Automatically Block ‘Potentially Unwanted App’ Downloads with Latest Microsoft Edge Update
Available to just testers, for now, this new feature is a welcome addition to the Edge browser. Having relaunched by Microsoft after the failure or Internet Explorer, Edge is offering a Chromium-like engine under the hood. This means the users now have the ability to perform installation of third-party add ons, extensions and more. Ad Blockers are the top installed apps for any browser today, but many unwanted apps attached to them can load onto your browser in the background. For example, antivirus apps, cookie managers, download managers and so on.
The latest Microsoft Edge update makes it automated for you to avoid downloading potentially unwanted apps, bloatware, and malware to the browser. One major player in this segment is something called adware.
Blocking Adware from Installing in the Background
Whenever you download external apps or extensions such as flash downloader they come with adware attached to them. Even if they are necessarily not harmful, the adware can make your browser heavy on RAM and CPU. It can cause relentless popup of notifications and more. Microsoft is currently developing and testing a feature that will enable automated blocking the download of ?Potentially Unwanted Apps?.
- These programs are not necessarily harmful but can be really annoying.
- They get installed within a fraction of a second and are quite tiny.
- They usually take the form of browser toolbars, extensions, or unclosable popup for advertisements.
The above are just a few examples of the type of programs that can get installed without your notice in the background when installing other important apps. Sometimes, even Microsoft Edge downloads can fail to filter them.
Microsoft’s Various Testing Programs
Unlike some of the company’s testing programs for the beta version of new features, Edge Insider channels like Dev, Canary, and Beta are available for free to anybody. They are open as well which means that one does not need to be signed in to Microsoft’s account to grab and test this Microsoft Edge Chromium download.
Getting Unnoticed and Affecting Computers
Adware is a major source of revenue for millions of websites and services online today. They host file-sharing services, free downloadable books, articles, pictures and more. There are video and media sharing and hosting services that make use of them for revenue too. So, millions of people visiting these websites are greeted with these annoying links every day. You can click on a link to download a file, and the next thing you find is a confirmation message on your browser.
- It asks for permission to ?Accept? to load the webpage to proceed.
- When a user clicks on ?Accept? just as you’d do when accepting cookies, you have unknowingly granted permission for a bunch of adware to get installed on your computer.
- Within a fraction of a second, they get installed and you have no clue at all.
The next thing you know your browser has tens of extensions and toolbars making it completely slow and bloated.