Most of them actually warn you of this when you first open a window, but this is generally ignored by people, so it’s worth spelling out here: Unfortunately, the list of things private browsing modes don’t do is a lot longer.

Other things which you would rather not have autofill in your URL bar.

Searching for airplane tickets, as some companies may change prices on you based on your search history.

Searching for things that you don’t necessarily want showing up in your search history (as a journalist this happens a lot).

Logging in to multiple email or social media accounts that only allow one user logged in at a time.

Searching for gifts when you don’t want a family member to see what you’re looking for.

Incognito Mode and its ilk will not save the websites you visit, the info you might put into forms on those websites for autofill, or the cookies from those websites. We’re talking about people with physical access to your computer. That is, family members, coworkers, roommates, and such. Simply put, these private viewing modes will hide your internet activity from others who might look at your actual computer. There are subtle nuances between these different offerings, but they ultimately all pretty much do the same thing. For Firefox and Opera browsers, it’s called “Private Browsing.” Well, a rose by any other name would smell as… uh, insecure? Yeah, let’s go with that.

Microsoft’s Explorer and Edge browsers both have “InPrivate” mode. Do all browsers have a private mode?Īll of the major web browsers out there have a private mode.

Today we’re going to dive into what these private browsing modes do, and what they don’t. In fact, you may be shocked to learn how little protection they actually provide from prying eyes, but there are still good reasons to use them. The various “private” options web browsers provide are not a panacea for your privacy concerns. You might open a new browser window in Incognito Mode and think you’ve just vanished under a cloak of darkness with all your internetting perfectly hidden from the world.

Safe search incognito for firefox