How to Enable Private Browsing mode in Firefox 3.5?

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Saad Hamid on July 5, 2009

A couple of days ago Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 and the new version of this ever-favorite web browser now brings a lot a lot of new features including a Private Browsing mode.

Private Browsing mode is now a days a standard feature in all of the state-of-the-art web browsers including IE8 and Google Chrome and now with Firefox 3.5, users can surf the web or do whatever they want without leaving any traces.

Here is how to enable Private Browsing mode in Firefox:

Make sure you have downloaded the latest version of Firefox 3.5
Open the Tools menu and click on 'Start Private Browsing' or use [Shift + Control + P]
A popup will ask you to confirm your decision so click on 'Start Private Browsing' again.
Now to end the session, simply go to Tools menu and click on 'End Private Browsing'.

When Private Browsing mode in Firefox is activated, all your browsing history, cookies and data is stored temporarily and as soon as the session ends, everything is flushed so no trace is left behind.

Mike Drabik

I am quite annoyed with FF 3.5. ‘Private Browsing’ mode has an issue: if FF is configured in ‘Options’ to always open in ‘Private Browsing’ mode one gets NO indication FF is in that mode – ya know – like Google Chrome does when one has it set-up to open in ‘Incognito’ mode using a command in its Windows short-cut.

I mean WTF – how in the heck am I supposed to know if somebody has diddled with FF’s Options settings and re-configured FF to remember everything without going into the Options every time I use FF? In Chrome I know that it’s in Incognito every time I use it – immediately – no matter how I set it up.

I posted this issue at FF’s forum – only got a response that I have to select “Private Browsing” mode each time I open FF to see it flagged for it. Again – WTF – why should I have to that when it’s obvious the Mozilla groupies could have supplied Private Browsing mode with a flag no matter whether manually selected or configured that way in the Options?

I don’t see this as a ‘get it over dude’ issue either. It’s crucial and I think it must be addressed for Private Browsing mode to be effective. Other than – it’s nice a ‘bell’ to have, but not a reliable way to protect myself from those who would intrude on my privacy.

So, I guess I’ll be staying with Google Chrome until the FF groupies decide this is an issue worth addressing or some FF fan creates an add-on to show the same.