Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history
Revision Information
- Revision id: 143507
- Created:
- Creator: Ömer Timur
- Comment: remove {for fx42}
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: AliceWyman
- Is approved? No
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: No
Revision Source
Revision Content
As you browse the web, Firefox remembers lots of information for you - like the sites you've visited. There may be times, however, when you don't want people with access to your computer to see this information, such as when shopping for a present. Private Browsing allows you to browse the Internet without saving any information about which sites and pages you’ve visited.
Private Browsing also includes What happened to Tracking Protection?, which prevents companies from tracking your browsing history across multiple sites. To learn more about Private Browsing with Tracking Protection in Firefox, see What happened to Tracking Protection?.
We'll show you how it works.
Table of Contents
How do I open a new Private Window?
There are two ways to open a new Private Window.
Open a new, blank Private Window
- Click the menu button and then click
Tip: Also you can use keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + P .
Open a link in a new Private Window
- Right-clickHold down the control key while you click
on any link and choose from the context menu.
What does Private Browsing not save?
- Visited pages: No pages will be added to the list of sites in the History menu, the Library window's history list, or the Awesome Bar address list.
- Form and Search Bar entries: Nothing you enter into text boxes on web pages or the Search bar will be saved for Form autocomplete.
- Passwords: No new passwords will be saved.
- Download List entries: No files you download will be listed in the Downloads Window after you turn off Private Browsing.
- Cookies: Cookies store information about websites you visit such as site preferences, login status, and data used by plugins like Adobe Flash. Cookies can also be used by third parties to track you across websites. For more info about tracking, see How do I turn on the Do Not Track feature?
- Cached Web Content and Offline Web Content and User Data: No temporary Internet files (cached files) or files that websites save for offline use will be saved.
- New bookmarks you create while using Private Browsing will be saved.
- Any files you download to your computer while using Private Browsing will be saved.
Can I set Firefox to always use Private Browsing?
Firefox is set to remember history by default but you can change this setting in your Firefox Privacy Settings (click the Firefox menu , choose and select the panel). When you change your History setting to Never remember history, this is equivalent to always being in Private Browsing mode. For more information, see Settings for privacy, browsing history and do-not-track.
Other ways to control what information Firefox saves
- You can always remove recent browsing, search and download history after visiting a site.
- Read more articles on this topic: Passwords, forms, search, and history - control what Firefox suggests