsoft Edge browser. Separate articles will be written for other browsers.

Configuring Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge is the default browser that comes installed with Windows 10. The old Internet Explorer (IE) is still loaded on the hard drive and could be accessed in the Start Menu under Windows Accessories.

To access the Options menu for Microsoft Edge click on the 3 dots on the second row on the top right of the browser window. This brings up a window with the options for Microsoft Edge.

New Window: Clicking this option brings up a new Edge window.

New InPrivateWindow: Clicking this option brings up a InPrivate window. When you use InPrivate tabs or windows, your browsing data (like your history, temporary internet files, and cookies) are not saved on your PC once you are done. The protections that InPrivate browsing provides are only in effect while you are using the InPrivate window.

Zoom: You can make the content in the windows larger or smaller with the Zoom. You can also control text size by holding down the Ctrl key and using plus (+) or minus (-) to change the text size. You can also make the window go full screen with the arrows. When in full screen if you put your cursor on the upper right of the window you will see arrows to return the window back to normal.

Favorites: Clicking on Favorites lets you manage Favorites, the Favorites Bar, Reading list (saved articles), Books (from the Microsoft store), History, and Downloads.

Cast media to device: Simply connect your wireless device to your PC, open Edge and search for multimedia content. For casting a video from YouTube, go to YouTube.com in Microsoft Edge. Click on the “…” menu in the extreme right-hand corner and select “Cast media to device” and select the Miracast or DLNA device you want to cast to.

Find on page: Use this option to bring up a search window to find desired text in the article you are reading.

Read aloud: This option will read the selected article aloud. The voice and speed are set in the Windows Settings (see Controlling Windows 10 Settings article).

Print: This option is used to print the information in the selected tab. It brings up the Print options where you can select the printer and other options.

Pin this page to the taskbar: Select this option to pin a page to the taskbar that you want to open just by clicking on the icon on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. This could clutter up your taskbar so be careful with it. Websites you want a quick link to can be added to your Favorites Bar or to the Start Menu where they can be grouped.

Pin this page to Start: Select this option to pin a page to the Start Menu that you want to access directly from the Start Menu.

F12 Developer Tools: This option is for developers only. It brings up tools to see the HTML code for the selected window and other developer tools.

Open with Internet Explorer: This opens the selected tab in Internet Explorer (browser prior to Edge).

Send feedback: Allows feedback on Website problems, Unsafe websites, suggestions for Microsoft Edge, and Rating Microsoft Edge.

Extensions: This option allows you to add extensions (additional apps) to Microsoft Edge from the Microsoft Store.

What’s new and tips: Need to know what’s new in Microsoft Edge? Select Settings and more and then select What’s new and tips. You’ll be directed to the Microsoft Edge Tips page where you can see what’s new in Microsoft Edge and stay more productive, organized, and safe.

Settings: Click on the Settings option at the bottom of the menu to bring up the configuration menu for Edge.

Each Setting option will be discussed in general with more details on some of the settings.

Choose a Theme: You can choose either a Light or Dark theme for Edge. Default is Light. Dark changes the browser frame colors to a dark color with light text.

Open Microsoft Edge with: You can choose what page(s) open when Microsoft Edge is started. The options are “Start page”, “New tab page”, “Previous page”, or “A specific set of pages”.

Start page: Selecting the “Start page” opens the Microsoft Start page powered by MSN.

New tab page: Selecting “New tab page” starts Microsoft Edge with a new tab page with the “Open new tabs with” option content showing.

Previous pages: This option opens Edge with the pages that were open when the browser was closed.

A specific page or pages: You can specify which websites open when Edge is started. Enter the desired website address in the space “Enter a URL” and press enter. If the address is valid it will be added to the pages which open when Edge starts. Enter as many addresses as you desire to start. Each address will start on a separate tab when you start Edge. For example, you may want www.yahoo.com, www.facebook.com, www.google.com, www.msn.com, or any other site you want to automatically start when Edge starts.

Open new tabs with: You can select what content new tabs will open displaying. The options are “Top sites and suggested content”, “Top sites”, or “A blank page”.

Import favorites and other info: You can import favorites and other setting from another browser if one is already installed and configured. Selecting this option shows which other browsers are already installed and lets you choose which one to import settings from. You can also import from or export to a file if desired.

Show the favorites bar: You can turn On/Off the Favorites bar which appears on the 3rd row of the browser window when turned on. With the Favorites Bar on, when you are on a website you want to add to the Favorites Bar, you click on the “Star” on the right side of the 2nd row, accept the default description or provide a meaningful description, click on Favorites under “Save in” until you see “Favorites bar” as an option. Then click on “Add” to add it to the Favorites Bar. You will now see it on the Favorites Bar. If you want it in another position on the Favorites Bar you can “grab” (left click and hold) the shortcut and “drag” it to the desired position on the bar and release left button. If the Favorites Bar is full then you may see an arrow on the right side you need to click to see more sites.

Show only icons on the favorites bar: To save space you could choose to only show icons on the Favorites Bar which would eliminate the descriptions and only show icons which may not be useful if you cannot tell from the icon what site it represents.

