1. Microsoft Edge Inprivate Browsing Mode
2. Microsoft Edge Private Search
3. Microsoft Edge Inprivate Browsing Not Working

How to Enable or Disable Microsoft Edge InPrivate Browsing in Windows 10 Microsoft Edge is a new web browser that is available across the Windows 10 device family. It is designed for Windows 10 to be faster, safer, and compatible with the modern Web. Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge cover all the private browsing basics, except for VPN. When it comes to inprivate browsing, the Incognito mode from Google Chrome and the InPrivate mode from Microsoft Edge offer all the basics. They can prevent other people using the same computer from knowing what you are doing online, but that is it. Before the release of new Edge, as part of making our computers family safe, we implemented the Family Features and blocked using any other browser. But we also disabled inprivate browsing, so it is always greyed out. Now after upgrading to the new Edge, inprivate browsing has been re-instated. All the old measures for editing the registry don. In September 2015, Brent Muir, a computer forensic analyst, shared his concerns about Edge’s privacy mode, saying that InPrivate Browsing is not as private as Microsoft would like us to believe. In fact, Edge will record browsing history even when used in InPrivate mode.

Note: This article is for the new Microsoft Edge . Get help for the legacy version of Microsoft Edge.

The new Microsoft Edge ​ will delete your browsing history, cookies, and site data, as well as passwords, addresses, and form data when you close all InPrivate windows.

You can open an InPrivate window in different ways:

• Right-click the Microsoft Edge logo in the taskbar and select New InPrivate window.

• In Microsoft Edge, right-click a link and select Open link in InPrivate window.

• In Microsoft Edge, select Settings and more > New InPrivate window.

Other people using this device won’t see your browsing activity, but your school, workplace, and internet service provider might still be able to access this data.

What does Microsoft Edge do with your data while InPrivate?

InPrivate browsing does:

• Clear browsing history, download history, cookies and other site data, cached images and files, passwords, autofill form data, site permissions and hosted app data when you close all InPrivate windows.

• Save your favorites and downloaded files, so you can access them next time you use Microsoft Edge.

• Allow you to access favorites, passwords, and form fill data from the profile used to open the InPrivate window.

• Allow extensions you've given permission to run while browsing InPrivate.

• Automatically use InPrivate search with Microsoft Bing for searches in the InPrivate landing page search bar and on Bing.com. If the default search engine is Bing, searching in the address bar will use InPrivate search as well.

Notes:

• Microsoft Edge can’t prevent extensions from saving your browsing history while browsing InPrivate.

• When using the Windows IME keyboard for typing and inking, data may be collected to improve language recognition and suggestion capabilities. To stop inking and typing data from being collected by Microsoft while using the Windows IME keyboard in InPrivate and normal browsing windows, go to Windows Settings > Privacy > Inking & typing personalization.

• Webpages such as edge://settings, edge://favorites, and edge://history can’t be viewed in an InPrivate window. Opening these pages when browsing InPrivate will open them in a normal browsing window.

InPrivate browsing does not:

• Associate your browsing history with a Microsoft account or use this data for product improvement.

• Save new passwords, addresses, and info filled in online forms.

• Allow you to re-open recently closed tabs and windows from Settings and more > History > Recently closed.

Am I safer while browsing InPrivate?

InPrivate browsing doesn’t keep you safer from malicious websites or provide additional ad blocking. Websites can still personalize content for you during your InPrivate browsing session because cookies and other site permissions aren’t deleted until you close all InPrivate windows.

To help prevent websites from personalizing content and ads for you, switch your level of tracking prevention to Strict in Microsoft Edge or go to Settings and more > Settings > Site permissions > Cookies and site data and turn on Block third-party cookies. This might cause some sites to behave unexpectedly.

When is InPrivate browsing unavailable?

Children with activity reporting or web filtering enabled through their family group can’t browse InPrivate. Organizations, like schools or workplaces, can use group policy to prevent people from browsing InPrivate.

The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 is an excellent web browser. It’s much more secure than Google Chrome, even though it’s based on the same Chromium platform. For more information, check out my article Should You Replace Google Chrome with Microsoft Edge as Your Default Browser?

In this article, I will share some information about the two privacy features offered in Microsoft Edge:

1. Browsing as Guest
2. InPrivate browsing

Most web browsers offer InPrivate browsing, but they don’t use the same terminology. Let’s look at these two modes and see how they differ.

Browsing as Guest

In Windows 10, Microsoft Edge includes a privacy feature called Browse as Guest. To start browsing as a guest, click the profile icon in the top right corner of the Edge browser and select the option Browse as guest.

