All about Incognito browser

Incognito is a way of browsing the internet, that does not save your browsing history on your computer. Basically, that is all it does.

I wanted to talk about Incognito browsing because recently a customer said he uses Incognito it to keep websites and his ISP from knowing what he was doing. While I applaud the idea of keeping people who don’t need to know things in the dark; none of that is actually happening.

When you use Incognito your ISP does know where you have gone, your IT department at the office still knows what you are up to and the websites still know you have arrived. They just don’t know how often as each occurrence is new. They are not able to install cookies. The only potential people that don’t know about your web browsing are those who try to check your online activity by looking at your browser history on your physical computer.

So in other words, mostly family members can hide from other family members but that is about it. And if those family members are really trying to find out what you are doing on the internet, well there are other tricks/programs for that.

So what is Incognito good for then?

. Hiding Adult material searches from family or peers. (In other words, hiding PORN. Likely the main reason Incognito is used.)

. Keeping personal information from auto filling on someone else’s computer. (like your email) This is a very good feature to use if you are checking your personal email on someone else’s computer.

. We have all seen examples of searching for something turning into the suggested search every single place you go. So Incognito can help keep that random search from showing up on every single page you go to for the next 30 days. Let’s say you are thinking Halloween and you search Raccoon Mask. As expected, the following day, it now shows up on every site you visit as an ad suggestion. “hey, want to buy a Raccoon mask?” check out this site and this site and this ad…and the next thing you know, you are showing your mom a bridal dress you like and Raccoon Masks keep showing up leaving her very confused about your honeymoon plans! Who needs it?  Incognito mode.

. Hiding great things from family members – like surprises. Thinking of surprising someone with a trip, jewelry, far out holiday gift? Well, you may want to use Incognito for that or you may find Amazon making a suggestions you’d rather they didn’t make! Tattle tale! It’s like that Raccoon Mask. If you search it, it will keep showing up like you are forgetful about actually buying it.  Rescue yourself with Incognito mode.

. Shopping for airline tickets? Some research suggests price increases for people who check the same flight repeatedly. From Air travel associate: “When purchasing items on the internet (especially airline tickets), use incognito mode on your browser. We use your own cookies against you: raising the price on tickets the more times you check, as you shop around for better deals. That way you’ll think the price is going up or that seats are being actively sold – thus increasing your urgency to buy, and punishing you for trying to get a good deal.” It’s not been determined if this is true or not. Some suggest they have tried and it and it is.  You may want to use Incognito mode on this.

Want to try it? Simply open Chrome, click on the three dots in the upper right hand corner of your screen, then select “open new Incognito Window” You will know you have arrived by the new icons and the black background.