Let me start by explaining my requirements and the history of what I see I need from a primary tool like a browser.
It needs to be quick, relatively lightweight, not spy on me (too much) and, in the past 2-3 years, have vertical tabs (because I think this is a killer feature).
So, for years I have been with Edge since it’s a de-Googled Chromium browser. Yes, Microsoft is doing some tracking but I am (most) using Windows therefore I am being tracked to an extent anyway. With the addition of uBlock Origin & Cookie AutoDelete, I felt I had my privacy under control.
It was all good until recently.
It seems Edge has become a resource hog. Too many times, plugins have crashed and web pages have not displayed (Google Maps being one of the main culprits). The worst annoyance, however, since I virtualise at home with HyperV 2019, is Windows Admin Center. It simply would not work in any mode, Incognito, uBlock disabled, nothing. Wait, wait, wait.
Windows Admin Center sucked big-style. Slow. Dysfunctional. Useless. Basically, I could do nothing in WAC and that was after waiting a stupid amount of time. And latency is not an issue, everything is at localhost….!!!
“Let’s try it on Arc.” It worked. Quickly. It was time to switch browsers.
As I’ve been using Arc on macOS for some time, I knew about it and I liked it. It puts the webpage first and keeps the Chrome out of the way as much as possible. You can liken it to the handheld devices people use with the bezels becoming smaller and smaller.
And so I moved my tabs into folders and spaces in Arc. The sync from Windows to Mac is seamless and quick; the concept of having more persistent tabs in folders and transient ones eroding and expiring is good. It supports my privacy plugins, uBlock Origin and Cookie AutoDelete.
And Windows Admin Center works (with a slight glitch – you need to open the address bar and press enter to drive the prompt for the local certificate needed to authenticate. It’s fast. Windows Admin Center in Edge is broken, using Arc it is fixed.
Goodbye, Microsoft Edge – and Hello, Arc!
