Incognito mode has been available in web browsers for many years. It limits the amount of data the browser saves to your device. However, this mode does not guarantee complete anonymity. Meanwhile, social media is rife with videos spreading misinformation about this mode and the options for deleting browsing history.
So let’s start with the facts. What is incognito mode for? For Chrome, you can find information about how this mode works on the support page. In other browsers, the general functionality is similar. The only difference is the name, which varies depending on the browser. In Edge, it’s called InPrivate. In Firefox, it’s called a new private window.
Summary of key information using Chrome as an example:
Chrome limits the information that’s saved to your device. This can be useful, for example, when you're using a shared computer or shopping for a gift.
Chrome doesn’t automatically sign you into your Google Account or other websites: This won’t change how data is collected by the websites you visit and the services they use, including Google. Sites may still be able to gather information about you even when you’re not signed in.
- After your Incognito session ends, Chrome doesn't retain site data or a record of the sites you visited
- While Incognito can help keep your browsing private on your device, it doesn’t make you invisible.
And now for the most interesting part:
- Websites you visit, including Google sites, and organizations that manage your network, like your school, employer, or internet service provider, may be able to observe your activity in Incognito.
There are often many inaccurate or vague guides circulating here. Facebook videos are created purely for views and frequently show commands that don’t work or are incorrect. Some even claim that this mode is useless and might as well not exist. The argument for this is a quote from… the official description of how this mode works.
The most common myth is that you can delete your browsing history using one of the Windows command-line commands.
We’re talking about the `ipconfig` command.
What’s the deal? There’s a false claim circulating that you can view your browsing history using the `ipconfig /displaydns` command.
So let’s see what this command is actually for
/displaydns Displays the contents of the DNS client resolver cache, which includes both entries preloaded from the local Hosts file and any recently obtained resource records for name queries resolved by the computer. The DNS Client service uses this information to resolve frequently queried names quickly, before querying its configured DNS servers.
As we can see, we won’t get a list of visited websites, but only the contents of the DNS client’s cache. What’s the difference? This command only tells us that a given domain was looked up somewhere in the system. It doesn’t provide a specific website address, a time stamp, or information about which application performed the lookup. The appearance of a domain on this list does not confirm that the page was visited. In some materials we encounter online, the output of this command is intentionally obscured. If it weren’t, it would be immediately obvious that this is not a browsing history.
However, the nonsense displayed in some Facebook posts goes even further.
In one such video, we see the commands “ipconfig/displaydns,” “ipconfig/flushdns,” and “IP Config” appearing alternately. Anyone with even a basic understanding of computer science would never publish such material. But someone who’s doing this just for views probably won’t care whether anything actually works. Yes, the command must be written correctly. You can’t just insert or remove spaces wherever you like.
But that’s not all. If we come across a guide that first mentions that our activity might be visible to our employer or school, and then tells us we need to run the command prompt as an administrator, there’s one thing we need to know. The author of that guide is either deliberately misleading us. In schools or on company computers, we almost never have administrator privileges. At this point, we can generally throw the entire guide in the trash.
Additionally, all network traffic can be monitored on the network management server, outside the local computer.
But do these commands even require administrator privileges? Well, no. In Windows 10 and 11, they can be executed on a regular user account. However, if we’re using an account on a corporate or school network, the commands may indeed be unavailable on a regular account due to additional restrictions. In that case, we won’t be able to follow the instructions anyway. Limited permissions won’t allow us to execute them as an administrator.
Let’s move on. So what exactly does the second command, which appears in the “guides,” actually do?
/flushdns
Flushes and resets the contents of the DNS client resolver cache. During DNS troubleshooting, you can use this procedure to discard negative cache entries from the cache, as well as any other entries that have been added dynamically.
And indeed, this command clears the list displayed after executing the previous command. However, there’s one thing to keep in mind: this isn’t your browsing history. It’s the DNS cache we mentioned earlier. So when should you actually use this command? The answer is right there in the description: “You can use this procedure when troubleshooting DNS issues.”