Browser with strong incognito mode?

Question

Google Chrome's Incognito mode does remember a lot of things, so it's a not a good solution when you need to access a site from a truly fresh state. I tried SRWare's Iron recompiled version of Chrome, to no avail.

I also tried Firefox in Private Browsing mode, but some sites still manage to know I'm a returning reader.

Is there a browser for Windows that provides true incognito mode?

Thank you.

The statement about the truly fresh state doesn't make sense to me. Incognito is not about not forgetting what you've done before, but about not remembering what you're doing while incognito. — Dennis, Jan 31 '13 at 14:34
"lot of things" = enough to know that I already visited this site. IP is not an issue, as the public IP is shared by multiple users. — OverTheRainbow, Jan 31 '13 at 15:15
I'm suprised no browser is available that insures that no information is kept that can identify a user. That could be useful in eg. shared computer in a library or hostel. — OverTheRainbow, Jan 31 '13 at 23:05
Possible duplicate of Browser for paranoid people?, Generic browser with no tracking etc. — Karan, Feb 01 '13 at 00:13

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 31 '13 at 14:41

Regardless of your browser, there are surprising things that make you identifiable on the internet beyond your browser, like your public IP address and the number of fonts you have installed on your computer. If you go to Panopticlick You can gain an understanding of how identifiable you may appear and in what ways. I would suggest using tor project as MDMoore suggested or possibly doing some research on a VPN. Also maybe look into using bootable live CD's, so that no traces of cookies, flash cookies etc are stored between boots. Finally, as linked on the EFF's site, you should read this to gain further understanding of the subject: https://panopticlick.eff.org/browser-uniqueness.pdf .

Thanks for the idea of booting off a live USB/CD or using Tor. As a lighter alternative just to browse a couple of sites, I was hopping a browser would provide solide incognito mode (ie. flush everything when closing it.) — OverTheRainbow, Jan 31 '13 at 15:17

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 31 '13 at 14:30

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I don't know what you're planning on doing, but Tor is probably about as incognito as it gets, it stores all your files inside a local database file, not to mention sends your traffic through the Tor network.

https://www.torproject.org/ You want the Tor Browser Bundle, it's based on Mozilla.

answered Jan 31 '13 at 14:30

MDMoore313

6,086

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Tor is good. However based on the OPs statement about not being a "returning reader." TOR cant guarantee that, as Tor anonymizes your IP address by using a pool of addresses in the Tor network. If someone went to a website using Tor before you and you get the address, then the website may think you are returning visitor. This isnt theoretical, I have seen it happen. – Keltari Jan 31 '13 at 14:39
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Very true, especially if two people using the browser access the same site through the same exit node. However, it sounds like he just wants a non-memorable browser, in which case he could just make copies of the Tor folder since it doesn't install on the machine, and use the different copies, or even close and reopen the one, all database are deleted on close I believe. Everything as far as the tabs go (images, markup, etc) is stored in RAM. idk what the db holds but Tor uses a ton of ram so not much is written to disk, and nothing is written outside of that folder from what I've tested also. – MDMoore313 Jan 31 '13 at 14:44

Browser with strong incognito mode?

2 Answers2