Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Was there a good technical reason for the private browsing changes because they're causing me productivity issues ergonomically?

more options

In earlier versions of Firefox, leaving a private browsing sessions automatically restored the page(s) I was previously using before going private. I need to toggle back and forth with other software and now It takes more clicks and is a distraction to have to select which browser to open when I return to Firefox on the task bar. If I close the non-private browsing session and open a private session, when I return to non-private browsing I need to search History to get back to the pages that were formerly restored automatically. It's taking more clicks and causing a lot of aggravation to use the new version. Did the change solve some technical problem I wonder? Because it sure created a ergonomic and workflow problems and I'd like to know at least if the switch has some technical value because it is a step backward from an end-user ease-of-use perspective.

In earlier versions of Firefox, leaving a private browsing sessions automatically restored the page(s) I was previously using before going private. I need to toggle back and forth with other software and now It takes more clicks and is a distraction to have to select which browser to open when I return to Firefox on the task bar. If I close the non-private browsing session and open a private session, when I return to non-private browsing I need to search History to get back to the pages that were formerly restored automatically. It's taking more clicks and causing a lot of aggravation to use the new version. Did the change solve some technical problem I wonder? Because it sure created a ergonomic and workflow problems and I'd like to know at least if the switch has some technical value because it is a step backward from an end-user ease-of-use perspective.

All Replies (1)

more options

I think many people wanted to use private browsing as a small part of a regular session rather than having to completely switch modes.

If you are using the compact menus, then the orange Firefox button and purple Firefox button distinguish the non-private and private windows in your Windows 7 taskbar thumbnails. If you are using the classic menu bar, then there's no obvious indication, especially if the page has a long title. Perhaps we can find you a solution for that so you don't lose time squinting at the little thumbnails.

If you prefer separate sessions, you might experiment with the add-on Session Manager so you can save multiple sessions and go back more than one if needed (I haven't tried it myself):

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/session-manager/