Meet the browser: Edge Next

By BooBerry
in Web Browser Discussion & Support

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BooBerry

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6 hours ago, George P said:

Anyone check out Edge in the newest 14366 insider build?  I know there's that new Office Online extension for it, anything else?

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Performance and security matter to everyone. Better page load performance improves the user’s experience and influences their choice over which web pages to use. At the same time, users just expect their browsing experience to be secure and private. With TCP Fast Open, TLS False Start, and TLS 1.3, we can improve both performance and security.

Today, we’re introducing support for TCP Fast Open in Microsoft Edge behind an about:flags setting in Windows Insider Preview builds, starting with EdgeHTML 14.14361 and higher. Try it out and let us know what you think!

The road to TLS 1.3

We trust the internet with our most important information, including financial data.  Ensuring the integrity and security of these transactions is critical to the entire community.  More than half of web connections use TLS for securing the network traffic on the web, and this number grows every day. This is great for security and privacy, but we would like to deploy encryption without slowing down the web. Modern encryption itself is very fast, but requires negotiating keys to establish a connection before fetching page resources.  Each extra exchange through the network delays the connection by one “round trip time” (RTT).

With current standards, connections requiring TLS over TCP require round trips to the server (3-RTT) to negotiate—1 for TCP and 2 for TLS—before starting sending something useful, like the first HTTP GET command. This gets even more problematic when sites split content across multiple domains.  In practice, adding encryption adds delays in the range of hundreds of milliseconds to the page load time. Research shows that even 250ms delay is enough for a user to consider trying another website.

The good news is that a new standard, TLS 1.3, will allow developers to eliminate that delay in most cases while still encrypting content. That means delivering better performance and security in Microsoft Edge, using modern encryption on top of the continually improved TCP stack. TLS 1.3 is working through the standardization track now, and the IETF expects to publish it this summer. But even without TLS 1.3, we can combine TCP Fast Open and the TLS False Start option, and reduce the delay from 3-RTT to 1-RTT. Even reducing your page load time by an average of 50 milliseconds will contribute to a better browsing experience.

Full handshake with TCP and TLS

The current TCP and TLS standards require 3 roundtrips to the server (3-RTT).  The first round trip is where we negotiate the TCP connection parameters. In the second roundtrip, the client and server exchange TLS messages starting with Client Hello and Server Hello to agree on parameters and keys of the connection. The last roundtrip includes the verification of the TLS handshake integrity through the Client and Server Finished messages.

Diagram illustrating a full handshake with TLS, requiring three roundtrips.

Full Handshake – TLS 1.0, 1.1, 1.2

Achieving 1-RTT with TLS False Start and TCP Fast Open

The first improvement comes from the TLS False Start option, which allows the client to start sending encrypted data immediately after the first TLS roundtrip. With that, we are down to 1-RTT for TLS, or 2-RTT if we count the TCP connection. We have already enabled TLS False Start in Microsoft Edge, with a set of strong cipher suites.

Diagram illustrating an improved handshake with TLS False Start, which reduces the roundtrip time to 2-RTTs.

TLS False Start – TLS 1.0, 1.1, 1.2

The next improvement comes from the TCP Fast Open procedure, defined in RFC 7413. The RFC defines a new TCP option, containing a “Fast Open Cookie.” When a “Fast Open capable” client connects to a server for the first time, it inserts an empty cookie in the initial TCP SYN message, prompting the server to send back a valid cookie in the response. For the subsequent connections, the client copies the cookie in the TCP SYN message, and then sends data immediately. If the server recognizes the data as valid, it will accept the data and pass them to the application. When TCP Fast Open is enabled, data can be sent before the connection complete, and the responses will arrive immediately. When we combine TCP Fast Open and TLS False Start, the key negotiation is performed simultaneously with the initial TCP handshake. There is just 1-RTT before the HTTP traffic starts.

Diagram illustrating the combination of TCP Fase Open and TLS False Start, which allows the key negotiation to be performed simultaneously with the TCP handshake, resulting in just 1-RTT.

TLS False Start with TCP Fast Open

What’s next: 0-RTT with TLS 1.3

TCP Fast Open is available behind an about:flags setting in Microsoft Edge in Windows Insider Preview builds 14352 and higher. You can manage the TCP Fast Open setting by navigating to about:flags in the address bar. TCP Fast Open is currently off by default in Microsoft Edge for “HTTPS” connections, but we may adjust this in future preview builds in order to get more telemetry data.

Screen capture showing the TCP Fast Open toggle under "Networking" in about:flags.

