Microsoft is preparing for the near Y2K level release of Version 100 of its resident internet browser, Edge. Part of this release is preparing the global infrastructure with critical components contained in the newly released Edge 99 update. This is the final major update of Microsoft Edge before the introduction of the pivotal and controversial Edge Version 100. Following in Google’s chromium-based footsteps, Edge 99 comes with a slew of backend and frontend improvements and advancements.
Key among the high-anticipated new features is that users with multiple Microsoft Edge profiles can now create a custom website list for each separate profile. This means that when you launch a website mentioned in one of your custom lists, Edge will automatically open the page up within your preferred profile. PDF documents are now easier to navigate too. Instead of the complex controls in previous versions, Edge 99 lets you use new page thumbnails on the left-hand side of the screen to jump between pages.
Microsoft is actively preparing for Version 100 in this release, though. The company noted that: ‘Starting with version 100, Microsoft Edge will send a three-digit version number in the User-Agent header, for example “Edg/100”. Starting with Microsoft Edge 97, site owners can test this upcoming agent string by enabling the #force-major-version-to-100 experiment flag in edge://flags to ensure their User-Agent parsing logic is robust and works as expected.’
This comes after numerous concerns about Version 100 of Chrome, Edge, and even Mozilla’s Firefox breaking websites, resulting in a Y2K level panic amongst internet users. But as noted by Microsoft, Edge 99 gives developers and hosts time to prepare for the rollout of Version 100 by testing their websites beforehand in Edge 99.
Edge 99 comes with a slew of other policy and security-related changes as well. The most up-to-date stable version of Edge 99 is 99.0.1150.30. Update to the latest version of Edge by clicking the kebab menu at the top right-hand side of Microsoft Edge. Navigate to Help and Feedback, and then click About Microsoft Edge to trigger the update. Check out our other Microsoft-related articles to see what’s new with the world’s favorite OS, and why not read about Google’s preparation for Chrome 100 while you’re there.
