[gui-talk] private browsing question

[Blaine Clark]

Private or incognito browsing opens the browser with all settings maxed 
to either block cookies or to erase cookies when the browser is shut 
down. It also usually erases history when shut down.
Most of the free, open source browsers have add-ons that can be 
installed that will do pretty much the same thing full time. There are 
cookie blockers and eaters, history erasers, add-ons that force HTTPS 
over regular HTTP when possible. HTTPS offers a big boost in online 
security when it's available. There are ad blockers too, but they quite 
often slow your browsing way down, sometimes to the point of freezing. 
Once in a while the other add-ons can cause some odd behavior with the 
browser and sometimes with programs that interact with the browsers too.
Another problem is, I can't say how accessible or inaccessible each of 
those add-ons are as far as installing and setting up properly. There 
are dozens, if not hundreds of them between all the different browsers! 
Firefox, Google Chrome, Chromium and Opera are available to name just 
the more popular free and open source browsers. For myself, I use the 
developer's version of Opera which is version 24. The common Opera 
release is something like version 12 I believe. I also use Linux which 
alters accessibility differently than Microsoft and Mac.
I've found that by using the system hosts file you can eliminate the ad 
blockers and most ads. It's a pain where a pill can't reach to edit and 
keep the hosts file updated. It's not the easiest way to block ads, but 
it's the most efficient way for your browser and your internet 
connection. Using the hosts file cuts down on your bandwidth usage and 
thereby gives you a little bit of a boost in speed as well as blocking 
ads before they're even downloaded. If you're one of the ones that has 
to pay for using any extra volume of bandwidth over and above a monthly 
allotment, this method can save you some of that volume and a bit of 
cash on your ISP bill. The ad blocker add-ons block the ads only after 
they've been downloaded by just preventing your browser from displaying 
them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file) 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_%28file%29>