Microsoft is introducing new colorful themes for its Edge browser this week, alongside updated icons and a new sleeping tabs feature that improves the browser and overall PC performance. To celebrate a year of the Chromium-powered Microsoft Edge, the browser is getting new themes available from the Edge add-on site.
Themes range from simple colors all the way to Halo, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Forza Horizon themes. These new themes will include colors on new tab pages, tabs, the address bar, and other parts of the Edge browser.
Microsoft is also updating the icons used throughout Edge to better match the company’s Fluent Design system. “In our latest release you’ll notice subtle updates to icons in Microsoft Edge that are rounder and softer in appearance,” explains Liat Ben-Zur, a Microsoft executive working on the company’s “Modern Life” initiative. “This is just the beginning of our design journey and we’re already imagining how to bring Fluent design throughout our products. We can’t wait to share more of our vision in the near future.”
The general look and feel of Edge might be changing, but Microsoft is also adding in some useful features, too. A new sleeping tabs feature is rolling out now, and it aims to improve the browser’s performance. Edge will now automatically release system resources for inactive tabs when you have a number of tabs open, which will help new tabs run better or stop the browser from hogging memory and CPU resources in the background.
Microsoft is also taking steps to roll out its new password manager features. Edge will start automatically suggesting a secure and complex password when you sign up on a new website or attempt to change an existing password. Edge will also be getting a new password monitor feature that will alert you if your password has leaked online.
If that wasn’t enough, Edge history and tab sync is finally rolling out to everyone this week. These features started rolling out to a number of countries earlier this month, allowing Edge users to finally sync their full web history and active tabs across multiple devices including iOS and Android.