What’s private or incognito mode?
About this video
Kelly explains that private or incognito mode makes your computer forget what happened in that browsing session, such as cookies and logins, once you close the window. It does not stop other software, a work administrator or the wifi network from seeing what you did, and it gives up the conveniences of cookies like remembered logins and better suggestions.
You'll be able to
- explain what private or incognito mode does.
- explain what incognito mode does not protect against.
- weigh the trade-offs of using incognito mode.
Key words
- Incognito / private mode
- A browser window that forgets your session on your computer once you close it.
- Cookies
- Small bits of information websites save to remember you, like your login.
- Administrator
- A person who manages computers at a workplace or school and may see activity.
Transcript
- So Kelly, one thing that I see on a lot of browsers, they might have like a private mode, or an incognito mode. What do those things generally do, and how private, or incognito are they, and what should we still think about, even if we are using those modes?
- So, generally, a private mode, or incognito mode means that what is happening in that browsing session on your computer stays there. So, sometimes when you browse the web, you get things like cookies that remember who you are, remember different things that have happened, so for instance, a site that you've visited it before, maybe that you've logged in before.
So what those windows do is they say that once you close that window, everything is forgotten on your computer. But what they don't mean, is that no one can know what happened, because they don't protect against other software running on your computer. If you're at work, your work administrator might still have access to what's happening on your computer or even the Wi-fi network might have some sort of record of what traffic's going through it.
- So to clean out a lot of the things that might be saved on your computer, when you're normally browsing. And what are the disadvantages of using that mode?
- The disadvantages are, some of the things that cookies do are conveniences for you. So for instance, if you remember your login on a website, that makes it much easier for you to log in next time. Or maybe, you want to have your video service, remember what videos you like, so that it can give you better suggestions next time.
So, the internet, there are a lot of advantages to some of the things like cookies. It's just a question of, in that particular moment, is that something that's useful to you? Or is that something that you wanna avoid, by using a private or incognito browsing?
- Super useful. Thanks so much, Kelly.
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