How can you benefit from using incognito?

Answer 1

The main reason people use incognito mode on their browsers is for privacy.
Websites you visit are not stored in your browser history, neither are cookies and active logins. As soon as you close the browser, all the information about the session is deleted. This is very useful for those who use shared computers or public computers.
Cookies generated from advertisements which latch themselves onto your browser to identify what sites you visit so they can target specific adverts at you are also deleted after each session.
It also allows for discreetness when searching a sensitive or embarrassing subject such as a medical condition.

Security of your online accounts is another reason (not the security of your machine).
When you log into a website, a cookie is placed in your browser's cache. As soon as you close the session, the cookie is deleted, automatically signing you out of all your accounts. This is only really a benefit to those who keep forgetting to sign out or those who use a shared or public computer.
Incognito does not provide any additional security for your device itself. You are still equally open to viruses and attacks as if you were not using incognito.

Incognito also allows for multiple sessions on the same computer. Because cookies are not shared between normal and incognito modes, a user can be logged into two different accounts on the same website, on the same computer.
For example, this is useful for people who need to manage multiple accounts, such as administrators who run the social network pages for their business (usually businesses have multiple pages or groups on social networks, such as Answers.com itself).

Troubleshooting is another benefit. In incognito mode, all your add-ons and extensions are turned off by default. This can help you to determine if issues you are having with your browser are related to a specific add-on or extension by testing them one at a time, without affecting your current session in normal mode.


However it does not protect you from illegal activity, contrary to popular belief, such as pirating, torrenting, cyberbullying (yes, cyberbullying is illegal) and viewing inappropriate websites.
Your browsing is not anonymised, your internet service provider (ISP) and law enforcement can still detect which websites you visit and can still monitor you. Websites can also still log your IP in their visiting and tracking logs.
Your activity on the computer is also recorded onto a secret, hard-to-access memory, like a black box in an aeroplane. Forensic technicians can access this secret memory on your computer and analyse it for illegal activity.


There are also disadvantages, such as when you need to visit an important website but cannot remember the address because the history was automatically cleared. It is also a problem for parents who want to keep an eye on their children's internet activity to protect them because everything is automatically deleted once the window is closed (this may be corrected by purchasing a, usually expensive, parental control package for the computers in the home).


Unless you::

• Are using a shared computer
• Are using a public computer
• Are tired of clearing your cache regularly or will not download free software such as CCleaner (or you can purchase it for even more benefits than the free version) to do it for you automatically
• Need to use multiple login sessions at the same time
• Need to troubleshoot extension issues

Then there is no real benefit to using incognito over normal mode.

Answer 2

Incognito browsing means that Google Chrome does not save a record of the websites you visit or anything you download of the internet through your Chrome browser.