InPrivate Browsing

When users browse the Web, they leave a record of their visits on the local computer. The browser records the visits directly in the history. Pictures are stored on the local disk as part of the browser cache. Words the user types might be recorded so AutoComplete can fill them in later.

Although these records improve performance and make it easier for users to find sites later, users occasionally want to browse without leaving a record of the Web sites they visit.
InPrivate Browsing provides that capability by opening a new browser window that is specially configured to not leave traces of the Web sites they visit.

To open an InPrivate browsing window:

1. Create a new tab by clicking a blank tab or pressing Ctrl+T.
2. Click Open An InPrivate Browsing Window.

Alternatively, users can click the Safety button on the toolbar and then click InPrivate Browsing. Finally, users can press Ctrl+Shift+P. A new window appears showing InPrivate in the title and address bars.

To erase any records of the Web sites visited while InPrivate is enabled, simply close the browser.

Note InPrivate Browsing does not protect against many types of monitoring, including firewalls, routers, or proxy servers that might record Web sites visited, keyboard monitors that might record Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) typed, and monitoring software that might record screenshots. Nonetheless, it does improve a user's privacy.

IT professionals might not want users to make use of InPrivate. To disable InPrivate, enable the Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer\InPrivate\Turn Off InPrivate Browsing Group Policy setting, as described in the section titled "New Group Policy Settings for Internet Explorer 8" later in this tutorial.