The Redmond giant moved heaven and earth to improve the position of its Edge browser in the market, but the people have spoken, and Chrome remains at the top with an average of 60 percent. Microsoft insists that Edge is safer than Chrome, however, if users are not willing to make that change, plan B is none other than bringing part of Edge's security to Google's browser, through the Windows Defender Browser Protection extension.
Built-in browser security
There isn't much to say about the security mechanisms built into browsers. If you visit a site suspected of carrying malicious elements, you'll get a warning in the form of a message with a red background, which strongly suggests you get out of there as fast as possible. Although false positives are the order of the day, the classic strategy of 'when in doubt, don't' is usually effective. The question is whether these mechanisms need external help. According to Microsoft, the answer is yes... at least when it comes to Google Chrome, and its solution is a new extension called Windows Defender Browser Protection.
Why Microsoft helps Chrome
Yes, I know it sounds strange. Microsoft writing extensions for Google applications? Aren't both companies trapped in a global thermonuclear war? Cooperation between these titans is usually conspicuous by its absence, but the extension is official, and Mountain View decided not to bomb it (for now). So why? Basically, Redmond says Microsoft Edge can stop 99 percent of phishing attacks, versus 87 percent for Chrome and 70 percent for Firefox, numbers published by NSS Labs (closely related to Microsoft) in 2017.
Obviously, Windows Defender Browser Protection has a certain advertising profile... but we can't deny that the decision to create an extension makes sense. Many Chrome installations are on Windows 7, an operating system that cannot receive Edge because Microsoft decided so. Therefore, by optimizing the security of the most used browser on desktops and laptops, it also improves the security of Windows in all supported versions. The rest depends on the users.
