Sometimes you would not want to be watched upon while browsing the internet or want someone to trace back your browsing history. Also, you wouldn’t want your browser to suggest your keywords and websites from your previous searches. Not just that, if you want to login to multiple email accounts at once, or you’re using someone else’s device and don’t want your details to get saved or just searching for a present for your wife and want to keep it a secret. Well, you’ve one solution to do all these things smoothly, and it’s called the browser incognito mode feature or private browser mode.
With a population of about 3.2 billion, the internet houses more people than the most populated country in the world. If the community is so large, how will the cybercrimes be any less? Thus, it is but normal to be concerned about your privacy on the internet.
By turning on an incognito mode on your browser, it opens a new secret window that curtains your searches. Whatever you search on that window, doesn’t show up in your browsing history. No passwords get saved or keywords remembered! However, your searches may still not be hidden from your internet service provider or employer.
Different browsers have different ways of switching on the incognito mode. Follow these steps and find learn how to activate incognito mode on different browsers.
Browse incognito in Internet Explorer
In internet explorer, you can avoid your private data files such as cookies and caches from getting saved whilst your browsing history is also not getting cached. To start the InPrivate Browsing mode:
- Open Internet Explorer
- Click the Gear icon in the upper right corner of the browser window
- Select InPrivate Browsing from the submenu that appears on hovering your cursor over the Safety option in the drop-down menu.
- Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+P
Browse incognito in Google Chrome
Chrome houses the majority of the internet population, and one of the reasons for this is the easy accessibility. Using the incognito mode is simple, and your history and other private data don’t get saved on your hard drive.
- Click the main menu button in the upper right corner
- Select New Incognito Window in the drop-down menu.
- Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+N(Windows) or Command+Shift+N (Mac).
To exit Incognito Mode, just close the browser window or tab.
- Suggested Read – How to Activate Incognito Mode in Dolphin Browser on iOS Devices?
Browse incognito in Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox has a history of existence that dates back to 2002 and ever since it has managed to garner a great amount of internet traffic.
It has a private browsing mode, in which download history or cookies aren’t recorded locally. You have to follow a simple 2 step process:
- Click the Firefox menu in the upper right corner of the browser window.
- Click the New Private Window button
Not always would you wish to browse privately, sometimes only a link is required to be opened in this mode and for that,
- Right-click the link.
- When the context menu shows, left-click Open Link in New Private Window
Browse incognito in Apple Safari
The Private Browsing mode comes to your rescue in Apple’s Safari and ensures that all private data and browsing history isn’t stored. To enable a Private Browsing mode on a Mac:
- In the Safari menu bar, click on File.
- Select New Private Window option from the drop-down menu
- Keyboard shortcut : Shift+Command+N
Suggested Read –
Browse incognito in Opera
You have an option of choosing whether to open a new incognito window or tab and depending on your choice; it can be accessed by:
- Click the Opera menu icon in the upper left corner of the browser window to open the side window.
- Select New private window.
- Keyboard shortcut : Ctrl+Shift+N
So, the next time you wish to keep others’ eyes away from your browsing journey, worry not because you’re just a few steps away from turning on the incognito mode of a browser!