There are times when you want to browse the web in stealth mode, without leaving any trace of what you did on the computer, maybe because your boss wouldn’t want you to do so, or maybe because you are planning a surprise for someone and you don’t want them to know…Well there is Firefox Private Mode that allows you to browse the internet without leaving signs about what you just did, but Google has its own in its Chrome browser, and today that’s what we are going to talk about.

Incognito mode is a particular state of Chrome in which the pages you visit won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. This does not mean that the website you visited won’t have records of you, but just that anything you just on your computer has never really happened.

However, any files you download or bookmarks you create during the incognito session will be preserved, and visible by anyone who has access to the machine.

How To Start Incognito Mode

That is really simple to do: in Chrome, just press Ctrl+Shift+N (in Windows or Linux) or ⌘+Shift+N (on a Mac) and a new blank window will open, distinguishing itself by the man with glasses on the top right. Here you can be sure that anything you just did, was just a dream!

Another way to start it without using a keyboard shortcut, is by clicking on the tools icon on the right side of your toolbar, and select New Incognito Window

Start Chrome In Incognito Mode (In Windows)

If you never want to be spied by people, and always want to be invisible, you can avoid the boring process of opening an Incognito window everytime, but you can simply set Chrome to start in Incognito mode automatically.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create a desktop shortcut to Chrome (if there is not one already) and name it so that you know that it is the Incognito Chrome




2. Right click on the shortcut and select properties: in the Target text box, just add ” -incognito” after the path, and be sure that the is a space before the dash

And that’s it! Now everytime you want to browse stealthy, just click on that shortcut and enjoy!

Any questions you have just ask in the comments section below!

Photo Credit: Laurwin (Smooth Criminal MJ)