Private browsing is a feature, that is available in most web browsers, used to limit the accessibility of your navigation history. This allows the user to enjoy the navigation without taking care of deleting the history records.
When you are in a relationship, no matter how stable this is, you will always become insecure, or at least, start having some doubts, if you notice that your boyfriend or husband uses private browsing. But…That is not to say that there are valid reasons behind, “why my husband uses private browsing”.
When you want to hide what you do online, you use a private browsing mode like Incognito from Google Chrome or VPN. But do you know how much you’re hiding when you use this navigation mode?
Whether you want to know if private browsing is actually helpful or if you are looking to learn how to unveil the secret navigation history of your partner, this article will pay off in both situations.
The Reasons That Are Behind Why My Husband Uses Private Browsing
Advantages of Private Browsing
Every modern browser includes a private or incognito browsing mode. Regardless of the name of that function, its utility might be amazing. The idea of private browsing or incognito is often associated with the use of pornography or with hiding things from a life partner or a colleague with whom you share a computer.
In fact, this feature, named Incognito Mode in Chrome, Private Browsing in Firefox and Safari, or InPrivate Browsing in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer, is surprisingly useful in many situations, other than hiding the navigation history, as it may be observed below.
Restricting Access to Private Data
Some individuals use incognito navigation just because it restricts access to other personal information (for example your location), not, necessarily, because it restricts access to the navigation history.
Stopping the Unintentional Storage of Confidential information
Using a private browsing limits the unintentional storage of confidential information used by some websites.
Sign in to Multiple Accounts
The incognito navigation gives you the advantage of signing in to multiple accounts through different browsing tabs. Most sites you use with a username and password, whether it’s email or social networking, do not allow authentication from a single browser with different accounts.
This limitation is useful for you when you sign in to Google and you like to be logged into YouTube, Gmail or Google Drive, from different accounts, without any extra sign out intervention.
Preventing Ads from Annoying Pages
In cases where your partner or a house guest use your computer, even for a short period like 10 minutes, the cookies from certain aggressive sites get stuck and you will become bombarded with thousands of ads due to that particular 10 minutes browsing.
Amazon is the most aggressive in implementing this system. If you once looked at an object on Amazon, every time you go to this online store, you’ll see related searches on the front page, among the first suggestions.
Moreover, it does not matter if you are logged in or not. Everything happens through cookies and does not require any intervention on your part. Additionally, annoying ads, related to that particular searched object, might appear.
Get Fresh Navigation Results
Everything you do on the internet, every online store you visit or account you log in, influences how your web pages appear. Nowhere else is this principle more valid than Google searches. When you are logged in with your personal account, the order of the search results will be significantly affected. In an incognito-initiated navigation, you will no longer be logged in, and the search results will be independent and clean, uninfluenced by your online activity.
Read More Articles Avoiding the “Limit Per Day” Restriction
You can bypass the paywall and read more free articles per day or month. An increasing number of editorial content websites, including news, articles, reviews, or important researches and studies, have a material limitation system that prevents you from reading for free as much as you want.
The alternative is to pay a few bucks to fix the problem, but why should you do it when you have the free incognito browsing? In the context that this limit is defined and maintained by cookies saved in your favorite browser, an incognito browsing session should open the same page without any problems.
So, if one is using private browsing it does not directly imply that he or she is trying to hide something. The reasons are, most of the time, related to privacy concerns, but private browsing can be used also due to the advantages stated above.
What Cannot Private Browsing Do
Unfortunately, private browsing is not a miraculous solution, and some individuals and entities can follow you, depending on which browser you use and how it is configured:
- The files you download, and the bookmarks you set, remain where they were saved. You must delete them manually if you do not want others to see them.
- You are not protected by keyloggers and spyware. Although the browser deletes the data you entered, keyloggers and spyware are independent programs that intercept everything you type. To protect yourself from these threats, you need a good antivirus.
- Your internet provider knows everything you do online unless you connect to a VPN, along with private browsing, to encrypt your traffic.
- If you are in a company or organization, and your browser communicates with the Internet through a proxy server or a Domain Name Server (DNS) managed by that organization, then the IT department or will have a full idea upon what did you do online. To protect yourself, you need a VPN in addition to private browsing.
- The pages you visit know that you have visited. The usage of more complex tracking software has become a must for companies measuring traffic, therefore, the incognito mode will not disguise you.
Final Thoughts
Many people misunderstand the way private browsing works. Private browsing in your partner or friend is not always a warning sign. That individual may not be cheating on you or searching for nasty things.
Incognito navigation has certain advantages, from protecting sensitive data, like bank accounts information, to getting rid of annoying ads or enjoying more articles over the limit per day restriction.