What Is Chromium Edge?
Microsoft Edge was launched alongside Windows 10 as a replacement for the venerable Internet Explorer web browser. It was originally built entirely on Microsoft’s own technology until the launch of Chromium Edge, which is built on the same code base as Google Chrome, Brave, and Chrome Canary. In addition to Windows 10, 8, and 7, you can also get Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser for macOS, iOS, and Android. The biggest difference that most people see between Chromium Edge and the original Microsoft Edge is plug-in support. Edge suffered from a lack of plug-ins, especially at launch, while Chromium Edge works with most Chrome extensions. If you’re moving to Chromium Edge from Chrome, you should be able to use all your old extensions for a fairly seamless transition.
How Is Chromium Edge Different From Chrome?
While Edge and Chrome are both based on the open source Chromium project, that doesn’t mean the browsers are the same. Google adds a whole lot of stuff to Chromium before they release it as Chrome, including data-gathering mechanisms and the ability to sync between devices with your Google account. Microsoft adds a lot of stuff on top of the basic Chromium code as well, but it also replace a large number of Chromium services with its own versions. Microsoft turns off some services. That’s all under the hood though, so regular users are unlikely to notice most of the changes. Things that you are likely to notice include more robust privacy settings that are laid out better and easier to understand than Chrome’s privacy settings. Edge also seems to have less of an affect on system resources, specifically using less RAM, although your experience will vary depending on the sites you visit. Edge defaults to the Bing search engine, while Chrome defaults to Google, but both browsers allow you to change that freely. Edge also points you toward a fairly sparse Edge Extension Library, but you’re free to download extensions from the Chrome Web Store. Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge also provides better support for streaming media, including the ability to stream 4K content from Netflix, although that feature is only available if you’re using Windows 10.
How to Get Chromium Edge on Windows 10, 8, and 7
If you’re ready to try out Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser on Windows, it’s painless to give it a try. It’s a free download, and the process works basically the same whether you’re using Windows 10, 8, or 7.
Setting Up Chromium Edge
Chromium Edge automatically launches and starts the setup process as soon as you finish installing it. You can also come back to this process at a later time by closing Chromium Edge and opening it later. Here’s how to finish the Chromium Edge setup process: Chromium Edge is now ready to use.
Import Your Bookmarks and Passwords Into Chromium Edge
If you find that your bookmarks, passwords, and other personal information didn’t make the transition, it’s easy to import everything into Chromium Edge from your old browser.
