What is Incognito Mode and How to Use It?
What is Incognito mode and Why would I use it?
Many people who spend a fair amount of time online have probably wondered “what is incognito mode?”
Most browsers offer an ‘incognito mode‘ or ‘private mode’ for browsing. Yet, most people have no idea what its purpose is.
The few people that have heard about incognito mode or private browsing may know it as ‘porn mode’ for those who may be up to no good and want to shield their activities from prying eyes.
However, despite incognito mode’s more dubious moniker, there are plenty of valid reasons to use a private browsing session. You could use it to log into multiple email accounts, social media, or bank accounts at the same time.
Maybe you are trying to surprise someone with vacation plans or a gift for a special occasion? Private browsing will help you keep your activities a secret.
Ever used a computer in a library or at a local business to access your accounts? While using a public computer always carries a certain amount of risk, private browsing can reduce it.
If you really must check your email or sign into Facebook, it’s still a good idea to use private browsing to make sure your activities vanish when you close the window.
What is incognito mode?
Incognito mode is a privacy feature of most modern web browsers that prevent your browsing history from being stored.
For example, whenever you visit any web page, any text, pictures, and cookies loaded on the page are all stored on your computer.
Additionally, any searches or forms that are filled out could be stored in autocomplete fields if that function is enabled in your browser.
Incognito mode is also known as Private Browsing, InPrivate Browsing, Private Window depending on which browser you may be using.
Is Incognito mode safe?
Incognito mode or private browsing is not meant to be a completely anonymous method of surfing the Internet.
It is just a quick and easy way not to log your browsing history or save (cache) any web pages, images, or cookies as you are browsing.
Other considerations to consider when in private mode
Additional monitoring software
If you have installed any other monitoring software, like, parental control programs or key-logging programs, the software can still capture and monitor everything you are doing on the computer, even if you are in private mode.
Monitoring can also be done at a network level. Which means that your school or your workplace, may have internet monitoring enabled on their network that could also capture any private browsing you have done.
Your IP address
Although nothing is saved to your computer in private mode, that does not mean you are anonymous on the Internet. Each page that you visit will still recognize your IP address. If someone in authority could view your IP address history for legal purposes, your ISP, websites, and even search engine server logs could be used to track your internet usage.
Add-ons and plugins
Any add-ons or plugins you have installed in your browser could be storing information on your browsing habits.
People standing behind you
It may seem somewhat obvious, but anyone who is standing behind you and looking over your shoulder is going to be able to watch what you are viewing in private mode.
Opening a private browser session
I am a “Chrome girl” so my browser of choice is most always Chrome. However, I will share how to open a private browser session in some of the more common browsers.
How to open an Incognito window in Chrome
- To open an incognito window, start Chrome and click the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
- Click New Incognito Window and start browsing as you normally would. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+ Shift + N to bring up a new incognito window without entering the Chrome settings menu at all. (When you are using ‘incognito mode’ you get this welcome screen to let you know that you are now browsing in incognito mode.)
How to open an InPrivate window in Explorer
Opening an InPrivate window in Explorer is very similar to opening an incognito window in Chrome
- To open an InPrivate window, start Explorer and click the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
- Click New InPrivate Window and start browsing as you normally would.
How to open a Private window in Firefox
Very similar to both Chrome and Explorer.
- To open a Private window, start Firefox and click the three lines in the top right corner of the screen.
- Click New Private Window and start browsing as you normally would. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+ Shift + P to bring up a new incognito window without entering the Firefox settings menu at all.
What is incognito mode – Wrapping it up
Despite the fact that all these browsers will not keep a record of the sites you’ve visited while using incognito or private windows. Any downloaded material and bookmarks, however, will be saved.
And while Incognito and private windows will keep browsers from saving information about your browsing history, it can’t stop other programs from doing so. So don’t use the feature and expect it to keep your browsing history a secret from your school or office’s IT department.
Just love the photos, and your beautiful site!!! I sure could use a pleasant method of learning tidbits of tech…So, we’re you saying that incognito mode enables you to open more tabs without slowing your computer down?? That would be great! I’m going to try it, Sandy!
Thank you, Amanda!!
Unfortunately, I don’t think using incognito mode helps your computer run faster when you have many tabs open…but there are extensions (in Chrome) or add-ons (in Firefox) and probably other browsers have other functionality that can help with ‘tab addicts’ (like myself) who always have many tabs open in their browser windows that use up your computer resources.
But using incognito mode does come in handy for logging into multiple social media accounts without having to log in and out or checking multiple email accounts as well.