Today, almost all web browsers have a private browsing mode - a special privacy functionality that allows you to browse websites without the browser remembering your surfing history.

Private browsing in Firefox, in addition to its main purpose, blocks services that request access to your data: requests to search engines, page views, file downloads, etc.

How to enable private mode in Firefox

To enable “Private Browsing” in Firefox, click the sandwich icon, which hides the main menu, in the right top corner, and then select “Private window" or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + P.


A new browser window will open where your privacy will be protected.

Always run Firefox in private mode

By default Firefox remembers your surfing history, which you can later always look at in the “Journal”. However, having changed Firefox settings You can turn on the “Private Browsing” feature all the time so that the browser stops remembering all the sites you visit.


Click on the main menu and select the “Settings” icon, in the new window follow the link “Privacy" and change the history setting to " won't remember history" Activating this option is equivalent to the private browsing feature, only it is already enabled on a permanent basis.

Automatically start private browsing for certain sites

Firefox itself doesn't provide the ability to automatically launch private browsing for certain sites, so we'll use an add-on Auto Private. The extension does not have a visual interface that you can interact with directly, so setting up the add-on will be quite difficult.


After the module is installed, open a new tab and enter “ about:config» without quotes, then pressing Enter. You will be redirected to the service page hidden settings. Here in the “Search” line enter “ extensions.autoprivate.domains", right-click on the found line and select " Edit" in the menu:


In the new dialog box, write the domains that you want to open in private mode, separated by semicolons.


The add-on supports filters and prohibiting private browsing for certain sites. For more information, visit the Auto Private download page.

How to disable private browsing in Firefox?

What if you want to check your child's surfing history, for example, but you can't trace all the pages because they were opened in private mode?


To disable the private browsing feature, you can use the Disable Private Browsing Plus add-on.

Install this extension and restart your browser. Disable Private Browsing disables access to “Private Browsing” using hotkeys Ctrl + Shift + P, as well as through the “Private window” menu.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. What does the word incognito mean? What it is? Do you know? Most likely you know, but I’ll still explain for the sake of order. This word is derived from the Italian word incognito, which means - not to be recognized (to remain unknown). Synonyms for this word in some way can be the words: anonymously, secretly, under a different name (guise).

For example, famous people can be incognito in public places, using makeup, a pseudonym and other tricks. This mode sometimes turns out to be very convenient for them, because it allows them to exist without attracting attention to themselves.

But incognito mode Not only famous people need it to escape the attention of the crowd. Anonymity also seems very attractive to the most ordinary Internet users, because they do not need to be afraid of the consequences of their actions. When you communicate on forums and even on social networks, you often use not your real name, but instead of a real photo, in order to feel calmer online, without being afraid of expressing your views or thoughts of “getting hit.”

Browser developers, understanding the need of users to hide traces of some of your online activities(previously you had to do this), they added a mode called “Incognito” (that’s what it’s called in the Yandex and Google Chrome browsers). When it is activated, all your traces of visiting certain sites, downloading files, etc. will be automatically deleted from your browser history. Let's see how it all works and what it can be useful for?

What is Incognito mode for and how does it work?

I think that explaining why to you or anyone else Incognito mode may be needed no need. This is especially true when you share a computer with someone else. Of course, you can use different Accounts, but few people bother with fiddling around with setting them up and constantly logging in/out of the system.

And so, in the “invisible” mode (it is available in almost all modern browsers, but it can be called differently - “incognito” it is called only in Chrome and Yandex browser, and, for example, in Opera it is “private mode”, but not the bottom line) you don’t have to worry, for example, that your “neighbor” on the computer will also have access to it. And it will not be possible to track the history of your wanderings on the Internet through a browser (the cache, cookies, entered passwords, form data, etc. are erased).

How does Incognito mode work? Quite simple. You open a new window of your browser (Chrome or Yandex) in this mode (it can be easily distinguished from the usual one by the icon of a man in sunglasses that appears - in Chrome on the left, and in the Yandex browser on the right of the tab bar).

At the same time, other windows of the same browser can remain working as usual. All pages that you open in an anonymous window will not be recorded in your browsing history, and after closing these windows track the sites you visited, and those files that were downloaded will not be possible. And you don’t need to clean anything special - just close the private window and that’s it. Babble!

Attention! A browser running in an Incognito session will indeed leave no traces of your “surfing,” but this does not mean that it will not be possible to identify you if desired. It's just protection from your boss or relatives, but not from any kind of “authorities” and hackers. The fact is that data about your visits remains on the sites you visited (in the logs), as well as with the Internet provider through which you access the Internet. Keep this in mind, just in case.

How to enable Incognito mode in Yandex Browser and Chrome

Again quite simple. Let me make a reservation right away that private mode is provided not only in computer versions of browsers, but also in their mobile incarnations. So, if you want to activate “invisibility” on a computer or laptop, then:

If you have, then you can also enable Incognito mode there if you wish. On Android or iOS, to do this, you will need to click on the “Menu” button (with three dots in the case of Android and three bars in the case of iOS) and select the already traditional menu item “ New inset incognita".

