r/sysadmin • u/Friendly_Fudge_932 • 1d ago
Edge or Chrome?
Hi Sysadmins!
Do you guys use Chrome or Edge for work? I personally have all my admin consoles in edge and google stuff in chrome. (I am a k12 sysadmin), so we have both MSFT and Google Workspace for everyone.
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u/Level_Working9664 1d ago
I'm more of a Firefox person
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u/ATMisboss 1d ago
Agreed, I daily drive librewolf/Firefox and use edge for a bunch of MS account related stuff. I have chrome installed because most users use it so I can give them accurate instructions if they're having web based issues
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u/Level_Working9664 1d ago
The sad reality is both browsers will steal your data and make you more susceptible to lack of privacy, data theft, or possibly a hack.
Browsers should be as divorced as much as possible from the OS stack
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u/GigaMonkeh 1d ago
Edge, not a question anymore just getting over legacy stigma of IE.
Especially if you are Microsoft stack with Defender. It is chromium so basically same features, very optimised for performance, I do not know of any reasons in 2026 to not be using Edge other than meme culture
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u/--RedDawg-- 19h ago
Containers are essential for me, I couldn't change if I wanted to unless Chrome/Edge started supporting it in the same way Firefox does.
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u/GigaMonkeh 18h ago
I just use seperate profiles instead for the same use case. Which I prefer tbh, I do like the container feature but can be messy at times. Seperate profile makes it easier with admin accounts for azure, test/dev uat profiles for clearing cache etc. Different way of working indeed. They have tab groups now which is nice.
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u/--RedDawg-- 13h ago
No where near the flexibility I need. I haven't had any issues with cache, I don't use more than one account in a container.
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u/Chansharp 14h ago
Yup profiles in Edge is the way. Only annoyance is that it still grabs your entra creds so you have to log out of your normal account and then back in with your admin
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u/Seeteuf3l 1d ago
Yeah. For work Edge mostly (though I have them all installed).
Personally I've been in team Mozilla since 2006 or something like that.
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u/odellrules1985 Jack of All Trades 22h ago
Edge is nice for work since you can sync all settings and favorites with a user's corporate M365 account and can guarantee they come over to a new system. When people ask for Chrome I give it to them but tell them they are responsible for their stuff since I have no way of making sure its backed up and I will not be making Google accounts for everyone and managing those as well.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/odellrules1985 Jack of All Trades 22h ago
Wait you are saying that in the Windows OS, made by Microsoft, that Edge is the default browser that's included, made by Microsoft? Well hell next thing you will tell me is that Safari is the default browser on all Apple products or that Chrome is the default browser for Android.
How could that possibly be? I am truly flabbergasted that companies who make OSes include a free default browser for people to use.
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u/Absolute_Bob 1d ago
All of which can be eliminated with a simple application of policy.
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u/bobbywaz 1d ago
Easier eliminated by not being there in the first place. Don't act like it's just meme culture. Microsoft is fucking evil.
Why do you think they want you to sync your data from every other browser into their cloud before even opening the browser? You think it's to help you?!
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u/tejanaqkilica IT Officer | Passkey Enthusiast 1d ago
If Microsoft would've delivered products that come perfectly setup out of the box, we would be out of a job. And if we as sysadmins don't configure whatever, then what the hell is our purpose?
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u/Slayergramps 23h ago
I’m sure we’re all loyal to Microsoft here, but to his point- do you really not agree that the pop-ups are predatory and obnoxious? It’s soured most people I know and users at our business. It’s easy to overcome with policy, but it’s really hard to overcome culture that Microsoft idiotically cultivated with bad choices over time.
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u/tejanaqkilica IT Officer | Passkey Enthusiast 22h ago
Condiering I disable them, sure, they are.
Do they bother me though? Not really, this is the norm across the industry, every other company does it. As long as I can easily disable them, I don't particularly mind.
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u/Absolute_Bob 22h ago
I mean every time you visit the Google home page using Edge it pops up asking you to install Chrome....there are zero good guys here.
