When we browse the Internet, we always leave a trace in the browser in the form of search processes, pages visited or stored cookies . To eliminate this fingerprint, Firefox offers private browsing mode: it avoids the storage of a lot of data during browsing, which will no longer be visible to other computer users. Important: we talk about a lot of data, but not all . Here we explain how to activate the private browsing mode or incognito mode in Firefox and which data really disappears (and which does not)..
To prevent a browsing history from being generated or temporarily storing cookies , you can start Firefox with the private browsing setting. To do this, in the menu at the top right, click on ? New private window? .
A completely new window then opens in private browsing mode. You can recognize that you are in this mode by the lilac icon with the mask that appears in the upper right and in the tab bar..
To leave the private browsing mode, you just have to close the window.
If, in parallel, you have opened one or more tabs in Firefox, they will remain in open mode, in which cookies and other data are stored as standard..
As an alternative to the previous path, it is also possible to use the key combinations [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [P] or, on Mac, [Shift] + [Command] + [P] to activate incognito mode in Firefox .
If you are using Firefox and want to open a certain link in incognito mode, it is also very simple: you just have to click with the right button or with the left button and the [Ctrl] key pressed to open the contextual menu of the link and select the option ? Open link in a new private window? .
If you don't want to have to think about whether you are in private mode while browsing in Firefox, you can permanently disable history recording. To do this, in the browser menu, go to the point? Options? and, on the page that opens, select the item ? Privacy & Security? in the left menu. Scroll within the page to the point ? History? and, next to the point? Firefox may ?, select the option ? Do not remember the history? . In addition to this action, the most logical thing in this case is also to delete the Firefox history that has been recorded.
With these settings, when browsing in Firefox the purple icon with a mask is not displayed at the top of Firefox, but the browser behaves as if it were in incognito mode.
If you want to re-record your browsing history, go back to the options section and, at the point? Privacy & Security ?, select one of the other options in the drop-down menu.
Some people think that using Firefox's private browsing mode becomes practically invisible on the Internet, but this is not exactly the case. These are the data that, effectively, is not stored in private browsing mode:
However , the passwords and bookmarks you create in Firefox during private browsing are permanently stored. Also, in private mode you will receive URL suggestions based on your browsing in normal mode by typing in the address bar. Your provider continues to identify you and your browsing behavior, for example, based on the IP address used and the device. To eliminate these traces and surf really anonymously, you would have to use a VPN server client.
