14 DAY TRIAL // The Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser is still a work in progress, but the existing improvements that Microsoft makes to Canary and Dev builds provide us with an early look at the feature lineup the application is going to sport when hitting the stable channel.
And as noticed recently by Eric Lawrence on Twitter, Microsoft Edge will come with a very neat security feature that will protect Windows users against possible exploits.
Specifically, the browser issues a warning whenever it is launched with administrator privileges, which technically means that a successful attack could provide cybercriminals with full control over the system.
“Administrator Mode Detected. Close Microsoft Edge and relaunch in non-administrator mode for best performance,” the notification reads. It also includes a button to close the browser.
Warnings already there in preview builds
The warning is currently available in both the Canary and Developer builds of the new Edge browser, and it should be part of the beta and stable releases when they are finalized later this year.
The Chromium-powered Microsoft Edge is in preview stage on Windows 10, albeit it’s possible to install it on older versions of Windows using the same installer. For example, it has recently been found that deploying Edge on Windows 7 is something that can be done with no modifications, and the browser appears to be running quite smoothly on this older Windows too.
As for the release date of Edge on other platforms, nothing is certain at this point. Microsoft says a preview for older Windows and macOS is coming soon, but no other specifics were shared.
There’s a high chance the company rolls it out next month at the Build developer conference when further information on the new Edge are also expected to be offered to developers.