When you use this feature, a new guest window is opened for you. You can see in the upper right corner that you are browsing as a guest.

When you browse as a guest, your browsing data is isolated from your regular profiles, which is a good thing. Your browsing history is kept private and any characters you type on your keyboard are not sent to your default search engine.

When you close all the guest windows and tabs, the following data is deleted by Microsoft Edge.

1. Your browsing history
2. Your download history
3. Temporary Internet Files
4. Cookies and site data

Microsoft Edge Inprivate Browsing Mode

However, any files that you download, while you were browsing as a guest, are saved to your computer.

Because Guest browsing uses a temporary profile, rather than the profile of the user who is currently logged in, any diagnostic data or other information browser information that’s collected by Microsoft belongs to the profile that started the original browser session. For example, if Adam started the Edge browser and then starts surfing the web, his browsing history, download history, temporary Internet files, cookies, favorites, etc. are all part of his “Adam” profile and saved on his computer. Any diagnostic data or other information pertaining to his browsing activities may be sent to Microsoft. Then he opens a Guest window and starts browsing the web. When he closes all the Guest windows and tabs, his browsing history, download history, cookies, favorites, etc. are all deleted. Microsoft doesn’t know anything about this guest browsing. His web browsing in the “Adam” profile is not impacted by his web browsing in the Guest profile because they are two different profiles.

Because Guest browsing uses a “temporary” profile, you can’t save any favorites in Guest browsing mode. You can, however, save favorites in InPrivate browsing.

InPrivate Browsing

To use another privacy feature, you can open a new InPrivate window. This is called Incognito window in Google Chrome and Private window in Brave and Firefox. To open a new InPrivate window in Edge, click the ellipses (…) and select New InPrivate window. You can see in the upper right corner that you are browsing InPrivate.

Your browsing history is kept private and is not associated with your Microsoft account. Any characters you type on your keyboard are not sent to your default search engine. Although Bing will provide you local results based on your IP location, Microsoft won’t be able to trace you back to your account or computing device.

When you close all the InPrivate windows and tabs, the following data is deleted by Microsoft Edge.

1. Your browsing history
2. Your download history
3. Temporary Internet Files
4. Cookies and site data
5. Passwords
6. Addresses
7. Form data

Any files that you download while browsing InPrivate are saved to your computer. Your collections and your favorites are also saved.

Both, Guest browsing and InPrivate browsing, allow you to sign in to your Microsoft account (e.g. Office 365). However, In Private browsing is slightly different than Guest browsing. In Private browsing allows you to save favorites, Guest browsing doesn’t. In Private browsing offers suggestions from your browsing history and past searches, Guest browsing doesn’t. There are some other differences as far as the autofill behavior, Do Not Track requests, and location permissions are concerned. However, none of these are important. Autofill should be disabled in your browser, you should not share your location information with any browser, and Do Not Track requests don’t mean much because most websites don’t honor them anyway.

NOTE: If you want to disable InPrivate browsing for your employees, you can run Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc), go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Microsoft Edge and double-click Allow InPrivate browsing. By default, this setting is not configured. If you enable or don’t configure this setting, users will be able to browse InPrivate. If you disable this setting, users will not be able to browse InPrivate.

In case you are wondering which of these two features you should use, the answer really depends on what your goal is. Here’s my take on these privacy features, which should give some insight as to which one to use and when.

• Guest browsing offers good privacy, but is not suitable for your normal day-to-day web browsing.
• InPrivate browsing is more convenient than Guest browsing. It’s less restrictive and is suitable for daily web browsing in a business or personal environment.
• Guest browsing mode can be very useful when you visit a friend or relative. You can browse the web on their computer and close all the Guest windows when you are done, which would not “mess” with their profile at all. It’s like you never used their web browser at all.
• Both of these privacy modes prevent Microsoft Bing searches from associated with you.
• You can use either one of them to sign in with your Microsoft account and use Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, etc. However, you can use extensions only InPrivate mode, not in Guest mode. Therefore, you won’t be able to use your Password Manager in the Guest browsing mode.
• Although other people using your computer won’t see your browsing history, neither InPrivate and Guest browsing will not hide your browsing history from your employer, school, or Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as Comcast, CenturyLink, Verizon, AT&T, etc.
• Because I believe the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge is more secure than Google Chrome, rather than adding the restrictions associated with Guest browsing and InPrivate Browsing, I simply secure the new Microsoft Edge browser to achieve the same or better security and privacy offered by InPrivate and Guest browsing.

Microsoft Edge Private Search

Microsoft Edge Inprivate Browsing Not Working

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