What is “Private Browsing?” is a question I receive from time-to-time. People write that they were looking around in their browser and saw it. In Google Chrome the same thing is named “Incognito Mode.” In Internet Explorer, it is “InPrivate Browsing” and others have slightly different names.
The Private browser settings are sometimes referred to as “Porn Browser Mode.”
What does Private Mode/Browsing do that normal browsing does not?
It does not keep any trace of you on your computer or any website. When you surf in normal mode everywhere you go is recorded in your browser’s history. That way you can go back to your history and look where you have been. This is good if you know you went to a site last week but cannot remember its name. Search your history and you can go right back to the same page.
Cookies are not stored in private either, so your search information and sites visited are not stored for other sites to pull from your computer to send back info on which news sites you read, where you do all of your online shopping, etc. When using private mode, it is as if you were never online. Well, up to a point but more on that next week.
However, there are many other useful reasons you may want to practice it at times.
In the majority of browsers to open a window in “Private” look to the upper right of the browser and click the gear or three-dot icon. This is where you get to all of the settings in your browser. Then look for the private mode. For instance, in Chrome click the three dots in upper right then choose “New incognito windows.” You may also utilize the shortcut keys of “Ctrl + Shift + N.” Once in the private/incognito window you will see some sort of label showing you that your browsing is secret. In Chrome an icon of a man in a hat with glasses will be in the upper left corner. All browsers are slightly different so search online for how to set it up and what is displayed on yours.
What other more respectable reasons should you want to use it? First, pretend you are shopping online for a gift for your significant other, or someone else who may use your computer occasionally. You search for a “Thingamajig 123” in the regular browsing window. You find it and read all about it. Well, cookies from that site will be saved to your browser. When the other person opens that browser minutes, hours or days later and searches in Google, guess what? Ads for a “Thingamajig 123” will appear in Google so you are given away. Cookies are shared from site to site so that is why you see advertisements for things you have been looking for. It seems spooky until you realize why.
Next week more reasons you may want to consider Secret Surfing.
