private browsing

News Byte

But I'm Working, Honey. Why Do You Need to Reformat the Drive Right Now?

Voices in News on August 6, 2010 at 9:48 am PT

The private mode built into the major browsers is supposed to let you cruise the Web without leaving any trace of your travels on the machine, providing peace of mind to people using public PCs or poking around the sketchier online neighborhoods. Now some Stanford researchers have rattled that peace, finding that even in private browsing mode, certain user settings, plug-ins and Webmaster techniques can leave identifiable tracks behind. The study also confirmed that the nickname “porn mode” is rightfully earned. As the researchers wrote, “We find [private browsing mode] to be more popular at adult sites and less popular at gift sites, suggesting that its primary purpose may not be shopping for ‘surprise gifts.’”

In Browser Wars, The New Firefox Loses Some Edge

Walt Mossberg in Personal Technology on July 15, 2009 at 3:02 pm PT

In this round of the browser war, Mozilla’s product no longer stands out as clearly superior.

Microsoft Pulls Projectile-Puking Promo

John Paczkowski in News on July 2, 2009 at 11:00 am PT

Mozilla Foundation Announces Your New Default Browser

John Paczkowski in News on June 30, 2009 at 11:30 am PT

After four beta versions and nearly as many release candidates, Firefox 3.5 is finally here. This latest version of the browser offers a number of new features. Among them: Private browsing, location aware surfing, support for emerging HTML 5 standards such as plug-in-free video and audio playing, and better JavaScript performance.

China Delays Filtering Initiative

John Paczkowski in News on June 30, 2009 at 10:00 am PT

First Test of Google’s New Browser

Walt Mossberg in Personal Technology on September 2, 2008 at 12:01 pm PT

Google’s new Chrome Web browser will make using the Internet faster and less frustrating, but this first version is rough around the edges and lacks some features, says Walt Mossberg in the first hands-on review.

IE 8 Team Nearly Finished Copying Safari 10.3 Feature Set

John Paczkowski in News on August 21, 2008 at 11:46 am PT

Apple’s Safari browser has offered “private browsing” since 2005, Firefox since 2006 (via the Stealther extension), and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer may soon offer it as well. Earlier this week, Natya Nadella, senior VP of Microsoft’s search, portal and advertising platform group, said the company is planning to give IE 8 a privacy feature for erasing search histories and the other data that browsers often log automatically.