Clear browsing data: You can choose to clear browsing data from the computer. Clicking on this lets you choose what types of data you want to clear from browsing history, cookies, cached data, tabs, download history, form data, passwords, media licenses, website permissions. You can select to clear the data when the browser is closed.

Account settings: Choosing this option opens the Account setting windows which is discussed in the article “Controlling Windows 10 Settings”.

Advanced settings: With Advanced settings you can:

Show the home button: This option displays the Home button (house) on the left side of the 2nd row. When you click the Home button it opens the specified new tab page or a specific page specified in whichever tab is selected on the 1st row of the browser.

Block pop-ups: You can choose to block pop-ups from websites. If a website you are visiting uses popp- ups to display additional content you may not be able to see this content unless this is turned on. For example, your bank site may use a pop-up to display your statement.

Use Adobe Flash Player: Some websites use Adobe Flash to display video content which may not work if this turned Off. You may have to enable this if a site tells you that Adobe Flash needs to be on to view content.

Open sites in apps: You can specify sites which open in specific apps. Clicking on “Choose which sites open in apps” to bring up a list of apps when may have sites associated with them. For example, Grove has a specific site associated with it.

Downloads: You can choose where downloaded files are stored. The default is C:\Users\”username”\Downloads which can be changed to another folder.

Proxy setup: You can configure proxy settings (discussed in “Controlling Windows 10 Settings”)

Website permissions: You can manage website permissions which list permission given to specific websites.

Privacy and Services: You can manage features which may save data on your device or sent data to Microsoft to improve your browsing experience.

Offer to save passwords: If On Edge will offer to save passwords for sites requiring passwords so they do not have to be reentered the next time you visit that site. For example, Facebook, email sites, etc. You can manage the sites that you have stored passwords for. If you declined to save the password you may see the user name but no password.

Save form entries: If On browser can save entries in online forms.

Send do not track request: If On sends a “Do not track request” to websites visited. Websites may still track your activities even when a Do Not Track request is sent, however.

Have Cortana assist me in Microsoft Edge: When turned On if you go to a page and want to ask Cortana for help, simply highlight a word, press and hold on the highlighted item (or right click) and select (Ask Cortana).

The following link gives some information on using Cortana with Microsoft Edge: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-cortana-microsoft-edge-windows-10

Search in the address bar with: Allows you to choose the search engine to use in the address bar of the browser. Select Change search engine to see available options.

Show search and site suggestions as I type: When On starts displaying related content to your search as you type and refines as you type more. Uses Microsoft’s web-powered prediction service to guess what you’re searching for and fill it in automatically. Chrome and the standard version of Google search offer something similar, so you may already appreciate this convenience elsewhere and not realize it.

Show search history: When turned ON saves the search history so it can be viewed later.

Optimize taskbar web search results for screen readers: When turned On helps optimize taskbar searches such as Cortana to work with the browser.

Show sites I frequently visit in Top Sites: When turned On it shows sites you frequently visit in the Top Sites when new tab is opened.

Cookies: Lets you choose what to do with cookies (see explanation of cookies below), Block all cookies, Block only third party cookies, Don’t block cookies.

Block all cookies doesn’t let any website save cookies to your computer.

Block only third party cookies allows cookies from the website you’re on, but blocks cookies from external web services, like from ads embedded on webpages you visit.

Don’t block cookies allows all cookies to be stored on your device.

What are cookies: Most people have no clue what a cookie does. If you don't want sites to store cookies on your PC, you can block cookies. But blocking cookies might prevent some pages from displaying correctly, or you might get a message from a site letting you know that you need to allow cookies to view that site. Blocking cookies might prevent some pages from displaying correctly, or you might get a message from a site letting you know that you need to allow cookies to view that site.

The following link explains what a cookie is: https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-privacy-what-are-cookies.html

Let sites save protected media licenses on my device: See the following link for information on this topic: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/let-sites-save-protected-media-licenses-device-windows-10

Use page prediction to speed up browsing, improve reading, and make my overall experience better: This is similar to search suggestions in that it sends your browsing history to Microsoft. The company says this feature “uses aggregated browsing history data to predict which pages you’re likely to browse to next, and then loads those pages in the background for a faster browsing experience.” If you don’t like the sound of that, turn it off.

Help protect me from malicious sites and downloads with Windows Defender SmartScreen: When turned On Windows Defender provides and early warning system against websites that might engage in phishing attacks or attempt to distribute malware through a socially-engineered attack. This feature lets Microsoft download a list of bad-acting URLs to your PC so Edge can block those sites. With SmartScreen active, whenever you land on a malicious URL you will be redirected to a Microsoft webpage that will get some PC information and the URL of the page you visited.

The following link provides information on Windows Defender SmartScreen: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-protection/windows-defender- smartscreen/windows-defender-smartscreen-overview#benefits-of-windows-defender- smartscreen

Add Notes/Share option: The Add Notes/Share option allows you to bring up some editing tools you can use on a webpage you want to add notes, highlighting, text bubbles, etc. to and save to OneNote for future reference or Share it.

The following link gives information on using this option: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17221/windows-10-write-on-the-web