The situation is different on public PCs, work PCs and other shared computer systems as it is usually a good idea to protect your privacy from the prying eyes of others. Sometimes it may even be essential to avoid the leaking of work secrets or other confidential data.

Chrome’s Incognito Mode works much like the other private browsing modes. Users can start it with the shortcut Ctrl-Shift-n or a click on the Wrench icon and the selection of New Incognito Window from the context menu.

Incognito Mode blocks the writing of permanent session data. This includes the browsing and search history, cookies or cached files. When users select to run the mode, a new window is launched. Incognito Mode is indicated by an icon in the upper left corner and information on new tab pages.

One of the issues with Chrome’s Incognito Mode is that it is not possible to configure default actions for domains. Whenever you want to launch a site in the private browsing mode, you need to perform the same steps. An automated solution would make the experience more comfortable and secure, as it would eliminate the possibility of forgetting to launch a site in the mode.

Ghost Incognito is a free extension for the Google Chrome web browser that maintains a list of domain names that should always be loaded in Chrome’s Incognito Mode.

The extension adds an icon to Chrome’s address bar. A click on the icon forces the browser to load the active domain in Incognito Mode whenever it is loaded. The current website will be loaded in Incognito Mode right away, and the same happens if the website is opened in future browsing sessions.

The list of domains can be cleared completely. Users who want to clear specific domains only first need to allow the extension to run in Incognito Windows. The extension icon then appears in those windows where it can be clicked to remove the domain from the listing.

There is no way of telling which domains have been forced to run in the private browsing mode.

Chrome users can download and install the Ghost Incognito extension from the official Chrome web store.

The Incognito mode

The incognito mode can be used as a stealth mode in effect. It turns off the browser tracking and does not allow the tracking of the web pages being browsed or the files that were downloaded to the user memory during a particular browsing session. The feature also automatically deletes the cookies and all the other temporary files which are related to the browsing session on Google Chrome. This provides an increased and improved level of privacy for highly sensitive and secured browsing such as processing online banking services, payment procedures and using various access credentials for starting up various web based applications.

Various methods to start Incognito:

Method 1: For using Incognito temporarily for a particular browsing session on a particular tab window.

Ctrl+Shift+N is a keyboard shortcut to initiate a new Chrome Window in Incognito mode. A Google Chrome web browser can be launched in Incognito mode directly from the taskbar in Windows by simply right clicking and selecting the option of “Open link in Incognito Window”. This will initiate the Incognito mode temporarily for a particular browsing session in a particular window tab where it is necessary for the information to be kept private and clear of tracking.

Method 2: For using Incognito continuously for different sessions at regular intervals.

In this method the browser is set in Incognito mode by default, and every time the browser is launched from a desktop shortcut it opens in Incognito mode. First right click the Google Chrome shortcut icon on the desktop and select properties. In the target field type “–incognito” (space dash incognito without quotes) at the end of the line and then click on the OK button. Once this procedure is complete, Google Chrome will be launched in Incognito mode every time the Chrome browser is opened through the shortcut.

Google Chrome Instant

The Google Chrome Instant feature is an instant search tool feature which allows the browser to show dynamically updated webpages and search results instantly while the information is typed in the address bar of the browser, even before hitting the enter button. It is a smart search which gets dynamically updated as more information is typed in the address bar, until the desired results are found.

Enabling Instant:

Click on the wrench icon and select Options for Windows, preferences for Mac and Linux and Settings on Chrome OS. Now click the basics tab, and check the box next to “Enable Instant for faster searching and browsing”.
Chrome Instant may not work due to inadequate connection speed of the internet services or during certain inappropriate searches, when the instant feature is not triggered to show the search results instantly. Instant does not work in Incognito mode.

Do you think that these tips will help you? And are you likely to use them?

Incognito Mode spawns a new window every time it is activated. Activation is done by either pressing Ctrl-Shift-N or clicking on the wrench icon and selecting New Incognito Window from the context menu.

Users who want to always open a website or domain in Incognito Mode have to do so manually on every browsing session as there is no option available to automate that process.

That’s where the Chrome extension Autonito offers to step in. The extension offers to store a list of websites and domains that should always be launched in Incognito Mode in the browser. Autonito spawns an Incognito window automatically whenever one of the stored domain names or IPs is loaded from bookmarks or manually in the address bar.

It basically automates the process so that selected websites and domains are always opened in Incognito Mode in the browser. The list of sites and IPs is managed in the extension’s options.