IN mobile version Yandex Browser does not yet have a private mode. Alas and ah.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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To hide your activity from your employer or provider, you will need more serious solutions, for example: anonymizers, special software, proxy plugins, etc. Incognito mode in Firefox can offer:

• Don't save history.
• Turn off cookies.
• Hide activity in search engines.
• Delete temporary files.

In this case, all downloads and bookmarks will be saved. display user activity on a particular site. Browsing history saves all sites that have been opened in the browser over the past six months and often becomes an incriminating factor in any “crime”. In general, incognito is a very useful feature for those who have small secrets, but it is far from omnipotent. This certainly will not help international terrorists and intelligence agents.

How to enable incognito mode in Firefox

The first step is to open the menu, which is hidden under the icon in the form of three horizontal sticks in the upper right corner. Here we press the button with the image of a Venetian mask - “ Open private window».

The second method is somewhat simpler. All you have to do is right-click on any link. IN context menu select “Open link in a new private window.”

How to check functionality: try opening a site in incognito mode that requires user authorization, for example: email, profile in social network, forum account or other. The page will launch on the start window, where you need to enter your login and password, which says that working with cookies is disabled, privacy mode is working.

Why might my employer or provider track me?

It's simple - to hide online from such surveillance, you need to mask your IP. Chameleon, Tor and VPN are some of the many services that allow you to completely hide your activity, and if you try hard, you can bypass the traffic! What’s remarkable is that most anonymizers are absolutely free. In some cases, you will need to install the software on your PC, for others it is enough to open a similar online service in Mozilla, enter the desired address and use it without fear of surveillance.

You, of course, know that when surfing the Internet, the browser remembers and stores a lot of different information on disk: browsing history, site cache, etc. This is done for the convenience of the user, but can sometimes bring some discomfort: anyone who sits down at the computer will be able to see your information. If you don’t want this, use a special mode in browsers, which will be discussed below.

The mode of operation of the browser, during which no traces of the user are left on the computer, is usually called private or incognito. Turning on this option, the user, of course, will not be able to become completely anonymous on the Internet, however, local computer The following information will not be stored:

• Logins and passwords;
• Data entered into web forms;
• Browsing history;
• Cookies;
• Web page cache;
• List of downloads.

Google Chrome

This mode in Chrome is called “Incognito”. You can open it from the main menu or using the “Ctrl+Shift+N” keys.

Mozilla Firefox

Similarly, a private window opens in Firefox. Click the main menu icon and select the corresponding icon in it (or the “Ctrl+Shift+P” keys).

Opera

The steps to open a private window are exactly the same as in Chrome.

You've probably used incognito mode, for example, to log into several email accounts at the same time or view photos of cats at work. Now that your online activities are being vigilantly monitored by search and advertising bots, incognito mode seems like a very tempting option. But it doesn't really provide privacy.

How is incognito mode different from regular mode?

In incognito mode:

• Browsing history is not recorded;
• Search queries are not saved;
• Files are not saved;
• New passwords are not recorded;
• Temporary files and cached website content are not saved;
• Data is not recorded in forms on websites.

As you can see, the list is long. But incognito mode only protects a small portion of your data. Google honestly warns about this in their browsers. Chrome users receive a notification when they launch Incognito Mode.

When you open a tab in incognito mode, you will see a corresponding warning. What we're trying to get across is that your activity, even in private mode, is still visible on the sites you visit, and may be visible to your employer, your school, and of course, your Internet Service Provider.

Darin Fisher, Vice President of Chrome Engineering

Firefox also displays a disclaimer.

Private browsing mode does not make you anonymous on the Internet. Your ISP, employer, or the websites themselves may track which pages you visit. Also, private browsing mode does not protect you from keyloggers or spyware, which can be installed on your computer.

Mozilla Support

What provides true privacy

By and large, all these search engine tricks aimed at targeting advertising do not particularly interfere with users. However, in some cases, getting rid of such annoying attention can be useful.

For example, you intend to purchase a gift for your wife and are looking for suitable options in online stores in incognito mode. After some time, the wife launches the browser as usual and sees a bunch of advertisements with offers to buy smartphones and jewelry. This is annoying and can ruin the surprise.

There are several ways to avoid this.

VPN

A virtual private network hides your IP address and replaces it with the remote IP address. This will make it more difficult for advertising platforms to associate your IP address with your browser.

Tor

This is an anonymous network that passes your traffic through several random hosts before connecting you to the final server. You can surf through Tor at least occasionally, because the speed is not very impressive. But the privacy measures in this browser are excellent.

Ghostery

There are several that make it difficult for advertising platforms to identify browsers. One of the best is Ghostery. It blocks most tracking trackers on pages without affecting surfing speed in any way.