It is probably not our knowledge that When browsing we leave digital footprints on the web inserted in the cookies, in the cache and in the history, without a doubt, assuming a certain risk and some disadvantages for the users.
Surely if we are going to make a purchase with our credit card or with our PayPal account, In no way do we want said information to be compromised in any way. You probably also don’t want the possibility of your passwords being recorded when using a computer that isn’t yours, or you simply don’t want your searches to be reflected in your browser’s history.
Whatever the case, there is a very practical solution for this and it is called private browsing, something that the most popular browsers allow us and include in their function. Below we will show you what private browsing is, for what purposes we can use it and how can we activate the function in the most common browserswhich will be very useful when you need to surf the internet wanting to keep the privacy of your data.
What is private browsing?
private browsing focuses on maintaining the protection of the privacy and security of users, making sure not to store history, cookies and cache so as not to leave a trace during browsing.
Safari, Apple’s browser, was the first to incorporate a private browsing function, even if it went unnoticed. Today, the most widely used browsers worldwide have the ability to browse in private or incognito mode among their functions.
Advantage
It differs from regular browsing because it gives the user the ability to browse anonymously to a certain extent. The information that private browsing mode usually hides are cookies (they disappear after closing the window), the history of the pages we visited during the session and the data of the forms that apply for the autocomplete function. It also avoids storing cache, passwords and download lists.
Disadvantages
Rare things could mean a disadvantage for us when using the private function of our favorite browser, but there are. First it should be clarified that the private browsing offered by these browsers is not totally anonymous since it does not hide the IP address.
Nor does it work against malicious agents that could be on our computer, so if we are infected by a keylogger or some other spyware, private browsing mode will not protect our data from them.
Perhaps one of the disadvantages that can arise when using private browsing is that when do not record the history of pages we have visited, we will not be able to use it in case we have forgotten the address and want to return to a certain place.
What is it for and what are the benefits of browsing privately on the Internet?
Private browsing brings significant advantages to users who have the need to protect your privacy and personal data, but not only that, but it brings us some other benefits that perhaps we are not aware of and that it would be important to know in order to take advantage of them.
First of all, we should talk about what cookies are and what their function is:
What are cookies?
They They are text files that store information about our navigation. Its function is mainly to remember basic information about it so that, for example, we do not have to log in every time we enter a web page again. They also act by allowing other sites to know our preferences, tastes, browsing habits, purchases and planning according to recent activity on the Internet.
The purpose of this is that third parties can use this information to show us ads based on it. That is, if, for example, we have searched for the price of a Router device, probably some of the next ads that you will be able to see on websites will show you advertising about that.
Of course, Not all of us find it very pleasant to provide information to advertisers, companies or even governments, as the case may be. Much less that these third parties use the information stored in cookies to sell us even at a higher price, because they already know that we are interested in it.
Given this concern, there is the possibility of using the private browsing function that is generally included in the most used browsers to avoid the above situation, remembering that private browsing once the session is finished.
As we already said, If you have been interested in buying a Router, in traveling to a specific destination, it is possible that third parties use this information to offer you their products at a higher cost. That is why when buying a plane ticket or making a hotel reservation online, it is much better to do it from the private browsing mode to avoid an additional cost.
Benefits of incognito browsing
The benefits that private browsing gives us is to log in from two different accounts on the same website, such as on the same computer. First you open one in the main browser window and once the private window is started and open you can open another and thus manage two accounts at the same time from the same browser without any inconvenience. Fantastic, isn’t it?
If you are going to use a shared computer, you probably do not want your passwords to be recorded, something that is usually more common than you think. Perhaps you also find it tedious to have to or someone else requesting a login to be able to enter with yours or simply for some reason you don’t want your searches and visits to be saved.
Whatever the case of those described above, private browsing It works as a solution to these, since it allows access through it to any page in which there is already an open session.
We have also mentioned about the information that is being collected about our interests and the Google search engine is no exception in this, since it usually shows us the results accordingly. Thus, if we want to obtain more precise results and less influenced by the information that we provide, we can use incognito mode to get them.
In addition to the above, there are sites on the internet that set limits based on a certain time for visits or reading of free articles, asking for a paid subscription once they run out. Private browsing gives us the possibility to skip this, since this information is stored in cookies.
Without a doubt, one of the uses that has been given the most to private browsing has to do with visits to adult sites, mainly because it does not keep track of the history, something unwanted for some visitors to said web pages. Also because the searches that we carry out will not appear again as a result of the autocomplete function and therefore it will be out of the reach of children.
How to activate incognito mode and browse anonymously in any web or mobile browser?
The main browsers for our computer or mobile device usually have a private browsing mode incorporated. Next we will show you how to access it in each of them, although basically it can be done in a similar way.
For Google Chrome
In Google Chrome This function is known as “incognito mode“and it is an extremely simple tool to use.
- To open an incognito window all you have to do is go to the top right of the screen, where the three dots are located and select “New incognito window”. You can also do it through a simple keyboard shortcut by pressing the keys Ctrl+Shift+N.
- In the case of the version of Chrome for Android you will have to press the key “Menu” and then select “New incognito tab.”
For Mozilla Firefox
The process for Firefox is very similar to the one done in Chorme. Enough with go to the three sidebars that are located above and to the right, click on them and then select “New private window.” The shortcut to access this feature in Firefox is Ctrl+Shift+P.
in Opera
Of course this function could not be missing in the Opera browser. Once you have opened it, you will select the “Menu”, there will appear the option “New private window” which will be the one we will have to choose. As simple as that!
on safari
Opening private browsing mode in Safari on your Mac is very easy, you just have to select the option “File, Archive” and then choose “New private window.”
In case that use Safari on your mobile device iPhone, iPad or iPod Touchyou can activate private browsing selecting the button in the lower right corner which includes two boxes that are one on top of the other.
All the open tabs will be shown there and you can see that in the lower left corner there is the option “Private Ship”, which you must select. Done, from now on you can browse with privacy.
Facebook Comments
Disqus