Edge is the default browser and there will be no Internet Explorer app comes with Windows 11. Unless you manually install Chrome or Firefox, you must use Edge for all your browsing activities. Hence, it is necessary to learn using Microsoft Edge browser for your safe and secure browsing. In this article, we will explain 10 tips to improve your privacy when using Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 11.
Website Tracking and Privacy
Almost all websites collect information when you visit the site. For example, websites use Google Analytics to find the traffic details like number of users, geographical locations, etc. Similarly, websites also track your browsing activities to serve personalized advertisements. When you open a web hosting related website, you will notice all other sites you visit start showing hosting related advertisements regardless of the content.
Though this will not disturb you in many situations, it depends on personal concerns. In addition, there are websites explicitly collect and sell your information to marketing agencies. Therefore, you should be cautious when providing any personal details online without appropriate knowledge.
Edge offers considerable number of settings that you can use to protect your privacy. Before we start, remember that privacy not only depends on the browser settings but also on your own activities. You should not wander around the internet clicking malicious links or downloading files from unreliable websites and blame the browser for not protecting you.
1. Set Tracking Protection
Edge offers three levels of tracking protection to prevent websites from collecting data – basic, balanced and strict. By default, the tracking prevention is enabled with balanced level to block known trackers and limit the personalized advertisements.
- Click on the “Settings and more” three dots icon showing on the top right corner and select “Settings” from the menu.
- Go to “Privacy, search, and services” from the sidebar.
- Select “Tracking prevention” and turn on the “Enable tracking prevention”.
- Select “Balanced” option for the optimal working.
Remember, setting strict tracking prevention may stop some websites to work properly. You can also enable strict mode and provide exceptions to only allow the exempted sites. Click on the “Blocked trackers” to view the list of trackers blocked by Edge and unblock if required for the proper working of a website.
2. Clear Browsing History
If you are using public computer, make sure to delete your browsing history after you finish the work. Simply press Control + Shift + Delete shortcut keys when you are in Edge. It will open the “Clear browsing data” pop-up like below. Select “All time” for “Time range” and click on “Clear now” button.
By default, Edge will select items like browsing history, download history, cookies and site data, cached images and files and delete them. However, you can scroll down and select additional items for deletion like saved passwords and site permissions.
Note: If you have enabled IE mode in Edge, you will see an additional link in the “Clear browsing data” pop-up to clear IE mode history. Similarly, if you use multiple profiles in Edge, make sure to delete the history for correct profile as the history is stored separately for each profile.
3. Set Automatic Clearing of Browsing History
Clearing browser history is a clever idea to keep your activities private, however, you may forget to delete the history sometime. It will be annoying to see the shortcuts of websites you have visited on the new tab page unexpectedly. The solution is to permanently enable clear browsing history option whenever you close Edge browser.
- Go to edge://settings/privacy page and select “Clear browsing data” option.
- Click the option “Choose what to clear every time you close the browser”.
- You will see a list of items, select “Browsing History” and other options from the list as you need.
- Edge will automatically delete the selected items whenever you close the browser.
4. Use InPrivate Mode
This is the best option for browsing private websites in a common or public computers. Incognito or InPrivate mode in Edge will not save any browsing data when you close the browser. The sites will not appear in the history or on the new tab page quick links. You can press “Control + Shift + N” to open a new In-Private window.
Learn how to launch Edge in InPrivate mode by default.
5. Send Do Not Track Requests
When you are in Edge privacy settings page, go to “Privacy” section and enable “Send “Do Not Track” requests” option. This will send a request to websites that try to track your activities by setting cookies. However, many websites do not process this request and simply ignore.
6. Disable Tracking from Microsoft
Though Microsoft claims they protect your privacy from other services like Google, they also track your browsing activities to serve relevant content and personalized advertisements. You can stop most of the data sharing with Microsoft, if not all, from the Edge privacy settings page.
- You can stop sharing the browsing data with Microsoft by disabling “Help improve Microsoft……” and “Allow Microsoft to save browsing activity……” options “Personalize web experience” option in edge://settings/privacy/privacy page.
- Similarly, you can disable sending optional diagnostic data to Microsoft. However, you cannot disable sending required diagnostic data which essential means Microsoft always collect some data from Edge. You can check out this article on how they process the diagnostics data.
- Finally, go to edge://settings/privacy/services/search/searchFilters page scroll down to the bottom of the privacy settings page and disable all site suggestion related options that appear automatically when typing in the address bar.
7. Set Website Permissions
Go to edge://settings/content URL in Edge and click “Site permissions” option. Here, you can click on different items like location, camera, pop-ups and redirects, ads, notifications, etc. and block or allow access for individual websites.
You can also manage cookies and trackers when viewing a website in Edge by clicking on the padlock icon showing in the address bar.
8. Enable Defender SmartScreen
Defender SmartScreen allows to stop opening malicious websites and prevent suspicious downloads. You can enable this by going to edge://settings/privacy/security settings page and turning on “Protect from harmful sites and downloads” and “Block potentially unwanted apps” options. You can learn more about on how to use SmartScreen in Edge in our earlier article.
9. Enable Kids Mode and Family Safety Features
Earlier, Microsoft Edge offered Kids Mode directly within the browser’s Settings page. However, this feature is now managed through Microsoft Family Safety. You can configure parental controls either through the Microsoft Family Safety app or via the web interface by signing in to your Microsoft account. The screenshot below shows the Kids Mode settings from an older version of Edge.
In the latest version, navigate to edge://settings/privacy/privacy and click the “Set up” button next to the “Set up family safety features” option. This will take you to the Microsoft Family Safety website, where you can manage screen time limits, content filters, spending controls, and other parental settings for your child’s account.
10. Use Safe Passwords
Edge offers a complete password management feature within the browser. You can use this in-built Microsoft Password Manager feature to save passwords / passkeys and use them across all your devices by logging into Microsoft account. Use the following settings to improve the privacy while using passwords in Edge under edge://settings/autofill/passwords/settings page.
- Disable “Show the ‘Reveal passwords’ button” option so that you or someone nearer to you cannot see the actual password entered.
- Enable “Scan passwords for leak” option to get a warning when your passwords are found in an online leak.
- Also turn on “Suggest strong passwords” to use strong and safe passwords and protect your data.
However, if you do not want to save passwords in Edge, disable “Ask to save passwords and passkeys” option.
Final Words
As you can see, Microsoft Edge provides a comprehensive set of privacy features that help to take greater control of your online activities. From tracking prevention and enhanced security protections to password monitoring and family safety tools, Edge makes it easier to browse the web more securely and privately. Note that most of the above explained settings in Edge will be greyed out if you are using organization provided device. In this case, you may need to discuss with your network admin or IT support to allow changes in the settings.
