How to Change Microsoft Edge Privacy Settings

Microsoft has developed its browser as Google has Chrome and it allows users to take full control over the data you share and to whom you share. Edge has approx. similar options as it is on Chrome when it comes to the sharing options, but Edge offers more control to secure the private data than in Chrome. Edge is a chromium-based browser, which displays how and from where your data is being tracked online and which data is collected by that browser. It comes with the anti-malware tool under the name Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. It keeps eyes on those sites you visited and which of them are behaving abnormally.

Edge has collaborated with Firefox and Brave to improve the protection against the trackers that collects your data and use it for their profit or harm you. The privacy protection tools of Chrome are too basic and limited. Edge is doing a lot of work to secure the privacy of users, following that Google has announced that it is going to make the landslide move in the privacy protection field. Till then, Edge is doing just fine.

Activating the Tracking Prevention

As Firefox and Brave, Edge allows you to manipulate the Privacy Setting and deactivate the unwanted trackers, which were collecting your browsing data and other online activities. If you wish to manage the privacy setting of Edge, you should follow these steps:

Click on the Three-Dotted symbol, which is on the top right corner of the screen.
Click on Settings in the displayed menu.
Click on Privacy and Services on the left pane. Here, you get three options to create privacy and tracking prevention. From these three tabs, you can have the balance so that your browsing capabilities don’t compromise, and you can avoid the harmful trackers.

Basic: By this option, you can only eliminate the very harmful trackers, but it leaves many trackers as it is. If you choose this option, then you will have no problem when it comes to using online content from mild harmful sites.

Balanced: By this option, you will be able to restrict the trackers from those sites which you didn’t use alongside the primary harmful trackers.

Strict: By this option, you will be able to block approximately every site’s trackers. When you select this option, some sites stop running on the browser due to the fact they get the revenue from that.

So, if you are a regular user, then the Balanced option is much more significant for you, but if you are working on any sensitive data and on some project that you don’t wish to reveal, then you should use the Strict options from the list on the right pane. If you are going for the first time at this setting, then you will observe that Edge is on the Balanced as the default.

Clearing Browsing Data on Edge

You can clean the browsing data manually, or you can have a periodic clean up of browsing history. You have to follow these steps if you wish to clean the history manually:

Click on the Three-Dotted symbol, which is on the top right corner of the screen.
Click on Settings in the displayed menu.
Click on Privacy and Services on the left pane.
Scroll down and Tap on Clear Browsing Data.
Click on the button Choose What to Clear. Then you will have the option which data you want to erase from the list containing browsing & download data, Cached and Cookies file. Now you only have to click on the option which you wish to delete, then click on Clear data.