Buzz
Most modern browsers have a private browsing mode inspired by the "Incognito Mode" of Google Chrome. On Internet Explorer, this private browsing feature is called "InPrivate Browsing." When you use this mode, your browsing activities will not be recorded on your computer. You can use InPrivate Browsing on both the Desktop and Metro interfaces of Internet Explorer.
Steps
Internet Explorer (Desktop)
If you are using a Surface tablet or Windows, refer to the next section.
Open Internet Explorer. To use InPrivate Browsing (Incognito), you need Internet Explorer version 8 or later.
- If you are using Windows 7 or later, your version is sufficient.
- To check your current version, click the gear icon or the Help menu and select "About Internet Explorer". Click here for more details on updating your browser.
Click the gear icon or the Tools menu and select "InPrivate Browsing". If you don't see it, press the Alt key and click on the Tools menu that appears. A new InPrivate window will open.
- You can also press Ctrl + Shift + P.
Browse privately in the new window. The InPrivate window will not save your browsing history or website data. Any new tabs created within this window will also be in private mode. However, this does not protect you from anyone who may track your web activity over the network.
- Previous browsing activities in a regular window will still be recorded.
Set Internet Explorer to always open in InPrivate Browsing mode. If you often use InPrivate Browsing, you can set your browser to always start in this mode for convenience.
- Right-click the Internet Explorer shortcut and select "Properties".
- Find the "Target" field in the Shortcut tab.
- Add -private at the end of the Target line. Ensure you don't omit a space at the end of the line and the - symbol.
- Click Apply to save the changes. Internet Explorer will now open in InPrivate Browsing mode each time you use that shortcut.
Internet Explorer (Metro)
Launch Internet Explorer. This method is intended for the Metro version of Internet Explorer 11 that comes integrated with Windows 8.
Click the 'Tabs' button at the bottom of the screen, located to the right of the address bar. The Tabs panel will appear.
Click the "..." button at the top of the Tabs panel and choose 'New InPrivate Tab' (New InPrivate Tab). A new incognito tab will open in the browser.
Use the Tabs panel to switch between InPrivate and regular tabs. InPrivate tabs will be marked in the Tabs panel for easy identification.
- InPrivate Browsing cannot prevent your network administrator or superiors from seeing the websites you've visited.
Warning
- InPrivate Browsing does not make your online activities anonymous or private. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider), superiors, and/or network administrators can still access all your activity logs.
