Windows 10 Creators Update roll out has officially begun and more than 400 million PCs will be receiving the major OS update over the coming weeks. There is certainly something for everybody to get excited about. If you are an artist, color your world with Paint 3D. If you are a gamer, play, stream and get in touch with friends with the built in game streaming via Beam and if you are a developer, some of the coolest new features and tools await you to use them in your apps. All in all, this update is feature packed and greatly improves upon the last year’s Anniversary Update release.
Microsoft Edge is not left alone, too. Microsoft has made significant improvements for their made for Windows 10 browser, both in terms of what is visible to eyes and what is happening behind the veil. The Creators Update release updates the Windows web platform to EdgeHTML 15, the fourth release of EdgeHTML. Browsing fundamentals like performance, efficiency, and accessibility have been given a thorough thought to improve the end user experience.
Here is what is new in Microsoft Edge (Creators Update)
New Tab Management Features
Microsoft is introducing two new tab management features which will enhance productivity while you are working or browsing on the web with multiple tabs open. You may have come across a situation where you forgot to bookmark a particular search result on which you spend hours and hours together. Microsoft Edge now lets you set your tabs aside for later, sweeping them aside and organizing them neatly in a special section for easy access when you’re ready.
Simply click the new “Set tabs aside” button next to your row of tabs. When you’re ready to come back to them, just click the “Tabs you’ve set aside” icon. From there, restore one tab, or restore the full set.
Another situation may arise where you have huge number of tabs open and it is real difficult to find the correct tab you are looking for from a sea of tiny icons. Microsoft Edge now includes the ability to preview all your open tabs at once, so you can get back to what you’re looking for in a snap.
Simply click the “Show tab previews” arrow to the right of your new tab button, and your tabs will expand to show a preview of the full page. Found it? Click it and get back to work!
New reading experiences in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge now lets you read e-books from right inside the browser. You can either get e-books from the Windows Store or download EPUBs on the web to view in the browser.
You can find books in the new “Books” section of the Microsoft Edge Hub.
Microsoft Edge feels faster and more responsive than ever
In EdgeHTML 15, Microsoft has greatly focussed on browser responsiveness. This means on a resource heavy website, with a lot of content to load, you will freely be able to scroll through with a keyboard or click on a link even when the page may be busy or hung. Microsoft Edge now prioritizes the user’s input above other activity, and optimizes rendering for real-world scenarios.
These optimizations may not be noticeable at one, but the Speedometer benchmark is here to prove the fact. This tool simulates real-world app patterns using common frameworks and it was found EdgeHTML 15 performance has increased two-fold since the November Update (2013).
Microsoft Edge imposes latest Security advancements for safer browsing
Microsoft Edge in the Creators Update is more resilient to typical attack strategies.
First, to prevent arbitrary native code execution: Code Integrity Guard and Arbitrary Code Guard. For a hacker, these actions make it much more difficult to load harmful code into memory, making it less likely and less economical to be successful in building a compete exploit. You can read more about this work in Mitigating arbitrary native code execution in Microsoft Edge.
Second, Microsoft has introduced an improved Microsoft Edge sandbox. You can read more about this work in Strengthening the Microsoft Edge Sandbox.
There is much more to talk about and we will be covering those parts in the upcoming articles. Do let us know you favourite edge feature if you have upgraded your PC to Creators Update. In case not, here is how to download and install Creators Update on your PC.