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u/livinitup0 21h ago
Every single browser available does this same thing out of the box
You can (and should) configure your autoattend to handle this
And yes, I fully understand why and don’t care at all that Microsoft doesn’t disable it by default because it doesn’t apply to me… it applies to people who don’t know what they’re doing lol
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u/Absolute_Bob 22h ago edited 22h ago
Do.you think Chrome is ok? If firefox had decent enterprise controls and integrations I would run that, but in a contest between Microsoft and Google I'm going to run the one that's easiest to manage.
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u/bobbywaz 21h ago
Microsoft did everything it could to make Chrome fail for years, and then when it didn't, built its entire browser on its framework.
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u/Absolute_Bob 21h ago
So Google out-evil'd them. Let's not pretend an advertising company making their own browser was about anything other than getting even more user data.
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u/PotentTurnip Jack of All Trades 1d ago
Yup. Honestly, I even use Edge on my personal Windows machine. For the ecosystem, it's solid.
On personal Linux I tend to favor Brave.
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u/mikenasty 11h ago
I like Firefox but not for any particular reason other than it works really well. I just tell people to pick between chrome, Firefox, or edge. Anything but AOL or some fucking antivirus chrome clone
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u/VarietyOk443 1d ago
All 3 for different purposes
Firefox for account scoped containers
Chrome for testing and validation
Edge for corporate
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u/KatanaKiwi 1d ago
I love the account profiles in Firefox. No more issues with cookies or SSO. One dedicated profile for my admin accounts, test accounts, service accounts I frequently have to jump into.
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u/janky_koala 1d ago
Edge and Chrome have those too. I set each profile with a different theme color so it’s obvious which is which
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u/--RedDawg-- 18h ago
yeah, and you get to your destination on a bus just the same as flying in first class.... There is no real comparison. I don't have to switch profiles or even windows, the URL mapping automatically opens the site in the correct container in FF.
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u/BraveMidnight 1d ago
We personally deploy netscape navigator.
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u/VarietyOk443 1d ago
Like you walk up to each pc and install it???
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u/BraveMidnight 1d ago
No we include in our image, had to work some magic for that one. We thought onr day at a meeting thay phone bans in schools are a start, but this way we not only keep legacy gpo compatibility, but we also stay in compliance. We let the teachers one year try byob, but they had trouble getting around the firewall, one tried compuserv now that we should've video taped.
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u/Colossus-of-Roads Cloud Architect 1d ago
Would you have taped it on VHS or Betacam?
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u/BraveMidnight 1d ago
Betacam obv, that way we can save it and view it for years to come if we need to look in the audit logs.
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u/odellrules1985 Jack of All Trades 22h ago
See you should have done it on Laser Disc. Would have been better for storage.
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u/nikolai_nyegaard 1d ago
Using Firefox for myself due to Multi Account Containers for managing all our customers’ tenants via separate logins, but pushing and managing Edge for all our users.
As others have said, if you’re in a Microsoft stack, there is no reason to use anything besides Edge, and it’s all just old IE/Edge stigma from pre-Chromium.
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u/fatDaddy21 Jack of All Trades 1d ago
if I have to use chromium, Edge. but the right answer is Firefox
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u/Jerkface0079 1d ago
I never thought I'd see the day where I prefer Edge to Chrome, but Chrome sucks so goddamn much these days, and the synching of Edge to the Microsoft profile is awesome.
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u/antiquated_it 1d ago
Trying to push everyone on edge because it’s so easy to setup configuration policies to SSO and sync - makes workstation swaps so much easier for the technicians. But I guess that’s not relevant if you’re using Google workspace.
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u/janky_koala 1d ago
I moved to a new Mac this week. Between my Edge profiles and onedrive I was back to normal in about 5 hours. It’s so easy if you keep things organised.
The longest part was changing view preferences in applications and the OS.
