Edge is behaving, even on Windows Central. Here's why

[Jazmac]

Following a fellow member of Windows Central, (6029KingStephen) and he mentioned something I could do with the hosts file and I decided to look into it tonight. I updated my hosts file and low and behold, Edge is actually usable. I mean really usable. Even on Windows Central, the message board controls all behave normally. And its still speedy as you want. Low memory usage See below. I keep expecting it to hiccup, kick me out or do this annoying refresh while I'm in the middle of my thoughts but it didn't happen.

I still have wobbly knees but yeah, its all good.

You might try it yourself. I can post the host file and drop some instructions I used, or you can simply hit the link and build it yourself. Its just wonderful to use this new browser without all the noise. It could replace my old friend Firefox. I encourage you to try it. It could change your mind about Edge.

 

[MDMcAtee]

What exactly are you doing?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Neil Gascoyne]

Second that, more or less given up on it for now, splattered with so many ads, no control of them. Just reading a site like this it's running at around 20% CPU on my SP3 and burning the battery.

 

[Sekyal]

You know there is reading mode, so you don't have to see the ads then. I just checked my edge and don't notice any spike in CPU so it must be isolated cases for this to occur.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Yeah I'd like to know more about this myself

 

[Jazmac]

What exactly are you doing?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

What I did was update my Windows hosts file and effectively blocked these noise ridden adverts from showing up on my computer via my Edge client. But the best part is, it works for any installed browser including Firefox and IE 11. (these are what I have installed) Its permanent and makes life on the net peaceful. And peace from ads is a must.
@Sekyal
Reading mode is just that, reading mode. it quiets the noise and great for research type reading. But its not designed for general surfing.

This method truly makes Edge worth it. And like I was saying, if you've never experienced Edge as it was intended, you should try this. I'll post up my host file and some instructions in a bit.

 

[Jazmac]

1. Right click on Start then click Command Prompt (admin) Click Yes to the UAC prompt.
2. This should drop you at C:\Windows\system32 but if not no biggy. Your aim is to get to the folder where your hosts file lives. So type: cd\ this will put you at the root of C:\. Then type: cd Windows\System32\drivers\etc then hit <return>.
Type dir <return> You should see your "hosts" file listed.

For the unwashed geeks, I found a great link to show you how to get to your hosts file.(Link Removed)

Before you begin: MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR EXISTING HOSTS FILE BEFORE GETTING STARTED!!

Assuming you have already made it to the hosts file location as shown above,
Type in: Copy hosts c:\temp.
It doesn't matter if c:\temp doesn't exist already, the copy command will create the folder.


Roll your own method:
Go to this link and copy paste the contents in your existing hosts file.
From the link, copy everything from
#<localhost>
to this line:
127.0.0.1 youcanoptout.org
The rest of that stuff is superfluous and unnecessary in your hosts file IMHO.
Scroll down just below the last line in your existing hosts file and paste what you copied into your hosts file, save and exit the command prompt.

Launch Microsoft Edge and enjoy.

 

[MartinCal]

I have found the best HOSTS file for ad-blocking is currently from: winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

After downloading their HOSTS file, placing it into Windows\System32\drivers\etc, and rebooting, Edge is blazing fast now! Noticeably faster than a similar Chrome or Firefox configured with ad-blocking plugins.

If you want to use Edge, but are put off because support for extensions are not available yet, and thus no ad-blocking extensions can be used, this method is a great temporary solution.

 

[txkimmers]

I have found the best HOSTS file for ad-blocking is currently from: winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

After downloading their HOSTS file, placing it into Windows\System32\drivers\etc, and rebooting, Edge is blazing fast now! Noticeably faster than a similar Chrome or Firefox configured with ad-blocking plugins.

If you want to use Edge, but are put off because support for extensions are not available yet, and thus no ad-blocking extensions can be used, this method is a great temporary solution.

This is the one I used also, and it's great. And THANK YOU, Jazmac for again bringing the good and useful!

 

[Bobvfr]

Well done, I just copied the "Roll out" method and all of those lovely adverts have disappeared, I wont know what I want to spend my pennies on now.

