Many a times, users of browsers confuse private browsing and anonymous browsing. Not that it really matters to any average user but these concepts have slight differences. The objective of employing the concepts of private browsing and private browsing is to trigger web servers to exercise precautions and lose traces of browsing activity and/or browsing history.
Users of browsers would want to employ private browsing or anonymous browsing to achieve a number of motives. Some would be inspired to use this concept because it offers privacy to the user. Every user prefers privacy. In that case, private browsing would shield them from any browsing activity. Equally, anonymous browsing provides security to the user while browsing the web. Since little to no traces are left in the browsing history, it is challenging to track the browsing history of a particular user when following browsing history.
In the section that follows, you will learn and/or appreciate the methodologies you can employ to succeed with anonymous browsing.
Browsing via TOR
TOR (The Onion Router) is a routing system programmed to incorporate anonymous browsing functionalities. The software is designed with a number of encryption layers that allow user to perform anonymous browsing activities while surfing the internet. The good news is that this software is open source. It is readily available to any user. To succeed with TOR, you will need to install and configure it appropriately using a command line.
Using Proxy Servers
You can undertake private browsing when and if you use proxy servers. Proxy servers provide ‘virtual middle men’ to users. You can use proxy servers to indirectly access blocked sites or online hosted resource directories. To succeed with anonymous browsing using proxy servers, you will need to first, connect to the proxy servers and then initiate a request to browse a blocked site or destination directory.
By using proxy servers, you ensure your computer’s IP address is masked. In other words, web crawlers may not trace your geo-location or location of your computer. You can then enjoy the benefits of private or anonymous browsing.
Need for Private Browsing
Your boss may want to restrict your access to web browsing. Your internet service provider may also want to put restrictions on what you access while surfing the internet. You can sidestep such restrictions by using employing routing methods such as redirects and proxy servers. The objective is to prevent other users from viewing your private browsing activities. Besides you, the government, for security purposes, also needs anonymous browsing whenever surfing the internet.
Activating anonymous browsing
Most users would want to clear the browsing history to erase their browsing history lest other users of same computer read their browsing history after they are done surfing the internet. This is however basic privacy in computer usage. It is inadequate in real time web browsing.
Most popular web browsers have anonymous browsing functionality that the user should activate first before surfing the internet. As different as the web browsers so are the steps for activating private browsing functionality. In such a case tutorials on activating private browsing configurations in particular browsers may come in handy.