TCP Fast Open can be managed via about:flags in Microsoft Edge

The next stage in our journey is to move from 1-RTT to 0-RTT using TLS 1.3. It turns out that doing 0-RTT safely is quite tricky—all 0-RTT solutions require sending key material and encrypted data from the client without waiting for any feedback from the sender. At a minimum, that means that adversaries can capture and replay the messages, which implies that the feature has to be used with great care. In addition to that, there are many potential pitfalls, such as compromising privacy by carrying identifiers in clear text in the Hello message, or risking future compromise if the initial encryption depends on a server public key. The IETF working group is working through these issues now, and as they are resolved we expect to see adoption calls this summer and publication of the standard a few months later.

Diagram showing TLS 1.3 Session Resume combined with TCP Fast Open for 0-RTT handshakes.

TLS 1.3 Session Resume combined with TCP Fast Open

We know performance and security matter to our users and we’re committed to delivering a 0-RTT experience in Microsoft Edge through HTTP 2.0, TLS 1.3, TCP Fast Open, and TLS False Start. We’re also going to continue to work with industry leaders and experts in the standards bodies to build an interoperable TLS 1.3 solution for the web. You can try TCP Fast Open and TLS False Start on Windows Insider Preview builds today

 

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
Grand Master

+Red King Subscriber²

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PSA,

Current version of uBlock for Edge makes certain pages become downloads instead of being loaded in the browser.

 

EDIT:

uBlock Issue - https://github.com/nikrolls/uBlock-Edge/issues/45

Edge Bug - https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/platform/issues/8796739/

  • 1 year later...
Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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This topic hasn't been updated in quite some time it seems, shame really as I use Edge along with Vivaldi on my systems.  The newest version, 42.17134.1.0 that comes with the April 2018 update is a very nice improvement over the one before.  Still, the only issue I keep having, at least on my desktop, doesn't happen on my laptop though, is on the front page of Neowin.  If I go into a FP post with lots of comments and try to replay the page UI will lock up, can't scroll up or down.   Edge itself keeps working fine, I'm just forced to reload the page.   Only on posts with 20-30+ comments, when it's only a handful it doesn't happen.  Also it doesn't happen on my laptop, but that could also be because I don't open anywhere near the number of tabs on that compared to my desktop, so that could come into play.

Grand Master

+Zlip792 MVC

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17 hours ago, George P said:

This topic hasn't been updated in quite some time it seems, shame really as I use Edge along with Vivaldi on my systems.  The newest version, 42.17134.1.0 that comes with the April 2018 update is a very nice improvement over the one before.  Still, the only issue I keep having, at least on my desktop, doesn't happen on my laptop though, is on the front page of Neowin.  If I go into a FP post with lots of comments and try to replay the page UI will lock up, can't scroll up or down.   Edge itself keeps working fine, I'm just forced to reload the page.   Only on posts with 20-30+ comments, when it's only a handful it doesn't happen.  Also it doesn't happen on my laptop, but that could also be because I don't open anywhere near the number of tabs on that compared to my desktop, so that could come into play.

This issue was already discussed somewhere on this forum or else.

 

It is due to adblocking extension in Edge. I would recommend that you try after disable and try it.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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2 hours ago, Zlip792 said:

This issue was already discussed somewhere on this forum or else.

 

It is due to adblocking extension in Edge. I would recommend that you try after disable and try it.

That's what I thought as well, but I only have lastpass installed.   Maybe after the uninstall I'll have to restart edge though, which I didn't do yet, and see how it goes.

Grand Master

+Zlip792 MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted (edited)
42 minutes ago, George P said:

That's what I thought as well, but I only have lastpass installed.   Maybe after the uninstall I'll have to restart edge though, which I didn't do yet, and see how it goes.

Can you check, which about:flags are enabled?

 

Further, you can unlock more settings in the about:flags by pressing "Ctrl+Shift+D" and ensure that it is configured to 'Release'. For testing, try with 'Canary' as well.

 

Link - https://www.askvg.com/windows-10-tip-enable-hidden-diagnostics-options-on-about-flags-page-in-microsoft-edge/

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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16 minutes ago, Zlip792 said:

Can you check, which about:flags are enabled?

 

Further, you can unlock more settings in the about:flags by pressing "Ctrl+Shift+D" and ensure that it is configured to 'Release'. For testing, try with 'Canary' as well.

 

Link - https://www.askvg.com/windows-10-tip-enable-hidden-diagnostics-options-on-about-flags-page-in-microsoft-edge/

Ok, let me check those and list them, or at least compare them to the settings in Edge on my laptop which doesn't seem to have this issue.  I'll report back.

Grand Master

+Zlip792 MVC

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6 minutes ago, George P said:

Ok, let me check those and list them, or at least compare them to the settings in Edge on my laptop which doesn't seem to have this issue.  I'll report back.

Further, can you give me following information?

 

- Front Page reproducible link?

- Antivirus (if different on both - whether HTTPS inspection is enabled or not)

- Addons on both?

- GPU and driver version?

