If you use a shared family computer, you need to learn about browsing history. Whatever you open on the computer is automatically stored in the history of the browser, forever.
If you opened a porn link and thought nobody saw you, think again. Once you’re out of the scene, your mom can see what you’ve been doing on the computer.
And if you’re a grown man stalking your ex’s profile, thinking your wife can’t see you, think again. One look at your browser history and the gig will be up.
But of course, there is a simple solution for this – delete the history. All browsers come with a delete history option. All you have to do is delete the history after surfing the internet. But then again, if you’ve used the computer for two hours and someone checks it and sees no history at all, it raises suspicion.
The solution is private browsing on Mac (or any device for that matter).
What is private browsing?
Private browsing or incognito browsing is when nothing is recorded in the history of the browser. So if you open a particular page in private mode, your history will not show its presence.
While it will still save cookies, but they will be deleted as soon as you close the session. This makes it a pretty safe deal. You can do all other browsing on regular mode. But when you need to hide something, you can use private mode for it.
And if you want complete security, you can use the private mode all the time.
If you’re security conscious, it’s best to use private browsing on Chrome Mac all the time as nobody on your shared computer will know what exactly you’ve been browsing.
Or you can use an incognito browser like the Kingpin browser that always works in private mode and has an adblocker permanently turned on. Basically, it’s a secure browser that doesn’t record your history, store cookies or see passwords.
How secure is private browsing?
Sure, private browsing can protect you from prying eyes of someone who’s got physical access to your device. But does it protect you from other eyes as well?
As you might know, your internet service provider can see whatever you do online. Even if you’re on a non-shared device, they can still see whatever you’re doing online.
And the government – they can see what you’re doing. A number of governments all over the world keep tabs on their citizens to see what they’re doing.
Also, if there’s a hacker on your network, they can also see all your activities. You might think why would a hacker be so interested in you that they’d tap the network and steal your data?
But the fact is that hacking a network can be easier than you think. For example, if you’re on a public and free Wi-Fi, there’s a chance that it might be hacked. When you connect to a hacked Wi-Fi, hackers can see every unencrypted bit you send online.
Private or incognito browsing does not protect you from all these dangers. It can only protect you from people who have access to your physical device.
How do I turn on incognito mode on Mac
If you’re using Safari on Mac, turning on private browsing is pretty simple.
The easiest way to do this is by using a keyboard shortcut. Here’s how to open private browsing on Mac
- Hold Command+Shift+N and a new private browsing window will open.
- Browse the web on this window as usual.
- Once you’re done, close the window.
Keep in mind that if you open another window using Command+N, it will open a regular window and your session will be recorded in history.
How to turn on/off private browsing on Mac: By default, whenever you open a new window, it will be a regular window and not an incognito one.
To make sure that doesn’t happen, you can use a private browser instead. Kingpin is a browser that will always work in incognito mode. And that’s not all, it will also avoid all ads. So even if a website displays ads, you will still have a clean and ad-free experience.
You can download the Kingpin browser from the Mac App store. It costs just $10 and you can have complete peace of mind of nobody ever getting your data – even on a shared computer.
Why buy VPNs?
As I mentioned earlier, private browsing on Safari Mac doesn’t protect you from EVERYTHING. Sure, your son won’t know what shopping wish list you’ve made for his birthday. But your ISP will still know. And the government. And the hackers.
They all know what you’ve been doing. Even with the incognito mode on.
This is why many people buy VPNs. VPNs encrypt your data so nobody can see what you’re doing online.
When a VPN encrypts your data, what your ISP can see are garbled data packets. They cannot make sense of them. The same is with the government. They cannot make sense of encrypted data packets sent by using VPNs.
But wait, there’s still someone who can see what you do even when you use a VPN. And that’s the person who has access to the physical device. They can open the history of your browser and see what you’ve visited on the internet.
The right solution would be to use a private browser like Kingpin with a VPN. It will help you browse in private on Mac.
There are a number of VPNs in the market but you need to make sure that you get a reliable one. Firstly, don’t go for free VPNs. Most free VPNs utilize your data and keep a log of your activities. This is worse than using no VPN at all.
The best thing is to get a reliable VPN provider and use their services with an incognito browser.
Some of the top VPNs in the market are CyberGhost, NordVPN, and ExpressVPN. They are reviewed by thousands of users and have a record of giving high performance.
