Microsoft Edge 102 is now available for everyone and comes with some much-needed performance relief. A new disk caching feature has been added to the Microsoft Edge browser that improves its performance and minimizes the storage footprint.
In Edge 102, Microsoft is using a new variant of disk cache that reduces the amount of storage the browser requires. Edge compresses disk caches on devices, but this won’t happen for everyone. Microsoft says the compression works only on those devices that meet the eligibility.
The hardware check ensures that the feature is beneficial for everyone. Microsoft officials explained heavy resource usage by Edge also reduces the performance of the entire system, and the company wants to deliver the “best performing browser possible on Windows.”
Disk caching is a pretty neat idea. For those unaware, Edge and other browsers typically use the disk cache to restore resources from the websites you browse. For example, when you visit the same website frequently, browsers cache the content and then fetch the resources from the cache memory on the next visit.
This enables faster access to the same content at a later time as there is no need for Edge to download the content from the website again. Loading resources from the cached memory is often faster than downloading the same resource from the network.
This new disk caching feature is currently exclusive to Edge for Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 7/8.1. Users on Linux or Mac will only benefit from the existing standard caching feature.
You can try out the feature if you’ve already installed Microsoft Edge 102. As per Microsoft
Improvements coming to Microsoft Edge 102
The next version of Microsoft Edge is expected to ship with some minor feature tweaks and the usual improvements. One of the new features is support for basic security enhancements are now enabled by default.
The primary security enhancements feature for those unaware adds security protection to less visited sites. When the functionality is turned on, Microsoft Edge disables the Just-in-time compiler (JIT) on unpopular or unknown sites, thus making Windows 11’s default browser more secure.
According to Microsoft, disabling the Just-in-time compiler (JIT) reduces the chances of security breaches.
This feature is already available in Edge, but it’s turned off by default. Edge Basic security mode will be enabled by default in the next update.
In addition to these quality improvements, Microsoft Edge’s sidebar will get new tools, and better performance as the company continues to work on new multitasking features.