Sunday, July 20, 2014

Q and A: Keep your browsing secret

By Kim Kamando  |  USA Today  |  July 14, 2014

Q. I'm getting really tired of ad companies tracking what I do online so they can send me more annoying ads. What can I do to get rid of them?

A. Every major Web browser – Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera – has private, or incognito, browsing. Turning this on means your browser will ignore cookies – including ad-tracking cookies – and won't record your browsing history. It's almost like you weren't online.

To fire up private browsing, just hit CTRL+SHIFT+P (CTRL+OPTION+P on Macs). This works in every browser except Chrome. In Chrome, the shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+N (OPTION+SHIFT+N on Macs). You can also enable private browsing mode from your browser's main menu.

When your browser is in private browsing mode, it will show a special icon. If you don't see a purple mask in Firefox, the spy in Chrome or the "InPrivate" in IE, then you aren't secure.

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