Rather than resetting your entire browser to be in Private Browsing Mode, why not just set it to one tab? The Private Tab extension for Firefox adds private tabs to Firefox. This way, you can use the private browsing mode of Firefox in a single tab – while the rest of the browser stays un-private.
Tag Archives | private
What Is Not Saved in Private Browsing
The private browsing feature in Firefox is beyond helpful if you need to browse without people finding out what it is you are looking at. You might know what is usually saved when you browse online, but do you know what private browsing does not save? Here is the full list, for your information:
Easier Access to Private Browsing
Here is a quick tip that is not that well known. If you want to start private browsing in a hurry, and you don’t have time to dive through the menus to start it (Tools > Start Private Browsing) then just type about:privatebrowsing into your address bar.
There you have it. Once you have done so, it will ask you if you want to switch into Firefox’s private browsing mode. You could also save about:privatebrowsing as a bookmark, so you have easy one click access to the private browsing mode, without adding any extra add-ons to Firefox.
Now here is my challenge to all of you out there, does anybody know a quick way to stop private browsing, and return your browser back to normal (other than the traditional menu method). If you do, leave it in the comments!
Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ
Want to increase your privacy on your PC? With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode. Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more. However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.
To turn on Private Browsing mode, go to Tools (in the menu bar) and then select Start Private Browsing. You will then get a popup menu asking you if you would really like to start Private Browsing mode. Hit the “Start Private Browsing” button to continue.
To be able to tell that you are in Private Browsing mode, the Firefox window title will show (Private Browsing) after the page title you are looking at. When you are privately browsing, the browser will not remember:
- Visited pages
- Form and Search Bar entries
- Passwords
- Download List entries
- Cookies
- Cached files
If you create a new bookmark while in Private Browsing mode, you will keep it after turning Private Browsing mode off. Also, if you save or download any files to your PC, those files will not be removed when you stop Private Browsing mode either (they will not though show up in the Downloads window).
To turn Private Browsing mode off, you will want to click on Tools in the menu bar, and the select Stop Private Browsing. To confirm you have done this correctly, check the Firefox window’s title bar to make sure (Private Browsing) is no longer showing.
Quickly Turn Private Browsing On (or Off)
One tweak or suggestion for this new mode is to give the user a toolbar button to turn it on or off. The Toggle Private Browsing add-on for Firefox does that. It gives you the ability to switch between private browsing and regular browsing by adding a button to either the toolbar or status bar.
I hope that helps when it comes to learning the basics about the Private Browsing mode in Firefox. How do you like it thus far, and how do you think this benefits the browser?
Collections of Add-ons
Along with the new Firefox Add-ons web site, the people at Mozilla also treated us to a new feature called collections. What are they? Well, they are a group of related add-ons that are assembled for easy sharing.
Here are some of my favorites I have found thus far:
- Web Developer’s Toolbox
12 add-ons to help you speed up the development process when it comes to web development and managing the ins and outs of your own web site. - Downloadsquad Pack
Soup up your browser with selections from the Downloadsquad.com staff and some of our readers’ favorite add-ons. They’ll help make your browsing safer, more hassle free, and more productive! - Traveler’s Pack
When the travel bug bites, these add-ons make it easy to plan, book and document your trip — without getting lost along the way.
That is just a small sample of what is out there, and who know – I might be working on a Firefox Facts Pack in the near future. Creating your own pack is easy to do. All you have to do is login to the addons.mozilla.org web site, and then visit the create a collection page. From there, you give it a name, description, decide if you want your pack to be public or private, then start naming off your add-ons that will be included.
What have been your favorite add-on collections, so far?
Help Using Tor and Privoxy in Firefox
So you want to keep your browsing a little more secret and secure? Then I have the tutorial you need to check out and read for yourself.
Tor(The Onion Router) is a tool set to improve your anonymity online. My main purpose here, is to surf websites that are banned by my ISP, or websites that banned my ISP. Its concept might sound a lot complicated, but getting it to work was just easy on my Debian box.
