Google Chrome's incognito mode is less sophisticated than
IE8's InPrivate browsing, but it has a feature that will be useful for those who have more than one Google account.
When you open a window in incognito mode (Ctrl+Shift+N), your cookies from the standard session are no longer available and you can easily log in to a new Google account.
Chrome's help center has
more details about this feature. "Webpages that you open and files downloaded while you are incognito won't be logged in your browsing and download histories; all new cookies are deleted after you close the incognito window. You can browse normally and in incognito mode at the same time by using separate windows."
Michael Jeffrey explains that "incognito mode is a window-level mode - all pages viewed within this window are not persisted to the user's history, and incognito pages use a temporary cookie store that is blank at the start of the incognito session".
When you close the incognito window, all the cookies are deleted so you need to log in again the next time you browse in incognito mode. This trick can be used for any other services that allow multiple accounts, but you can only use two accounts at the same time: one in a standard window and the other one in incognito mode.
Labels: Google Chrome, Tips
Andrew said on September 8, 2008 4:58 AM PDT:
Excellent; I have most of my Googles in one account, but one key item is separate (Google wouldn't let me merge).
This will really be useful, as it will be quicker and easier than opening Chrome and ff/IE at the same time.
You might also want to take a look at http://www.labnol.org/software/create-family-profiles-in-google-chrome/4394/ , which shows how to create separate profiles for Chrome, which you can use in parallel.
said on September 8, 2008 5:54 AM PDT:
I wonder how to start chrome with incognito mode, because i think it would be more convenient for any temporary use.
I checked all the startup options in the chrome source code, but nothing related was found.
Chris said on September 8, 2008 7:05 AM PDT:
I used to open multiple Google accounts in Firefox window and IE view window before, so this is excellent, with both Firefox and Chrome we can have four Google accounts. Will be useful when we have to use Google App accounts along with regular Google accounts.
said on September 8, 2008 7:08 AM PDT:
This seems like it would also be useful when logging in on someone else's computer, so that neither person's cookies interfere with the other's.
Jiri said on September 8, 2008 9:03 AM PDT:
Chris: I think that is is possible to log to your google account and to any google app account simultaneously. I do it all the time.
José said on September 8, 2008 12:23 PM PDT:
Great. Why not to include the "multi account association" feature in igoogle and gmail (like ms live.com does) ???
Abhijith said on September 9, 2008 12:21 AM PDT:
Really gr8 idea. I have 2 gmail accounts, which i used to open in 2 browsers. But now onwards I can open in Chrome. Google really knows about user wants and expectations. Also it is a good move by Google to avoid using of other browsers. :)
Zonator said on September 9, 2008 10:40 AM PDT:
While using Chrome I found that a lot of sites sites don't work, due to missing plugins for the new platform. Sometimes just quitting the site is not an option so I created an easy way to open the page in your "old" browser. Just drag and drop the URL from the Chrome URL bar into the Mirror form and you can continue your Chrome browsing.
Download: http://www.zonator.com/mirror.zip
Indeed. This is excellent. I had been so pissed with multiple account handling up until now. I often need to use several Google accounts on behalf of clients and switching between accounts always screwed with any other google services in use at same time
said on September 11, 2008 12:17 AM PDT:
Unfortunatly Chrome's Incognito mode isn't really private. It keeps so-called "flash cookies" even after leaving the Incognito mode. So every website can still keep track on you using this technique. And other users of your computer can see which websites you have visited too.
Yash said on September 19, 2008 2:37 AM PDT:
@ Anonymous
Google never say that , in private browsing , The Websites cann't control you , they have control over there users & what actually google chrome is going to delete is the login type of Cookies, that what i think
Happy Google Surfing
said on September 19, 2008 5:31 AM PDT:
@Yash
It seems you didn't understand what I mean with the so-called "flash cookies". It's the kind of resisting information Chrome wanted to eliminate using the incognito mode. But this goal Chrome has not yet reached. This piece of information is still available on your HD after leaving the incognito mode. Normal cookies are deleted but flash-cookies are still there.
said on October 21, 2008 8:54 AM PDT:
I would like to know how to access these flash cookies. Where can i find these cookies? I know nothing about computers, so a very simplified explanation would be helpful.
Johni said on November 23, 2008 3:19 AM PDT:
Google chrome allows multiple gmail accounts in one page,its a reason than i generate separate session for each tab.
james said on November 23, 2008 3:30 AM PDT:
Hope it will help us all
said on December 15, 2008 2:30 PM PDT:
thank you very much and Merry Christmas
Rhonda said on January 18, 2009 6:09 AM PDT:
awesome! For some reason this information was really hard to learn/query...
said on January 25, 2009 2:55 AM PDT:
Too good... This is a very much needed stuff. Thanks Google.. Google rocks!
said on February 19, 2009 1:22 AM PDT:
i agree with above their should be a way in preferences to start up in Incognito mode also maybe different skins? maybe it will come later ( i would like a glossy black) lol
said on March 10, 2009 12:48 PM PDT:
You can start it up in incognito just add the switch -incognito to the exe.
said on March 24, 2009 1:05 AM PDT:
Multiple incognito windows share the same cookie, so it is impossible to login in multiple google accounts in incognito mode at the same time :-(
I'd like to change on the Google Chrome Bar(supperior)to provide the MSN.es ...Would that be possible?
guillarn@hotmail.com