Sites are added from a simple form on the options page. Chrome users need to enter the domain or IP exactly, www.example.com and example.com are for instance two different domains. Sites can be removed with a click on the delete button next to each site listing.

Autonito is available for direct installation at the Chrome extensions repository.

Update: The Autonito extension for Google Chrome has been removed from the Chrome Web Store. Alternatives are thankfully available. Among them Incognito Regex which uses regular expression matches to launch websites or domains in Chrome’s Incognito Mode or Ghost Incognito to add domains to a list of sites that are opened in the private browsing mode automatically.

Google Chrome users can launch the private browsing mode manually in the web browser, or automatically by launching the web browser with the private browsing startup parameter.

The Chrome extension Autonito adds a third possibility. Chrome users can define websites in the extension that should always be loaded in incognito mode. Websites are added or removed in the extension’s options. The extension will automatically launch a new incognito window whenever a Chrome user clicks on a link pointing to a website included in the list, opens the site from the bookmarks or enters the site url into the address bar.

The extension currently has difficulties with cookies, which are stored in the browser. It is likely that the developer will update the extension as this is a known issue. It is however possible to work around that issue.

google chrome incognito

It is possible to block cookies from specific websites in the Chrome options. Open the Chrome options by clicking on the Tools icon and selecting Options from the context menu. Switch to Under the bonnet, and click on the Content Settings button.

A click on Exceptions displays the configuration menu to add cookies to a whitelist or blacklist. Simply click on Add, enter the domain name in the pattern field, and select Block from the available actions.

block cookies

Autonito can automate the usage of the incognito mode in Chrome. The only possible problem that we see is that the list of sites that are automatically launched in incognito mode is available in the browser. But the list does not necessarily mean that the site is visited by the user who has configured it.

Autonito can be downloaded from the official Google Chrome Extensions Gallery.

The incognito mode can be started by pressing Ctrl-Shift-N or by selecting New Incognito Window from the tools menu in the browser toolbar.

There is however no option to open an existing website in incognito mode.

Incognito Switcher is an extension for the Google Chrome browser that can do just that. The extension adds an icon in the Chrome address bar that provides access to this functionality.

A click on the button will change the state of the current tab from normal mode into incognito mode and vice verse.

A double-click on the icon will switch the whole window to incognito mode and back to normal mode.

It should be noted that switching a tab or window to incognito mode will not remove the records that already exist in the browser, only future records will be removed by the private browsing mode.

This makes it for instance interesting when an Internet user encounters wants to open links on a current website in incognito mode.

Keyboard shortcuts can be configured in the options of the Chrome extension to switch to or from incognito mode with the keyboard.

Incognito Switcher can be downloaded from the Google Chrome extensions gallery.

The latest versions of Chromium, the Open Source core of Google Chrome, outline another interesting feature that will be available soon in the web browser as well: Allowing extensions to run in incognito mode.

Incognito Mode is the private browsing mode in Google Chrome. This mode prevents that data from that browsing session will be recorded in the web browser so that no traces of it can be found after ending the session.

No extensions are enabled by default and in previous versions of the web browser. The main reason for this behavior is that some extensions do record data which could interfere with the incognito mode.

The latest Chromium releases now give the user the choice whether to enable an extension in incognito mode. It would for instance be no problem to activate extensions that do not record data so that they can be used in incognito mode as well.

The option to allow extensions to run in incognito mode is available in the Google Chrome extension manager. Placing a checkmark in the “Allow this extension to run in incognito” box will enable that extension in the private browsing mode.

The feature is currently only available in Chromium with the likelihood that it will be implemented in one of the next Google Chrome development version updates.

It is important to note that private browsing is only helpful to avoid records of browsing sessions on the computer used. It does not hide the user from the Internet Provider or websites that they visit.

Private Browsing can be enabled in the Firefox Tool menu. It will display a popup that contains information that private browsing mode will be started and all currently open tabs will be saved to be reopened after the private browsing session ends.

Firefox will not record browsing history, search history, download history, web form history, cookies and temporary Internet files. Bookmarks as well as downloads on the other hand will be retained in private browsing mode.

Firefox will add the (private browsing) string to the title which is a indicator for anyone that Private Browsing is enabled. Private Browsing can be disabled from the Tools menu again by selecting the same menu entry that activated it.

Users who regularly clear data when closing Firefox might wonder why they should be using the Private Browsing mode at all. The main difference between clearing data when closing the browser and using the Private Browsing mode is that the Private Browsing mode will never store data on the hard drive. This might however happen when cleaning Firefox data by closing the browser. First, data could be recovered and second it will still be there if Firefox closes unexpectedly.