How To
Best Chrome extension alternatives to incognito mode
- April 27, 2020
- Updated: March 7, 2024 at 5:10 PM
Some of us would rather crawl into a hole and die than have our friends and family see our browser history. Luckily, the incognito mode has had our backs.
Incognito mode is an incredibly useful tool for hiding your browser activity, but also for the security measures it provides. Many Google Chrome users use this function to protect themselves from a variety of online threats.
While incognito mode provides a great option for browsing, there are a few Google Chrome extensions you can use to provide the same or better privacy:
Ghostery
Ghostery is a free anti-tracking extension. It runs in the background to see if sites are tracking any of your information. When it finds a site that’s tracking you, it’ll block the information from being tracked and alert you.
It’ll also speed up your web browsing because each web page will spend less time trying to track your information.
HTTPS Everywhere
Most sites have an HTTP version to open them, but not all sites have an HTTPS version. Typically, your web browser will open the HTTP version (which is the unsecured version) by default.
HTTPS Everywhere makes your browser check for an HTTPS version of a site first. That way, if it’s available, you can have a secure connection to the site without needing to worry about any invasive malware.
Vanilla Cookie Manager
This extension can be used to speed up your computer, as well as protect yourself from potentially dangerous cookies. Since cookies are necessary to run certain sites, it lets you fully manage the cookies that each site is trying to place on your computer.
It will also tell you whether these cookies are tracking your information or not. You will have a good understanding of how they work before you decide whether you want to block them.
DuckDuckGo Privacy
This extension provides an alternative search engine to Google. While Google records your search results and your information, DuckDuckGo will let you search completely as if you were in incognito mode.
It even gives you a privacy grade for each website you visit, letting you see how secure each one is. You can also use this extension to force open HTTPS versions of sites.
Hide Incognito Mode
While this isn’t exactly an alternative to incognito mode, it will fix one of the main problems people have with it. Some sites are able to detect when you’re in an incognito window and will prevent you from viewing their site until you’ve switched. This extension lets you bypass these security measures so you can continue your incognito browsing.
Another alternative
If you’re worried about privacy, you might consider switching browsers entirely. Chrome isn’t really your best bet for that. Firefox is a great alternative. You could also try Brave, which offers you everything you love about Chrome with much better privacy, built-in ad blockers, and more.
Wrapping up
These are just a few of the fantastic extensions you can use on Google Chrome. If you haven’t been using any until now, you may want to check out our list of the best Chrome extensions for Windows. Each of these privacy extensions can enhance your browsing experience, but so can dozens of other extensions as well.
Troy Zaher is a professional writer and journalist for Softonic, specializing in gaming and social media news. He is a 2018 graduate of Fitchburg State University with a bachelors of English.
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