Microsoft Edge is the built-in default browser in Windows 10. The browser may be new, but it is in fact, it’s better than Internet Explorer regarding rendering web pages correctly. When we look at the options Edge comes with; clearly, it pales in comparison when compared to some other browsers. There’s simply not enough features at the forefront, and that’s one of the reasons the browser is struggling to compete with the big boys.
Microsoft Edge about:flags Settings page
OK, so Microsoft Edge has an about:flags page that is similar to the hidden configuration pages in other browsers like Chrome or Firefox. However, folks shouldn’t go in expecting a host of options either, which is another problem Edge has to contend with.
To access these Developer settings page in Edge browser, you have to type about:flags in the address bar and hit Enter. Here you will see several settings. Note that these are experimental features so you should be careful before you enable or disable any feature here.
We highly recommend enabling TCP Fast Open for faster loading of websites. It seems to work for us, and will likely work just as well for you guys. If you change some settings and don’t like the results, you can always hit the Reset all flags to default button.
Interestingly enough, the about:flags page is not directly linked in Edge, therefore, users must first know about it before they can use it. From what we can tell, most Microsoft Edge users have no idea it exists, but hopefully, after this article, things will change.
The software giant is changing how it displays options
Looking at the about:flags area, we can see all the options available at once. However, Microsoft is moving to make some changes here that could allow for easier understanding and navigation.
You see, the company wants to hide some of the features by default. Anyone who runs the latest Windows Insider Build will see for themselves that some options are hidden. The company will likely keep things in this manner for the Fall Creators Update.
To see the hidden features, folks are required to the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-Shift-D to reveal all of them.
These are the options no longer shows by default via the about:flags page
Text input and editing flags
- Enable input through new insert commands
- Enable new InsertParagraph command
- Enable TFS3 implementation
- Enable WinRT Clipboard APIs
JavaScript
- Disable requestAnimationFrame callbacks for cross-origin iframes when not visible
- Force setTimeout and setInterval to 1 second periods for cross-origin iframes when not visible
- Allow background tabs to be put into low power mode
- Force setTimeout and setInterval to 30 seconds on background tabs instead of 1 second
- Force setTimeout and setInterval to 30 seconds on non-visible cross-origin iframes instead of 1 second
- Force frame rate to 30 fps instead of 60 fps
- Disable high frequency script timers, forcing script timers to a max frequency of 16ms
- Force setTimeout and setInterval to 1 second periods when the page is loading
- Allow the render pipeline to be throttled to improve battery life
Screen Capture
- Enable Screen Capture
Networking
- Enable TCP Fast Open
- Element Properties
- Relay hover and active state to labels associated with an element
The hidden menus in about:flags shouldn’t be an issue for advanced users, so we expect everything to flow as before. Visit the Edge developers page here and search for the setting if you need information about it. And if you ever feel the need to, then this post will show you how to disable about:flags page in Edge.
TIP:
- This post lists some useful Chrome flags settings
- This post will explain some of the useful Firefox about:config tweaks.