Let’s say you’re on your computer; you open your browser, and you want to search for something…discretely. Something you don’t want someone else to know about, such as…a birthday present for your spouse (we’ll keep this PG). More seriously, maybe you’re trying to do some research on a sensitive medical issue. Or perhaps you’re browsing on a friend’s computer or a public terminal. Whatever the reason, sometimes you don’t want that information tracked and available for the next person using the computer. Enter: Private Browsing.

By default, your browser remembers lots of information about you, including login information, search terms, and browsing history, to name a few. Storing this information can be very convenient, but if you don’t want others accessing the computer to know this information, this becomes problematic. Private browsing goes by a number of names depending on which browser you’re using, including Incognito Mode (Chrome), Private Browsing (Firefox, which I talk about here, and Safari), and InPrivate (Edge).

The History of Private Browsing

Private browsing was first introduced to the world in Apple’s Safari browser, around 2005. Google followed suit with the inaugural version of their Chrome browser in 2008, and Firefox (2009) and Microsoft Edge (2015) added it as well. What was once a niche perk has now become a required feature of all browsers.

How This Helps With Privacy

The Good

For keeping your local information private, Private Browsing is a great option. Any time you do something in your browser, that information is getting logged and stored. When you log in to a site, that information usually gets stored. When you browse to a website, that site’s address gets logged. When you view an image, it gets stored in the browser’s cache. Using Private Browsing mode ensures that when you click the close button on the browser, all of that information gets removed from the computer.

The Bad

It’s important to keep in mind that this is a way to keep your LOCAL information private. Any information that you send while using the browser is fair-game, and is still susceptible to companies that want to track you, people attempting to steal your information through security flaws, etc. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use Private Browsing, it just means that it’s only one part of the privacy puzzle.

This is called a man-in-the-middle attack. Private Browsing mode will do nothing to help with this…

How To Do It

On most browsers, the easiest way to start a private browsing session is to use the keyboard shortcuts for that browser. For each of the main browsers, the shortcut key is as follows:

Google Chrome : Control + Shift + N

: Control + Shift + N Mozilla Firefox : Control + Shift + P

: Control + Shift + P Apple Safari : Command + Shift + N

: Command + Shift + N Microsoft Edge: (no keyboard shortcut available)

You can, of course, go through the menu as well. Go ahead, we won’t judge you.

Parting Thoughts

Private browsing is a fantastic, simple way to keep your local information private. While it’s not a silver-bullet (some technologies like Silverlight still store some data even in Private Browsing mode, for example), and it doesn’t do anything to stop remote tracking, it’s still a great tool to keep in your pocket, to help ensure your private data stays in your hands.

Hopefully you enjoyed this article! To get some more great Practical Privacy tips, check out my other articles!