ADD MICROSOFT EDGE’S SUPERB BROWSER TOOLS TO CHROME

What you need: Google Chrome; Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10 Time required: 25 minutes

Windows 10’s new browser Microsoft Edge has some brilliant features that you won’t find by default in other browsers. These include speaking your search terms; adding scribbles/highlighted sections to web pages, then emailing these as screenshots; and removing adverts from web pages.

However, Google Chrome remains our favourite browser because – unlike Edge – it supports extensions and works in all versions of Windows. We’ll show you how to tweak Chrome’s settings and add extensions to get Edge’s best tools in Google’s browser.

STEP1

If you don’t already have Chrome, download and install it for free from www.snipca.com/17644. Click Download Chrome 1 , run the setup file and follow the onscreen instructions. If you already use it, update Chrome to the latest version (44 at the time of writing). To do that, click the Chrome menu button 2 , then click About Google Chrome 3 . The browser will check for pending updates and you’ll be prompted to restart it if there are any.

STEP2

Windows 10 comes with Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana built in. As long as your PC has a mic, you can click the search bar at the bottom left of your screen, speak search terms and the results will show up in Edge. Chrome has a similar feature, but it’s not enabled by default. Before enabling this, you should set your homepage to Google UK. To do that, click the Chrome menu button, then Settings. Now, select ‘Open a specific page or set of pages’ 1 in the ‘On start-up’ section, then click the ‘Set pages’ link 2 . Next, type www.google.co.uk in the ‘Add a new page’ field, then click OK.

STEP3

Next, scroll down to the Search section. Ensure Google is set as your primary search engine 1 , then tick ‘Enable “OK Google” to start a voice search’ 2 . Now whenever you open Chrome or a new tab, you can simply ask a question out loud (for example, “What’s the weather going to be like in Edinburgh tomorrow?”) to see search results in your browser. Alternatively, click the mic icon in the search bar of the Google UK homepage to bring up a ‘Speak now’ screen, then speak your search term.

STEP4

Another unique feature of Edge is Web Notes, which lets you draw on web pages – ideal if you want to highlight specific items on a web page, then send this as a screenshot to someone. Chrome has an extension called Web Paint that lets you do the same thing. To add it, go to www.snipca.com/17645, click the blue ‘Add to Chrome’ button, then click the Add button. Now whenever you want to draw or highlight something on a web page, click the Web Paint extension (a palette icon) 1 . You’ll see a menu with five sections – Tools, Color, Transparency, Size and Controls 2 .

STEP5

Click the Color section and select a colour from the palette 1 . If you want thicker lines, move the slider in the Size section to the right. Now select one of the shapes in the Tools section, then click and draw/highlight 2 whatever you want on the web page. You’ll find Undo and Redo options at the top of the Controls section. To clear your page, click the ‘Clean up’ option 3 . As with Edge, it’s easy to create then email a screenshot of your scribbles. First, click the Camera icon 4 in the Controls section. You’ll see a new tab with four buttons (Download, Print, ‘Copy to Clipboard’ and Crop) at the top left. Select Download, then email the file (you’ll find it in your Downloads folder) to whoever you want.

STEP6

Another great feature in Edge is Reading View mode, which removes adverts from a web page, lets you customise its font size, change its background theme and save it to your Reading List to read later. Chrome can do all this too via its brilliant extension Readability. To add it, go to www.snipca.com/17647, click the blue ‘Add to Chrome’ button, then Add. You’ll now see a Readability icon (red armchair) 1 in your toolbar. Click it to see three options – Read Now, Read Later and ‘Send to Kindle’, along with the Reading List icon 2 . First, click Read Later 3 , then click Using Your Email to create a free Readability account.

STEP7

Now, whenever you want to save an article to read later, click the extension, then Read Later (or Read Now). If you use an Amazon Kindle, you can email the article to your device by clicking ‘Send to Kindle’, entering your Kindle’s email address, then clicking ‘Set Up & Send’. To see a list of your saved articles, click the extension, then the Reading List icon. To customise the font style, font size and line spacing of your articles, click the Aa icon 1 on the left. You can now change the article’s font size and spacing using the sliders and choose from three font styles 2 . To switch to Night Mode (white text on a black background, which is easier on your eyes and ideal for reading in darker conditions) click the half-moon icon 3 . ●