Similar to Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Edge browser will soon be automatically pausing Flash content on web pages.
The feature, which will affect content that is not central to the web page, will be included in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update expected to launch on July 29.
In a post on the official Windows blog, Microsoft Edge principal program manager lead John Hazen wrote that users can preview the feature beginning with Windows 10 build 14316.
The feature will automatically pause peripheral Flash content such as advertisements and animations until the user clicks on the said content to play them. Through this, power consumption is significantly reduced and performance is improved without damaging the full fidelity of the webpage that the user is accessing.
Flash content that is central to webpages, such as games and videos, will not be automatically paused.
The feature mimics ones previously implemented for Chrome and Safari. Apple was the first one to introduce a freezing feature against Flash in Safari 7, which was released alongside OS X Maverick in 2013. Google followed in September 2015, when Chrome started to pause non-central Flash content on its Stable version. In both browsers, the content is displayed but remains static until the user clicks on them, similar to what will happen on the Edge browser.
However, unlike in Chrome, Edge will not give users the option to disable the feature, as when Computerworld tried it out through Windows 10 build 14316; such an option is not available in the browser's settings.
Hazen did say though that additional control over Flash will be provided to users over time, including for content that is central to webpages. There is no mention, however, if the feature will be retrofitted to the older Internet Explorer.
"We encourage the web community to continue the transition away from Flash and towards open web standards," Hazen wrote, with other more secure and better performing standards Encrypted Media Extensions, Media Source Extensions, Web Audio, Canvas and RTC mentioned.