 

[elindalyne]

That's neat and all, but its not really acceptable for the general consumer to have to do this.

 

[Bobvfr]

Someone has to read the adverts otherwise we would be in deep dudu.

 

[realwarder]

Someone has to read the adverts otherwise we would be in deep dudu.

Sites like WPC include far too many ads. A complete overkill. When ads slow down browsing significantly is when a site has taken things too far and have to expect users to block them.

WPC is a perfect test case for Edge developers though as it performs terribly due to all the ads.

 

[Jazmac]

That's neat and all, but its not really acceptable for the general consumer to have to do this.

On one hand I understand your point because we are all used to add ons like Adblock plugin to do the heavy lifting but on the other, not so much. And here is the reality check. This is the desktop. Nothing much has changed about it in all the years I've worked with them which I'm sure has been longer than you. You will have to tailor how it functions from time to time.It is flexible in that regard. It is the nature of high end operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, OSX, Linux etc.There is no such thing as an operating system that does everything exactly as you want out of the box. If you need assistance with your hosts files, just ask. I put instructions in the thread but it still may be just above your reach. No problem. We can still help if you only ask.

 

[DavidinCT]

I have found the best HOSTS file for ad-blocking is currently from: winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

After downloading their HOSTS file, placing it into Windows\System32\drivers\etc, and rebooting, Edge is blazing fast now! Noticeably faster than a similar Chrome or Firefox configured with ad-blocking plugins.

If you want to use Edge, but are put off because support for extensions are not available yet, and thus no ad-blocking extensions can be used, this method is a great temporary solution.

I tried this, OMG this site is actually usable, no more Edge crashing, or lagging, it's smooth as silk. Inpressive. I need to test some sites but, over all, very nice.

WindowsCentral, if you didn't over burden this site with so many ads that it almost kills most browsers, no one would have to do this. It's about greed and now your not getting anything from some users because of this.

 

[Reflexx]

I tried this, OMG this site is actually usable, no more Edge crashing, or lagging, it's smooth as silk. Inpressive. I need to test some sites but, over all, very nice.

WindowsCentral, if you didn't over burden this site with so many ads that it almost kills most browsers, no one would have to do this. It's about greed and now your not getting anything from some users because of this.

How are you defining "greed"?

It's not exactly easy to make enough money to keep a paid staff, pay for events, etc...

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I can get to the file location but I'm not sure what to do after that point and I know better than to mess around in Command Prompt unless I know exactly what I'm doing. I only recently got really interested in computers and coding as I find it insanely interesting and my curiosity is what drove me to come back and asking for aid (I got to the file location once, then decided not to do it because of my lack of knowledge). I'd appreciate some help.

 

[txkimmers]

I can get to the file location but I'm not sure what to do after that point and I know better than to mess around in Command Prompt unless I know exactly what I'm doing. I only recently got really interested in computers and coding as I find it insanely interesting and my curiosity is what drove me to come back and asking for aid (I got to the file location once, then decided not to do it because of my lack of knowledge). I'd appreciate some help.

Read this for a good overview of what is happening: How to Block Websites in Windows 8?s Hosts File
also: http://lifehacker.com/5817447/how-t...and-speed-up-web-browsing-with-the-hosts-file

Note there is a warning in that first article that Windows Defender may interpret changes to your hosts file as possible malware, here is how to deal with that:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2764944

Although for what it's worth, I have edited my hosts file many times without adding it as an exclusion in WD, and Windows Defender never seemed to notice or change anything. Lastly, please do remember to just re-name your existing hosts file something like hostsOLD and leave it in there in case you decide you want to revert to it later.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Those websites were very informative, thank you. So, to add websites to my hosts file, I just open the hosts files through Notepad as Administrator and copy website url's directly into the file beginning with the numbers 127.0.0.1? I want perfect clarity on this haha.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Also, how do I change my hosts file to a different hosts file? Do I simply store all my different hosts files (let's say I have the default one and the hosts file that blocks ads) in a different location and simply copy it into the drivers/etc folder, deleting the other one?