This guide will show you how to secure your Microsoft Edge browser and privacy. Please note that the settings are geared towards the average user and uses a balanced approach between security and functionality. The settings should work for most sites without breaking them. However, if you find that a website is not working properly (which may be the case for most government sites), you may need to loosen some of the specifications.
Current version as of time written: 139.0.3405.125
Click the three dots (…) on the upper right corner, and choose ‘Settings’.
On the left hand side, choose ‘Profiles’.
For maximum privacy, we will be removing our profile data, which includes passwords, payment history, personal info, and etc. If you wish to keep your profile data, you can. But do remember that there is a risk to the associated data being breached or leaked.
To remove your profile data, click on the garbage can and confirm removal.
Next, click on ‘Microsoft Rewards’.
If you kept your profile data, you can choose to leave it on. Else, leave it off.
Click on the left arrow to go back. Then, go to ‘Profile preferences’.
Turn off automatic sign for both Edge and single sign-on.
Go back and choose ‘Share browsing data with other Windows features’.
Make sure this feature is turned off. This keeps your browser data from being automatically shared with other Windows products.
Go back and choose ‘Payment info’ > ‘Settings’.
Note that Windows Wallet will have upcoming changes soon. When possible, this guide will be updated to reflect the changes accurately.
Make sure everything is turned off.
Return to settings by clicking on the tab.
Then choose ‘Passwords and autofill’ > ‘Personal info’.
Turn everything off.
Go back and click ‘Privacy, search, and services’ > ‘Tracking prevention’.
Enable tracking prevention and choose ‘Balanced’. Turn on ‘Always use “Strict” tracking prevention when browsing InPrivate’.
Under exceptions, ensure that no sites are added.
Go back twice to choose ‘Clear browsing data’ > ‘Choose what to clear every time you close the browser’.
Turn everything on. This prevents any leftover data when you clear your browser history.
Go back and click ‘Choose what to clear’.
In the drop-down menu, choose ‘All time’. Make sure all the boxes are checked and click ‘Clear now’.
**In the future, if you want to clear your browsing history, you can either go through the settings shown previously or hold Ctrl+Shift+Del. This will pop up the same menu shown above.
Go back and choose ‘Privacy’.
Use the following settings.
Note that the ‘Send “Do Not Track” requests’ simply notifies the website you visit that you do not want to be tracked. However, some websites may either ignore the request or get around it by showing general ads instead of personalized ads to the user.
Go back and choose ‘Security’.
Use the following settings. For more explanation, see below:
Explanation (click here to expand for more info)
- Protect from harmful websites and downloads
- Block potentially unwanted apps
- Uses Microsoft’s database to prevent visiting or downloading known malicious websites, files, or applications
- Website typo protection
- Some malicious actors will use a typo version of a website (ex. facebook vs facebok) in hopes that the user does not notice that they are not visiting the legitimate web page. The fake website will likely then download malware or spyware to your system
- Automatically switch to more secure connections with Automatic HTTPS
- Keeping this setting turned on protects you from accidentally visiting these impersonating websites
- Scareware blocker
- Automatically switch to more secure connections with Automatic HTTPS HTTPS allows for the secure transmission of sensitive information like Social Security number or credit card information
For additional security, use the following settings. Note that the Microsoft Edge Secure Network will let you use Microsoft’s own VPN network for safe browsing, especially when using a public WiFi. Do keep in mind that only the first 5GB are free per month. If you would like to conserve your free VPN for more data-sensitive websites, choose ‘Select sites’ instead and add them by clicking ‘Site preferences for Secure Network’ below.
Go back and choose ‘Cookies’.
Cookies are used by websites to track users and connections. In most cases, cookies are used to keep you logged in to a website while you use it. In some cases, it can also be used to track your activities on the web to collect analytics, share preferences between web pages, or personalize ads to your interests.
Use the following settings for cookies.
Note that the ‘block third-party cookies’ can cause some websites to break. We choose to turn this setting on to keep other websites from tracking you (for example, when you visit a website like randomblog.com and it has an ad, randomblog would be considered the first party and will likely use cookies for what is required to function (like signing in). A third-party cookie in this case would be the organization running the ad. It is not required to run the web site so we do not want its cookies.
There are times when third-party cookies are needed, however. In cases where the payment system uses a particular organization or software to process the finances, you will need to allow the third-party cookie to go through since it is required to process the payment. In this case, turn off the blocker. You may turn it back on after the process is done.
If you are still not quite sure what setting is best, keep it turned off so no website breaks.
Go back and choose ‘Site permissions’ > ‘All permissions’.
You will see the following settings. You can specify which websites you trust/distrust by adding them on allow/not allowed list.
Location: Block
Camera: Block
**If you work remotely, and need to access your virtual conference through the web browser, keep this setting on.
Microphone
**If you work remotely, and need to access your virtual conference through the web browser, keep this setting on.
Motion or Light Sensors: Block
Notifications
Ask before sending: Block
Quiet notification requests: Block
JavaScript: On
Most websites require Javascript to operate. Putting this off can break most websites unless you put it back on.
Images: On
Pop-ups and Redirects: Block
Intrusive Ads: Block
Background Sync: Block
Automatic Downloads: On
Leaving this setting on means that you get notified if a website is automatically downloading files in your system. This can give you a good idea on which files may contain malware.