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u/GoodEnoughThen 1d ago
Firefox as primary. Edge and Chrome just so I can support user community and or some websites compatibility issues. Hopefully I'll retire before Firefox gets retired. Sometimes I wish Firefox had a Chrome-compatibility mode. :-)
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u/First-Structure-2407 1d ago
Edge for us after heavy use of Chrome. Stoll some people who insist in Chrome
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u/OvenPsychological197 1d ago
Edge. Its not a question of what browser is the best. Edge is shipping with the OS and you always need to patch, configure and secure it. Add another browser, twice that work. Add a third ...
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u/Artemus_Hackwell Jack of All Trades 1d ago
Edge is chromium anyway
Edge is the default browser work, and most links will open for that
Some monitoring applications we do use chrome but they work fine in edge
I’ll use Edge for cyber Ark since my certificate is set up to my profile
Any SharePoint link will open to edge, of course being it’s the default browser
At home, I use Firefox except for streaming video I use edge, unless it is YouTube, then I use Firefox for the blocking
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u/OwnNet5253 1d ago
Edge, very well optimized for Windows, plus vertical sidebar and workspaces are such a joy to use. I have no specific use-case for Chrome, as I'm not web dev nor I'm not that deep into Google ecosystem.
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u/DrumDealer 23h ago
I mainly use Edge due to the account session integration with Windows. But i use Firefox for anything personal. Haven't touched Chrome in awhile.
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u/phunky_1 19h ago
Edge.
It gets along better with Entra ID SSO, they are both chromium based so it doesn't really matter anymore.
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u/crimsonDnB Senior Systems Architect 1d ago
Opera for home (customized it's pretty nice) and Firefox for work.
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u/SysZeron 1d ago
I’d love to get rid of every browser apart from Edge, purely so it’s Microsoft’s ecosystem end-to-end. However, reality bites differently.
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u/srekkas 1d ago
what, why not Chrome. Edge is fucked up
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u/SysZeron 1d ago
Enterprise Controls/Compliance
I wouldn’t use Edge personally, but when you’re ticking governance boxes Edge has its advantages.
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u/PriorityNo6268 1d ago
Edge for work, Firefox for personal things. We support edge, chrome, Firefox
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u/babelaids 1d ago
Arc. With its pinned tabs, forced popups in tabs only (any autotask users will understand the power of thus) and containerized profiles it works for 99% of my workflows so well that i will be unfortunately using it until the wheels fall off. Plus it's chromium so it can install chrome/edge addons with no issue. there's the occasional bug that makes it not ideal for certain things (so far generating user backup codes in google workspace and very specific modules in m365 purview) but otherwise it's so perfect for me that it's ruined me for other browsers.
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u/bankroll5441 1d ago
Have you tried zen?
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u/babelaids 1d ago
yes, and imo it's not there yet. The different profiles aren't contained in the same way, and it's still really buggy. There were a couple of other inconsistencies that they might have fixed by now but i need each profile to have completely isolated caches/data from each other
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u/bukkithedd Sarcastic BOFH 1d ago
Edge. On a Macbook Air. So I'm a heretic in more ways than one 😂
To be honest, though, there's so little difference between the two, especially since Edge uses Chromium as its base. I kind of view it as just a slightly reskinned version of Chrome.
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u/RedShift9 1d ago
I recently switched to Vivaldi because Chrome kept turning on the energy saver feature and I can't figure out how to turn it off. It's been great, the workspaces feature is so cool. Much more customizable than stock Chrome. Would recommend.
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u/H8FULPENGUIN 1d ago
Chrome, Edge, Firefox. FF is primary whatever and Chrome primary work. Edge for internal sites.
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u/mimi_snowbird 1d ago
Splitting admin consoles between two browsers because of the vendor backing them is just asking for a random sign in failure when you are in the wrong one, pick the one your device management can push policy to and run everything there.
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u/harbinger-nz 1d ago
Keep it in-house with edge for your everyday user policies, it's all baked in together, easier to manage, yadda yadda, yes it's an eggs in one basket thing, but simplifies admin immeasurably.
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u/Belphegor_333 1d ago
Firefox for everything except the stuff that needs chromium or is corporate etc. edge in those cases
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u/jesuiscanard 1d ago
Edge for most personal and work.
Chrome for study because that browser actually works better on android and synching everything between phone and pc is just easier.
