The second half of the video then discusses the InPrivate of Internet Explorer 8 which is a private browsing mode allowing Internet Explorer users to access the web without leaving traces on the local computer system.

Take a look at the video below:

The comparison is problematic in several ways. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 uses an address bar and search bar to distinguish between the two while Google’s Chrome browser uses one toolbar for both searches and addresses that are typed in.

The point LePage is trying to make is that the Chrome browser sends all keystrokes to Google which is correct for the default settings. The keystrokes are send to Google Search for the suggest functionality. If the Chrome user changes the search provider the keystrokes are send to that provider and not Google. The same principle is valid for the Internet Explorer 8 search form as well. LePage is right that keystrokes are send out but it does not necessarily have to be Google who is receiving them.

A user who is changing Google Search to Bing in the Chrome browser will send all those keystrokes to Microsoft instead.

It is furthermore possible to turn that feature off in the web browser settings in the Under the hood tab. Unchecking “Use a suggestion service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar” disables the feature in the Chrome browser.

The second half of the video discusses the InPrivate feature that allows Internet Explorer users to access the Internet without leaving tracks behind in the local computer system once the session is closed. Many commenters have criticized that part because LePage is not mentioning that Google Chrome offers a similar feature.

Some viewers might come to the conclusion that Google Chrome does not have a similar feature. Then again, the video’s intention was not to compare Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 but to showcase some of the privacy features of Internet Explorer.

Customize Google for Internet Explorer is a similar add-on for Microsoft’s web browser. The current set of options is not as vast as those in its Firefox counterpart though which can largely be attributed to the early build number of the add-on. The Internet Explorer add-on can be started from the Windows start menu after installation. It will display a configuration menu with options to start and stop the Customize Google add-on for Internet Explorer.

Google services and settings are divided into categories in a sidebar. The most popular Google services like web search, Google news or Google Mail are already included in the list. A click on any entry will display the configuration options for it in the right window.

Check boxes define if an option is enabled in Internet Explorer. Security conscious users may want to disable click tracking and Google cookies that can track user behavior while using any of the Google services.

The Internet Explorer add-on does not feel feature complete at his point in time when compared to the Firefox add-on of the same name. It does however provide the security and privacy options that many users seek which should be enough reason to give it a try.

While Internet Explorer Privacy Manager would not have helped with that problem it does help in work environments where other users should not be able to access or see the websites that are opened. The software will install a Browser Helper Object in Internet Explorer that can be configured to either make the Internet Explorer web browser revert to the default home page or make the Internet Explorer browser to close after a certain time.

The time that it takes before the desired option will be applied can be configured in minutes by the user. The default time is set to five minutes and the default action is to go back to the default page of Internet Explorer.

The Internet Explorer Privacy Manager itself is a portable software program for the Windows operating system. It should work with most versions of Internet Explorer. The developers do not provide information about supported operating systems and Internet Explorer versions though.

The software can be downloaded directly from the developer’s homepage.