MIDI Device Control & Reprogram: Block
MIDI refers to Musical Instrument Digital Information. Often used by musicians to sync their instruments (like piano) to a musical software. Leave this on if you use these software. Otherwise, block it.
USB Devices: Block
Most websites do not need to access your USB devices (like mouse, camera, etc.)
Serial ports: Block
Serial ports refer to connectors on the back of the PC (such as HDMI). Most websites do not need to have access to them, so block access to this feature.
File Editing: Block
PDF Documents
Automatic Picture in Picture: Block
Protected Content IDs
Clipboard: Block
This keeps Microsoft Edge from accessing what is on your clipboard (which is the information you copy with Ctrl+C; it stays in the clipboard until a new information is copied or the computer is rebooted). Some sensitive information can be on your clipboard, so you do not want Edge being able to access it when not needed.
Payment Handlers: Block
Websites can check if you have payment handlers like Microsoft Wallet. They do so to make purchasing online easier (information is gathered from the handler instead of having to be manually entered); however, malicious actors can see your payment info if this setting is not blocked.
Media Autoplay: Block
Insecure Content
Customizes which websites you can allow or block. If you believe that a specific website is suspicious, you can add them under ‘Not allowed to show insecure content’.
Virtual Reality: Block
If you do not use virtual reality devices, block this setting. Else, you can leave it turned on.
Augmented Reality: Block
Leaving this on also means that you are allowing a website to use your camera to map your surroundings and track camera position. Unless you are using augmented reality for a specific purpose, keep this blocked.
Your Device Use: Block
If any of your devices (like a phone) are synced to your Edge, leaving this on means that data on the synced device can be accessed. So it is better to block this setting.
Windows Management: Block
This setting should be turned on for business/enterprise settings as it makes browser settings easier for the administrators. However, for home computers, this is not needed and can only be used by malicious actors to give themselves an advantage, based on your browser settings.
Fonts: On
Fonts are often used by websites for aesthetic purposes. If you prefer websites to have the same font, you can block this feature; however, you can leave this on without compromising your security.
Go back and choose ‘Search and connected experiences’.
Explanation (expand for more)
- Web service to resolve navigation errors
- Suggest similar sites when a website can’t be found
- Same reasons as web service to resolve navigation errors. But if you don’t want Microsoft to know what websites you are trying to connect to, turn it off.
- Save time and money with Shopping in Microsoft Edge
- For this feature to work, Microsoft will dig through your history. For privacy reasons, leave this feature turned off.
- Organize your tabs
- No harm in leaving this on. It provides better user experience.
- Save screenshots of sites for history
- No need for this to be turned on since you can access your browser history with Ctrl+Shift+Del
Address bar and search:
Choose the search bar that you would like to use. DuckDuckGo is recommended for best privacy, but it may not have the best search results. If you prefer better results, use Google or Bing.
Go back and choose ‘Default browser’
If you often use Microsoft Edge, you can click on the ‘Make Default’ button so that applications requiring a browser (ex. Adobe PDF) will open with Edge.
Go back and choose ‘Languages’
For this, you can customize the settings to your liking. However, be sure that ‘Share additional operating system region’ is set to ‘Limited (default)’.
The way this works is that the website will check your operating system (OS) and match it to your region’s language (if they can). The limited option means that the OS is only shared if there is language discrepancy.
Go back and choose ‘Downloads’
Explanation (click here to expand for details)
- Location
- this is where you can find your downloaded files. You can change to where you prefer your files should go
- Ask where to save each file before downloading: On
- The reason for leaving this on is so that you get a notification when files are downloaded to your system. In addition, you can choose where your downloaded files go (especially if you want them in a specific folder other than the default)
- Open Office files in the browser: On
- This means you don’t have to download Microsoft files (some of which can have macro executed for malware) to preview them
- Show downloads menu when a download starts
- Lets you know if a file is downloading. Always good to have indicators, especially if you did not start the download.
Go back and choose ‘Accessibility’
The ‘Show downloads menu when a download starts’ gives you a heads up when a file is being downloaded on your system. If you did not start the download, there is a good chance that it is malware.
For the F12 key, this needs to be turned off unless you are a developer that needs to test your code in Edge.
Go back and choose ‘System and Performance’ > ‘System’
Use the following configuration, then choose ‘Open proxy settings’.
Use the following configuration as this is the default. If your settings look different and you were not the one who implemented them, it could be a sign of malicious activity. Simply set the settings back to the default below to remove the modifications.
Go back and choose ‘Extensions’ > ‘Get extensions for Microsoft Edge
Extensions can provide additional functionality to the browser. In our case, we want to implement adblockers and privacy extensions (some ads come with autodownloads for malware, so blocking ads is good for security and user experience).
Type in ‘adblock’ and get ‘AdBlock’. You will get a pop-up (image below) and click ‘Add extension’.
Go back to the extensions tab to add more extensions.
Add ‘UBlock and ‘Privacy Badger’ extensions as well.
Verify your extensions are active by clicking the puzzle piece. If you don’t see it, you can also click back to ‘Extensions’ tab.
Go back and click ‘About Microsoft Edge’
If you are using cell data or limited Internet data plan, turn on ‘Download Updates over metered connections’. Else, leave it off.