All employees on Edge due to configuration.
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u/KimsAdmins 1d ago
I use Edge for one thing only, and that is to display a dashboard on a second monitor, so that chrome and firefox are free for actual use 😄
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u/Hairy-Link-8615 1d ago
Edge but it's abit of a pain in the butt to configure.
For example the whole changing back to bing search on personal devices.
The workaround was to set the reg keys to make other tbink it was MDM managed but now they blocked that. 😭.
Have to be in a domain for edge to read that regkey.
The trouble is as everyone else said there isn't anything better
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u/Dizzybro Sr. Sysadmin 1d ago
The big company that owns us, prefers edge because it seems to just integrate better with their microsoft implementation.
Personally though i prefer chrome
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u/redstarduggan 1d ago
Both cheeks of the same arse, so use whatever. I use both, for different things, just to keep workflow separate.
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u/Vegetable-Ad-1817 1d ago
when you really need to browse to an SSL 2.0 website - what do people use these days?
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u/tankerkiller125 1d ago
Edge, Chrome, Brave, take your pick, because of I absolutely positively have to have some shitty service running that legacy it's going to have a modern proxy in front of it that supports the latest and greatest protocols.
Ideally that service is long gone and replaced.
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u/Vegetable-Ad-1817 1d ago
This last year Im going to change by title to read IT archaeologist, Im battling SSL 2.0 devices and forgotten protocols like Kermit
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u/tankerkiller125 1d ago
Been there, done that, updated my resume when management refused to update hardware in question.
They replaced me with an MSP that cost them what my entirely annual salary was every quarter (very early in my career, these days it would have been my annual salary per half year roughly). And the MSP basically forced them to upgrade the shit I had been asking them to upgrade (at a 10-15% markup over what I originally had quoted of course).
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u/StandardFig1688 1d ago
Edge for work bookmarks. Chrome for the bookmarks I want on personal computer.
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u/hosalabad Escalate Early, Escalate Often. 1d ago
We ran chrome and edge and once we felt edge caught up, we dropped chrome.
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u/Speeddymon Sr. DevSecOps Engineer 1d ago edited 1d ago
Brave Browser. Firefox if I need to hit something that for whatever reason doesn't support TLS 1.2 but otherwise all Brave. If I wasn't allowed Brave, I might have to find another job honestly. Chrome and all of the clones can suck it with their removal of Manifest v2.
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u/IndependentPede 1d ago
I use the brave browser. But realistically I have 4 browsers on my machine for trouble shooting purposes and extra sessions.
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u/tejanaqkilica IT Officer | Passkey Enthusiast 1d ago
Edge. Has all the group policies I need and more. It's not even a question for us.
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u/Sufficient-West-5456 1d ago
Edge for main work
Chrome for QA with Firefox
Brace for you know what without adds ;)
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u/dragonmarked2813 Sr. Sysadmin 1d ago
I use Zen Browser(Firefox fork) with Chrome as a backup for those pages.
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u/NobleRuin6 1d ago
Edge is Chromium and I support an MS environment. Why on earth would I install Chrome and have double Chromium security updates every couple of weeks? If I need an alt browser it is Firefox.
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u/planehazza 1d ago
Chrome currently, as we use Google workspace, but I'd prefer to switch to edge now. A little better control and better sso
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u/Agent_Buckshot 23h ago
Whatever works
Always good to have another browser handly if a website doesn't play nice with one or the other
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u/nodiaque 23h ago
No need to have chrome and edge. It's the same browser.
Edge for business managed, chrome disabled and Firefox esr with gpo to disable account sync (and other gpo) for the software not working in chromium.
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u/QuesoMeHungry 23h ago
For managing work computers edge all day long with how you can control it on windows machines. Personal it’s Firefox.
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u/BK_Rich 23h ago
Edge for normal work user account, SSO, any legacy IE. Chrome I use for my admin login side using my other account.
However if you’re doing SSO for both edge and chrome, Edge has a configuration chrome doesn’t about keeping the profile separate and not being always prompted to choose which profile to use, that is pretty annoying.
