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2 May 2011 By ABradney-George

What Is Private Browsing?

2 May

Hearing A Lot About Private Browsing But Not Sure What It Really Means? This Guide Will Help Shed Some Light On Internet Browser Privacy Options.

From web history to images, videos and even text, every time we use the internet a range of data is automatically being stored on the computer. Private browsing is a feature of many web browsers which reduced the amount of data that is kept during an online session.

In terms of security it means that important information, such as credit card numbers or bank details, will not be saved so that anyone can access them. It also allows people to access sites without worrying about leaving behind a history of the site visits. These features can be useful for a number of reasons and situations such as:

Using a public computer or a friend's computer
Sharing a computer with other people
Accessing websites with content of a sensitive nature; and
Performing a range of online banking or filing tasks where the information needs to be protected against fraud

The first browser to introduce a privacy mode was Apple's Safari, but since then most of the popular browsers have private browsing options, including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. The names for these settings can vary, Chrome for example has named the private browsing feature "Incognito", while Internet Explorer's mode is "InPrivate Browsing" and both Safari and Firefox use the straighforward name "Private Mode".

Some browsers also have private browsing as separate window, like the latest version of Opera which offers private browsing for both windows and individual tabs. The features of private browsing will vary from browser to browser, but all of them offer greater security and protection of personal information when browsing the web.

Activating the private browsing feature varies depending on the specific web browser, but generally involves going to the settings section of the browser, finding the privacy setting option and choosing the privacy mode available.