Poor Microsoft Edge! As if it didn’t already have enough strikes against it, here’s one more: Google’s safe browsing protections aren’t compatible with Microsoft Edge.

What’s the big deal?

Users of Edge, Microsoft’s replacement for Internet Explorer, have recently seen security warnings when using Gmail, Google Docs, and YouTube, among other services. Microsoft is unhappy about the warnings, implying that they are a scare tactic to convert users to Google Chrome.

Ironically, this issue follows Microsoft’s switch to the Chromium platform in an attempt to become a more user-friendly browser. Previously, few websites checked compatibility for users with Edge, resulting in inhibited performance for the browser.

With the change to Chromium, Edge has seen improved compatibility. However, Google-related sites are using user-agent requests (requests that discern the user’s browser) to send the incompatibility messages to Edge users. Though this might appear unfair, the reality is that Edge doesn’t integrate with Google’s safe browsing protections for extensions, preventing them from giving users the same protections as Chrome users.

How can Edge users protect themselves?

What does this mean for Edge users? Feel free to ignore the alerts from Google if you aren’t using extensions. However, if you are using extensions in Edge, exercise caution so that your data isn’t compromised.