Why won’t McAfee protect Microsoft Edge?

Having updated to Windows 10, when I launch Microsoft Edge, my McAfee security software displays the message: “Edge does not yet allow browser extensions, which enable McAfee to protect your personal information and identity. We recommend using Internet Explorer so McAfee can continue protecting you. To help you we’ll unpin Edge from your task bar and pin Internet Explorer”. Th e buttons are ‘Fix now’ and ‘Accept the risk’. Can you explain what is going on?

This is McAfee warning you that it can’t see everything Edge is up to, because Edge does not yet support extensions – and McAfee uses these to connect with the browser. Without this protection, you might in theory be more exposed to malicious websites and phishing attempts.

If you click ‘Fix now’, McAfee will delete the Edge icon from your Windows 10 Task bar to dissuade you from using it, but Edge itself will remain installed on your PC. If you click ‘Accept the risk’, Edge will remain on the Task bar. Either way, you’ ll still be able to use Edge, but without McAfee’s protections.

Microsoft has said it’ll add support for extensions to Edge at some point in 2016. However, a built-in feature called SmartScreen does much the same as what McAfee would do, so if you want to continue using Edge, just check that it’s enabled. Click the menu icon (three dots, top right), then click Settings followed by ‘View advanced settings’, scroll to the bottom, then flip the SmartScreen Filter switch to On.

Source from Computer Active Magazine

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