Microsoft Edge gets a password generator, pre-made themes, and 'sleeping tabs'

[Polycount]

In brief: Microsoft's updated, Chromium-based Edge browser is a pretty solid alternative to the likes of Chrome or Firefox. Fortunately, it's about to get even better: this month, a plethora of new Edge features are rolling out. These additions range from pre-made themes to an all-new password generation tool.

These features were revealed in a blog post published by Windows executive Liat Ben-Zur today. A significant portion of the text focuses on changes Microsoft is making to its Bing search browser, but we won't go into those here.

What we will do is dive a little deeper into the improvements coming to Edge, starting with themes. Just like other browsers, Edge's themes change things like your tab colors and the background image of new tab pages. Menus remain largely unchanged, but it's still a nice way to add a dose of personality to your browser. There are 24 Microsoft-approved themes to choose from for now -- I'm partial to "Wandering Fields," personally.

On top of that, Edge's various icons will soon be brought in line with Microsoft's "Fluent Design" system. Moving forward, users will notice the icons becoming rounded, softer, and more consistent across the board.

Fortunately, neither of these changes will come at the cost of browser performance. Quite the opposite, in fact: Microsoft Edge now features "sleeping tabs" functionality, essentially meaning that inactive tabs will no longer hog system memory and CPU resources. This could be a game-changer for multitaskers with lower-end systems, but the feature is not enabled by default. You'll need to visit Edge's "System" settings menu to switch it on.

The final major feature of note arriving in Edge soon is an expansion to the browser's password management capabilities. It can already save passwords that you enter on various websites, but now, you can generate them on the fly.

This feature triggers automatically when Edge detects that you're signing up for a new service, or changing a password on an existing one. It's not clear whether you can generate passwords at will, however.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88366-microsoft-edge-gets-password-generator-pre-made-themes.html

 

[terzaerian]

I will never understand Microsoft's bull-headed determination to make their browser a thing

It's never gonna happen, MS. Put a fork in it

 

[Inthenstus]

I will never understand Microsoft's bull-headed determination to make their browser a thing

It's never gonna happen, MS. Put a fork in it

Uh, the new Edge is the best thing to ever happen to Internet Explorer. It’s better than Chrome, and Firefox IMO.

 

[Ashford]

I can't say I've used Edge much but I can say with certainty that I would pick it over Firefox and considering Chrome's inability to effectively address its memory leak issues I am actually open to giving it a try again.

 

[sorten]

I've been using Edge for a few months now, and I'm very happy with it.

Google wouldn't stop nagging me about switching to Chrome every time I went to google.com, so I've also switched to Bing and have discovered that it has improved a lot over the past few years.

Can't say I'm ready to ditch Google altogether. I still use my gmail account as my generic email for services.

 

[Mister_K]

Uh, the new Edge is the best thing to ever happen to Internet Explorer. It’s better than Chrome, and Firefox IMO.

and has Netflix playing in UHD, yay! But still use Chrome. Took me years to go from Firefox to Chrome.

 

[s3thra]

I’Il stick with the browser that isn’t developed by a huge, pervasive and invasive corporation. Each to their own though...

 

[Uncle Al]

"inactive tabs will no longer hog system memory and CPU resources"

If they are able to pull that off it will be fantastic, but since it's Microsoft I won't be holding my breath!

 

[terzaerian]

Uh, the new Edge is the best thing to ever happen to Internet Explorer. It’s better than Chrome, and Firefox IMO.

Ackthually the Yugo was a highly reliable automobile

 

[sorten]

I’Il stick with the browser that isn’t developed by a huge, pervasive and invasive corporation. Each to their own though...

It wasn't clear from your comment which huge, pervasive and invasive corporation you were referencing. Microsoft, the company that makes billions selling products and services, or Google, which makes billions selling ads and your personal data.

Or did you meant both, and you use Firefox or Opera?

 

[Nobina]

I tried it and it's very similar to Chrome. It's decent but I just don't trust or like Microsoft.

 

[terzaerian]

It wasn't clear from your comment which huge, pervasive and invasive corporation you were referencing. Microsoft, the company that makes billions selling products and services, or Google, which makes billions selling ads and your personal data.

Or did you meant both, and you use Firefox or Opera?

Vivaldi, but thanks bruh

I tried it and it's very similar to Chrome. It's decent but I just don't trust or like Microsoft.

We need to just start referring to this category of browser, along with Chrome, as YAFCF (Yet Another F***ing Chromium Fork)

 

[Dustyn]

I will never understand Microsoft's bull-headed determination to make their browser a thing

It's never gonna happen, MS. Put a fork in it

It's actually a pretty amazing browser. And it is pretty happening! It's actually happening already!

 

[terzaerian]

It's actually a pretty amazing browser. And it is pretty happening! It's actually happening already!

When I was twelve I, too, thought Internet Explorer was great

 

[Dustyn]

When I was twelve I, too, thought Internet Explorer was great

This is not the Internet Explorer browser you once loved. And you should know this as you are no longer twelve, right?

 

[terzaerian]

This is not the Internet Explorer browser you once loved. And you should know this as you are no longer twelve, right?

Yes, it's the piss-poor Metro reskin of Chrome, boosting features that Opera 12 had back in 2013.