Google vs. Edge: YouTube Users Seek Solutions to Issues

Microsoft Edge users have reported difficulties with slowness and hardware resource spikes on YouTube.

The weekend is meant to be a time for rest, but it is anything but for many people who use Microsoft Edge. There are discussions on Reddit claiming that Google has harmed YouTube’s performance in Microsoft’s web browser to the point that the site is unusable. 

Our data reveals a rather broad issue. An article on Windows Central from 2018 about YouTube performance on the old non-Chromium Edge browser has reappeared in our tracking. While that post is unlikely to benefit anyone because the browser is no longer in use, it prompted me to investigate what was happening.

Here is how one of the threads begin

Another user in a different post claimed seeing an ad on YouTube encouraging them to use Google Chrome if they were experiencing speed difficulties. The browser conflicts are the absolute worst. 

For some, the solution appears to have been to turn off (or update) their ad blocker. We already know that Google is cracking down on ad blocking on YouTube and encourages customers to join up for Premium to go ad-free. This isn’t an article addressing the moral implications of ad blocking, but if you’re having this problem and are running one, this is the first thing you should do.

I’m tired of pranks. Google wants you to use Chrome, whereas Microsoft wants you to use Edge. But it feels quite underhanded for Google to release some code that silently damages performance, assuming that’s what occurred. Given the dramatic increase in concerns, it’s difficult to imagine anything other. 

Loading YouTube should never cause your CPU or GPU to run at full capacity while also failing to function correctly. 

Ads are a necessary evil on the Internet; there’s no other way to put it. They help to compensate your favorite content producers, but I understand they’re terrible. I do not like them. If this is a concern for you, you’ll have to put up with it for the time being and disable your ad blocker or get, ahem, more creative. YouTube Premium is an excellent option if you watch a lot of material and want to support the individuals who make your videos. However, whether you choose to pay for it is entirely up to you. 

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