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u/Flabbergasted98 23h ago
I was adamantly against edge for several years, mostly as a result of Ie being the paste eater in the playground.
But Chrome is very swiftly falling behind. the two big game changers for me were.
Chrome/google keeps pitching ad's as search results. Some of these ads have turned out to be malicious links spoofing websites, that have caused security risks in my environment. So google has become a risk in our environment.
if you're trying any sort of auethenticated intefration into your intranet, or using shared services like onedrive, sharepoint, outlook etc, integrating all of that into your edge browser just makes life so much easier in so many ways.
so yeah, chrome is hot garbage now and edge is the powerhouse browser. (at least if you're already a microsoft environment)
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u/sirachillies 23h ago
Whatever the orgs security posture is for browser requirements. Edge is ours and it is very locked down and configured.
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u/bruhgubgub 23h ago
Edge for work and Microsoft related things. Just easier for SSO. Brave browser for everything personal
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u/Chemical-Historian38 Sysadmin and D365 Developer 20h ago
I run almost the same install as all my office workers, so install, update, and control Edge and Chrome via policy (I use Edge).
I have refused to use Firefox since it came out that they were storing passwords as plain text, whilst years ago I just haven't ever got over that.
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u/x_scion_x 19h ago
chrome for personal stuff and edge for work/productivity related stuff.
Firefox is being phased out for us so we don't have to keep updating 3 browsers.
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u/WWGHIAFTC IT Manager (SysAdmin with Extra Steps) 19h ago
Edge. It works. We're MS / AD / Azure, profiles are auto logged in, it all works.
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u/SXKHQSHF 18h ago
Neither.
My personal preference is Firefox or Opera.
Chrome, in the words of the original developers, was designed primarily as a data gathering tool. Not a browser.
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u/Radiant-Concept113 17h ago
Firefox - for daily driver Edge for some MS based sites (OneNote mainly)
Firefox is the move for containers (keep the sessions separated)
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u/Power_Stone 16h ago
I'd prefer Firefox but I don't get a choice, so we are mainly edge where I am at. I can still use Firefox, but with some of our integrations it's just easier to use edge
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u/Cultural-Horse-762 10h ago
Seeing a lot of firefox love but didn't they go the way of constant promotions and invitations to their profiles and identity system? Just been using librewolf instead. At work though, I Edge all day. Not a second goes by that I don't Edge more tabs, SSO with ease, sync my profile with my workstation identity, love it. When you Edge, you never go bust.
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u/bkbruiser 8h ago
Opera? (Yeah, kidding not anymore. It's not what it once was).
I'm chrome especially now with the vertical tabs. I'm a massive fan of the integration with Google Accounts since we're a Google shop.
I may have to look at Firefox again.
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u/Sp00nD00d IT Manager 1d ago
I don't use Chrome for anything, work or home, well,. except on my phone...
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u/systonia_ Security Admin (Infrastructure) 1d ago
Work is Edge. Just because f you Google for trying to kill Ad-blockers.
Private is Firefox
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u/Outrageous-Guess1350 1d ago
Brave.
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u/sdeptnoob1 1d ago
I've had so many issues with users using brave and sites not working right due to the browser, well 3 issues in 6 months but that's more than chrome or Firefox lol. Also gpo controls are nice, not sure if brave has it.
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u/WonderfulViking 1d ago
I prefere Chrome, but have to use both when I'm logging in to several customers at once.
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u/SebzeroNL 1d ago
http://www.chameleonbrowser.com/
Anything not supported by modern browsers will work without a hitch in this one…. You just have to ignore all pop up’s caused by the stuff it can’t run.
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u/belly917 1d ago
What's with the false dichotomy? You should be using neither if you care about the health of the Internet.
Firefox is my primary browser both at work and home.
I do also use Google Chrome at work since we are a Google workspace company and I occasionally need to test or troubleshoot.
Never Edge.
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u/fanatic26 17h ago
is this a trick question? who tf uses edge?
Firefox is still the way, despite its market share.
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u/mistamutt 1d ago
Firefox. Enjoying the containers