Tech giant, Microsoft, is making efforts to add a free built-in VPN service to its Edge browser. It is planning to do so for improving the security and privacy of its users, revealed the Microsoft support page.
Microsoft is enlisting Cloudflare’s technology to protect its cloud services, dubbed “Edge Secure Network,” which will be available to the public as part of a security upgrade.
Edge Secure Network encrypts web traffic when it’s activated, preventing internet service providers from monitoring your surfing habits. For example, your ISP may not be interested in what you’re searching for on Google related to health issues or simply strange topics.
Users will also be able to conceal their location by allowing them to use a virtual IP address while surfing the web. That also implies that consumers could watch material restricted in their countries, such as Netflix or Hulu original series.
Under this free service, users can only use data of up to 1GB limit per month. Also, it will be required for users to sign up for a Microsoft account to help the tech company track their usage limit.
According to Microsoft, while Cloudflare will obtain assistance and diagnostic data from the service, the firm will permanently discard that data every 25 hours.
While the functionality is still in development and not yet accessible for early testing, Microsoft provided information on how to participate in a preview.
This might imply a public release soon, with one of the Microsoft Edge Insider channels as a test, which you can get and join here.
Once you’ve done so, go to Settings and more in Edge and select Secure Network. At that time, they’ll be prompted to sign in or establish a Microsoft Account.
When you’ve completed the two preceding steps, a solid shield icon will appear in the browser frame, signifying that Microsoft’s Edge Secure Network is now active. After the user closes the browser, it will turn off.
Microsoft is one of the numerous browsers that provide VPN services. Opera offers a free VPN as well, but other popular browsers such as Mozilla only provide a paid VPN service, while Google Chrome and Edge do improve Edge’s value proposition.