 

Most probable culprit from my perspective could be GPU or HTTPS inspection. If you share the link, I will try to reproduce on my work laptop and see. (Don't have access to any other system - since I am out for project in another country since August 2017). ??

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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2 minutes ago, Zlip792 said:

Further, can you give me following information?

 

- Front Page reproducible link?

- Antivirus (if different on both - whether HTTPS inspection is enabled or not)

- Addons on both?

- GPU and driver version?

 

Most probable culprit from my perspective could be GPU or HTTPS inspection. If you share the link, I will try to reproduce on my work laptop and see. (Don't have access to any other system - since I am out for project in another country since August 2017). ??

Ok, I figured out what the issue is exactly and it might be a bug specific to neowin because I haven't had this happen on other sites.   On my desktop I use a default zoom level of 150%, helps me with reading text, on neowin if I use a lower zoom level, like the default 100% or 125%, no front page lock, page works fine.  Once I raise it to 150% and try to reply to a post on FP, it'll lock.  So maybe it's the zooming/scaling side + my older gfx drivers?   I figure for now I can just reduce the zoom level to 125% on the front page if I have to to work around it.

Grand Master

+Zlip792 MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted
1 hour ago, George P said:

Ok, I figured out what the issue is exactly and it might be a bug specific to neowin because I haven't had this happen on other sites.   On my desktop I use a default zoom level of 150%, helps me with reading text, on neowin if I use a lower zoom level, like the default 100% or 125%, no front page lock, page works fine.  Once I raise it to 150% and try to reply to a post on FP, it'll lock.  So maybe it's the zooming/scaling side + my older gfx drivers?   I figure for now I can just reduce the zoom level to 125% on the front page if I have to to work around it.

It is more likely related to Edge - Paint or Layout performance issue + Old GFX driver issue.

 

I will recommend you to update the GFX drivers to get smooth experience and optimal performance.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
Posted
4 minutes ago, Zlip792 said:

It is more likely related to Edge - Paint or Layout performance issue + Old GFX driver issue.

 

I will recommend you to update the GFX drivers to get smooth experience and optimal performance.

Yeah, I'll upgrade drivers and see how it goes.  Thanks for helping out. 

  • 11 months later...
Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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So since the new chromium based Edge is still Edge I suppose we don't need a whole new topic for it.  

 

Anyways, I'm on Canary and the version was just bumped up to 75.0.124.0 for those who are keeping track.

  • 3 weeks later...
Grand Master

Chicane-UK Veteran

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Been using the dev Edge for a week or two now and am actually really pleased with it.. seems very fast and free of "cruft". To be honest if I could have imagined a perfect browser it would have been Chrome based but without all of Google's bolt-in's so I guess it's perfect for me. Also rather awesome that it'll be coming to macOS as I use that too so... will be able to keep both browsers sync'd up in terms of bookmarks, settings, etc :)

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Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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I hope they change their mind on Linux support at some point as I still say that's a huge missed opportunity. If they don't want to upkeep multiple Linux repositories they could package it as a SNAP app or something.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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3 hours ago, Brandon H said:

I hope they change their mind on Linux support at some point as I still say that's a huge missed opportunity. If they don't want to upkeep multiple Linux repositories they could package it as a SNAP app or something.

Have they officially said no Linux version ever?  Or just that it's not in the plan right now?  Because I can see them releasing one later, maybe going off of the macOS version which is probably a good starting point code wise compared to the Windows version.   They'll have to add more features before they should expand it to more platforms.

 

Speaking of which, anyone on the newest Canary build?  76.0.141.0?   My youtube kb controls are borked with this version it seems.  I used to be able to use the arrow keys for volume and skip forward, back.  Now volume works, sometimes, but hitting the right arrow doesn't skip the video ahead anymore.  It's so annoying right now.

 

*edit* Well, heck, right after I posted this I checked for a newer build and am now on 76.0.144.0 and it's working again.  

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted
8 minutes ago, George P said:

Have they officially said no Linux version ever? 

not specifically but announced support is only as follows:

 

WIndows 7/8.1/10

MacOS - coming soon

 

and Android/iOS mobile apps are being updated to make syncing compatible but not much else at this time

Grand Master

Chicane-UK Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
6 hours ago, Brandon H said:

I hope they change their mind on Linux support at some point as I still say that's a huge missed opportunity. If they don't want to upkeep multiple Linux repositories they could package it as a SNAP app or something.

 

Agreed... it'd be pretty awesome on Linux. They're already doing other products for Linux (e.g. Visual Studio Code) - doesn't seem like a browser based on something already available on Linux would be such a massive stretch. 

Grand Master

PsYcHoKiLLa

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, George P said:

Have they officially said no Linux version ever?  Or just that it's not in the plan right now?  Because I can see them releasing one later, maybe going off of the macOS version which is probably a good starting point code wise compared to the Windows version.   They'll have to add more features before they should expand it to more platforms.

