4 Windows Edge browser enhancements

Goodbye Internet Explorer. Hello Edge. Edge is the default browser for Windows 10 and it won’t run on older versions of Windows. As PC users continue to install the free OS update to replace Windows 7 & 8, here are four ways in which Edge promises to be superior to the browser it replaces: Internet Explorer.

1. Faster, richer browsing

According to Microsoft, Edge is twice as fast as its predecessor when evaluated using Google Canary benchmarking software. It also came out faster than the latest beta 64-bit builds of the Chrome and Firefox browsers. Additionally, Edge is built on Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform, ensuring that it renders pages more uniformly across different devices, bringing Edge in line with other browsers.

2. Extension support

Edge will support JavaScript-based extensions, allowing third parties to customize views of Web pages and add new functionality. This extension support is not available on the initial release of Edge, but will be available by the end of the 2015.

3. More personal

As the internet changes to become a cloud of data that users reach into with their devices to pull content from, the content becomes organized around people on all of their devices. Windows 10 gives users access to the same content on their smartphone, tablet, laptop, game console, TV or HoloLens headset. The true potential of this is when screens combine to work together because it is this capability that provides a powerful foundation for a new way to think about advertising – as sequential communication that transcends screens.

4. More helpful

Edge is wired into Microsoft’s Bing search service and their virtual personal assistant, Cortana. When Edge users opt into these services, their actions are tracked on the browser in order to gather more context .

As you type a question in the URL address bar or ask Cortana a question, Edge starts generating possible answers, so if a user visits a restaurant’s website, the browser prepares extra information that might be of interest, like opening hours, directions, menu link, etc.

Additionally, launching Edge will give users a new tab start page containing links to their most visited sites, as well as links to news stories and content of interest that it has worked out from the users browsing habits.

ExoClick allows targeting of Windows 10 and Edge users in the ‘advanced targeting’ tab of the admin panel.