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Nate Ralph/CNET
The Edge browser in Windows 10 is making more progress, based on screenshots allegedly from the latest leaked test version.
A series of screenshots snapped by Chinese website ITHome show several new features in Windows 10, most notably a few options available for Microsoft’s Edge browser. The “build” number listed by ITHome is 10123, which is a few versions beyond the 10074 build currently available publicly to users of the Windows 10 Technical Preview .
Microsoft has promised that Windows 10 will officially debut this summer. An inadvertant comment made last month by Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su suggested that Windows 10 will debut late July. If true, that doesn’t give Microsoft a lot of time to finalize the operating system. The latest screenshots show that the company continues to tweak Windows 10 with the goal of getting it just right. Microsoft dropped the ball with Windows 8, which failed to catch on with the public. So the company can’t afford another mistake with Windows 10, which is why it probably will continue to fine-tune it until the very end.
The Edge browser is Microsoft’s attempt to get rid of the legacy baggage of Internet Explorer. Though IE will still be included in Windows 10, Edge will be the default browser, striving to be faster, simpler and sleeker, in other words, more like rival browsers, such as Google’s Chrome. As such, the latest leaked build shows off a few new options in Edge.
First off, Edge looks like it will be able to save your website passwords and forms. That’s a plus since the browser won’t support extensions, which are typically used by third-party password managers such as LastPass and RoboForm. However, third party developers that hook into the browser will likely find an alternative way of working without having to rely on extensions. Second, it should allow for InPrivate Browsing, a security feature that stops your cookies, browsing history, website cache and login information from being stored in the browser.
Edge users will also find more choices over what page they see when they launch the browser. For example, you could see a list of your top sites so that you can easily select the one you wish to open.
Beyond changes to Edge, the leaked shots reveal other new features. Windows 10 will revive the Backup and Restore feature from Windows 7, which lets you back up key documents and other files to external media. Windows 8.1 already offers an option to automatically save copies of files stored in specific locations. But the Backup and Restore feature offers another method of saving specific files.
Finally, you should be able to customize the accent color on the live tiles in Windows 10, just as you can on Windows Phone.
Microsoft had been releasing official public builds of Windows 10 periodically. The aim is to encourage people to join the Windows Insider program to download and test each new version and then report their comments, criticism and suggestions directly to Microsoft. So the changes leaked in this latest unofficial build could pop up in the next official build so that all Windows 10 users can give them a spin.
(Via Neowin)