 

Speaking of which, anyone on the newest Canary build?  76.0.141.0?   My youtube kb controls are borked with this version it seems.  I used to be able to use the arrow keys for volume and skip forward, back.  Now volume works, sometimes, but hitting the right arrow doesn't skip the video ahead anymore.  It's so annoying right now.

 

*edit* Well, heck, right after I posted this I checked for a newer build and am now on 76.0.144.0 and it's working again.  

 

Yeah I noticed the cursor keys issue too, reported it using the tool. On mine, pressing the cursor keys throws the cursor into the address bar, especially annoying when you are navigating a comment you are creating and forget.

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      Five things you might have missed during Apple's WWDC 2026 by Aditya Tiwari Image: Apple Apple's annual developer event, WWDC 2026, happened from June 8 through June 12. We have already covered several new features and updates that the iPhone maker unveiled during the official keynote. Apple took Google's help and finally announced the upgraded Siri AI personal assistant, which now comes with an app. Moreover, a truckload of Apple Intelligence features took the center stage. That said, this year's WWDC is a bit different, and you might have noticed or missed the following stuff: Apple's ongoing unification of platforms Image: Apple One thing Apple is widely known for is its seamless hardware-software ecosystem. The company added a new chapter in 2020, when it began the Apple Silicon transition and launched macOS 11 Big Sur with native ARM support. Some major changes happened last year as well, when Apple renamed all of its operating systems to version 26 and introduced the Liquid Glass design language. Until WWDC 2025, Apple keynotes had dedicated segments for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and other operating systems, in which the company discussed each in detail. The WWDC 2026 keynote was different, and Apple allotted most of the screen time to Apple Intelligence and Siri. It didn't even publish separate press releases on its website for different operating systems. While it might seem surprising at first, it shows how Apple plans to move forward with its software ecosystem. Be it the Liquid Glass changes, child safety updates, or other features, they are mostly rolling out across multiple platforms. In other words, Apple is slowly blurring the line between its operating systems and achieving feature parity wherever possible. It's easy to rule out that someone in Apple's marketing team forgot to press the publish button. Everything is a calculated move when it comes to a company like Apple. Putting Apple Intelligence left, right, and center hints that the OS itself is no longer the product anymore. It's Siri, not Pepsi Time and again, various Apple products have been compared to unrelated things and turned into meme material. You might have heard about the "cheese grater" Mac Pro or the "trash can" Mac Pro, to name a few. It's Siri's turn this time. The upgraded AI assistant got a fresh logo, and people have started comparing it with Pepsi. There are other contenders, such as the Sony Ericsson logo and the Yin and Yang symbol. Shot on iPhone. Edited on Mac Image: Apple Apple has been putting the iPhone's camera muscles to the test on various occasions. Even NASA astronauts took it to Space earlier this year and captured some out-of-this-world photos. Recently, Apple TV streamed the first major live sporting event shot entirely on iPhone 17 Pro: an MLS match featuring the LA Galaxy vs. the Houston Dynamo FC. The 'Pro' iPhone has also been used to shoot Apple events in recent years. It's "Scary Fast" Mac event in 2023 was among the earliest attempts, and the tradition trickled down to the WWDC 2026 keynote, which ended with the tag line "Shot on iPhone. Edited on Mac." It's unsurprising to see Apple flexing the camera capabilities of its Pro models, especially when it has been baking professional-grade features, including ProRes RAW and Genlock. Hints for the foldable Apple has been sitting on the foldable iPhone for so long. There is still confusion over when the company will make it official. A recent report said that the iPhone Fold might get delayed as Apple is struggling to perfect its hinge mechanism. But Apple has been dropping hints here and there. A developer dug into the iOS 27 beta code and found internal references about device folding states. As verified by Macworld, the code includes references to "foldState" and "angleDegrees" internal status values, which are apparently designed to tell apps if a device is folded and at what angle. As of now, no other Apple device uses these states. The publication also found internal code suggesting Apple has been testing a device with both Touch ID and Dynamic Island, a combo that doesn't exist today. Last event as Apple CEO Image: Apple Tim Cook's bond with Apple is now almost three decades old, having started in 1998 as the SVP of Worldwide Operations. Back in August 2011, Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple CEO months before his passing, and Cook took charge. Now, the baton has been passed to the hardware chief, John Ternus, who will take over the role on September 1. WWDC 2026 is the last major Apple Event for Tim Cook as CEO. We have seen so much during Cook's tenure over the years, much of which defines Apple as we know it today. From new hardware product lines like Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, and Apple Silicon, to boosting Apple's services business with Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Pay, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple Care One, and more. That said, the first developer betas for Apple's latest operating systems are now available. You can check if your device is supported on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, and other platforms. What's your favorite feature that Apple announced this year at WWDC 2026? Tell us in the comments.
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