Going InPrivate in Edge Chromium

James recently upgraded to the new Microsoft Edge Chromium web browser and wondered how to enable "private browsing."

With the amount of personal information that is transmitted every day through our web browsers, it is understandable wanting to limit that information in some way. Private browsing has been around in many of the newer web browsers for a while. It allows a user to mask or hide the trail of breadcrumbs that are left behind during your web session. This includes things such as cookies, history, passwords, and more. The name for private browsing changes based on the web browser you are using. Google Chrome, for example, calls this feature Incognito, while Edge Chromium calls it InPrivate Browsing.

Enabling InPrivate Browsing

To enable an InPrivate Browsing session you need to follow these simple steps:

1. Press the Windows key and type (without quotes) "Edge", then press Enter. This launches the Microsoft Edge Chromium browser. If you have the app pinned you could also click on the pin.
2. Click on the Menu icon in the toolbar at the top-right corner of the browser. A drop-down menu appears. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. Microsoft Edge Chromium Menu.

3. Click on the New InPrivate Window option or, alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Shift+N to enable an InPrivate Browser session. A new, dark browser window opens. You can also tell if the browser is in InPrivate Browsing mode by the InPrivate button in the address bar. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. Microsoft Edge Chromium InPrivate toolbar button.

With the InPrivate Browser session started, any information that is generated during your session will not be kept. To end an InPrivate session simply click on the InPrivate button in the address bar. A pop-up window appears asking if you're sure; click Yes. This ends the InPrivate session, and all information from that point on will begin to be kept. (This is because you are back into a regular browser session after the InPrivate session is completed.)

It is important to note that InPrivate Browsing only prevents the information from being tracked within your browser, on your computer. It does not stop your ISP from tracking what sites you pull up or other information they might track. This also goes for the NSA or even the websites you visit.

 This tip (13751) applies to Windows 10.