Create Private Browsing Mode Shortcuts for Your Web Browser.
Private Browsing is a mode in all modern web browsers that, when activated, deletes any session data such as browsing history and cookies. If you want to surf the web without saving anything locally on your computer, Private Browsing is the best choice.
Please note that private browsing mode will prevent you from browsing the web anonymously or preventing other websites or intermediaries such as your ISP from tracking your activity. If you want to do this, be sure to read my post on how to properly delete your search history.
In this article, I’ll show you how to create shortcuts that allow you to open your favorite web browser in private mode by default. The method for creating and editing a shortcut is pretty much the same for all browsers, so I’ll walk you through how to do that first.
create Shortcut
If you already have a shortcut to your web browser on your desktop, just right-click it and select Send to – Desktop (create shortcut). You can also just open the Start menu and drag the program to the desktop to create a shortcut.
If you don’t have a shortcut for your browser, you can create one by navigating to the folder containing the EXE file. You will find it all in C: \ Program Files \ or C: \ Program Files (x86) \ under the appropriate program name.
Right click and select the same options as above. To change a shortcut, right-click it on the desktop and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
The Properties dialog box opens with the Shortcut tab active. For each browser, we need to edit the command specified in the Target field by adding a parameter. See the following sections for the text to add to the end of the command for each browser.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome calls its private browsing mode incognito mode. You can read my previous post to learn how to enable Private Browsing in Chrome and Opera.
To launch Chrome in incognito mode by default when using a shortcut, edit the shortcut as above and add the incognito command line switch to the end of the line in the Target edit box.
NOTE. Incognito is preceded by a double hyphen / hyphen and a space before the hyphens.
“C: \ Program Files (x86) \ Google \ Chrome \ Application \ chrome.exe” – incognito
Chrome displays a detective icon in the upper-left corner of the window to indicate that you are in incognito mode.
Mozilla Firefox
To learn how to enable private browsing temporarily and permanently from Firefox, read our previous post, “Enabling Private Browsing in Firefox”.
To start Firefox in private browsing mode by default when using a shortcut, edit the shortcut as above and add the –private command line switch to the end of the line in the Target edit box.
NOTE: a single hyphen is preceded by a private hyphen and a space is preceded by a hyphen.
“C: \ Program Files (x86) \ Mozilla Firefox \ firefox.exe” -private
When you open Firefox, a purple bar is displayed at the top, indicating that you are currently browsing privately.
Internet Explorer / Microsoft Edge
Internet Explorer calls its private browsing mode InPrivate Browsing, and this is a feature of IE since IE 8. Check out my previous post on how to enable InPrivate Browsing in IE and Microsoft Edge.
To launch Internet Explorer in the default InPrivate Browsing mode when using a shortcut, edit the shortcut as above and add the same command line switch as Firefox, –private, to the end of the line in the Target edit box.
NOTE. It is one hyphen before the quotient and a space before the hyphen.
“C: \ Program Files \ Internet Explorer \ iexplore.exe” -private
You can also easily launch Internet Explorer in InPrivate Browsing by using the default icon on the taskbar. Right-click the Internet Explorer button on the taskbar and choose Start InPrivate Browsing from the pop-up menu.
After you start Internet Explorer in InPrivate Browsing, the program indicates that you are in InPrivate Mode in several ways: the address bar displays an InPrivate indicator, the new tab title is InPrivate, and you receive a message that it is enabled. …
Note: If you cannot find the link for IE, you can click Start and type Internet Explorer. Then right-click and select “Open File Location”.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t work with Microsoft Edge yet. I was able to find the application file for Edge here:
C: \ Windows \ SystemApps \ Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe
However, when you try to create a desktop shortcut, it just won’t open Edge. The only way to open Edge right now is from the Start menu or from the taskbar. Perhaps this will change in the future.
Opera
To learn how to enable Opera Private Browsing from within the program, see our previous post, “Enabling Private Browsing in Chrome and Opera.”
Unlike other browsers, Opera’s command line switch no longer works. In older versions of Opera, you could create a new private tab, or a new private window in which all tabs were private. The most recent version of Opera only supports the new private window, like all other browsers.
However, the command line switch for Opera is -newprivatetab, which no longer works. The command line switch to launch an Opera window with full private browsing, if it exists, is not listed in the Opera documentation on their site we could find (http://www.opera.com/docs/switches/
This means that when you use a shortcut, it just opens a new private tab. It only opens a new private tab if you already have a private window open! So this command line switch is useless at the moment if you are using Opera. You can tell when Opera is in private mode by seeing a lock icon in the front left corner of the tab. NOTE. It is one hyphen before newprivatetab and a space before the hyphen. “C: \ Program Files (x86) \ Opera \ launcher.exe” -newprivatetab In this article, we have covered the most popular browsers for creating a private browsing shortcut. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to comment. Enjoy! –
Create Private Browsing Mode Shortcuts for Your Web Browser