Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

in firefox 21, win xppro, how do i launch pvt browsing & how do i turn it off? in v. 20, user must click on the orange firefox icon at upper right

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

more options

hi, i'm using ff 20.0.1, and moving to v.21. never could find written instructions in v.20 about how to turn off pvt. browsing. a helpful forum member showed me how, by clicking on orange ff icon at top right of screen.

how do i turn on and turn off private browsing function in v.21?

windows xp pro, sp3, lenovo x201 laptop, [comcast wireless, no complains about it]

thanks

hi, i'm using ff 20.0.1, and moving to v.21. never could find written instructions in v.20 about how to turn off pvt. browsing. a helpful forum member showed me how, by clicking on orange ff icon at top right of screen. how do i turn on and turn off private browsing function in v.21? windows xp pro, sp3, lenovo x201 laptop, [comcast wireless, no complains about it] thanks

Chosen solution

See:

Firefox 20 version and later have switched to Private Browsing mode per Window. So you open a Private window and all tabs that you open are opened in PB mode. You can still have a Firefox window in normal mode open if you haven't closed it.

You can find Private Browsing in the Firefox menu button drop down and in the File menu as "New Private Window".
You can close that window if you no longer want to use Private Browsing mode.

You get a purple Private Browsing mask in the Firefox menu button or at the right end side of the menu bar (Linux: left end side of Tab bar) and "(Private Browsing)" appended to the Firefox title bar unless you are in permanent Private Browsing mode ("Always use private browsing mode").

Read this answer in context 👍 2

All Replies (5)

more options

Chosen Solution

See:

Firefox 20 version and later have switched to Private Browsing mode per Window. So you open a Private window and all tabs that you open are opened in PB mode. You can still have a Firefox window in normal mode open if you haven't closed it.

You can find Private Browsing in the Firefox menu button drop down and in the File menu as "New Private Window".
You can close that window if you no longer want to use Private Browsing mode.

You get a purple Private Browsing mask in the Firefox menu button or at the right end side of the menu bar (Linux: left end side of Tab bar) and "(Private Browsing)" appended to the Firefox title bar unless you are in permanent Private Browsing mode ("Always use private browsing mode").

more options

thanks for your help!

more options

You're welcome

more options

hi, cor-el--a few second thoughts about how users can easily close that new private window?

the only way i know how [based on an earlier suggestion by you, i think,] is to click the orange firefox icon at the uppermost left of the screen, and then click "close," hoping each time that it will not close all of your open non-private ff windows.

i always make sure that "use custom settings for history" is checked.

is there another, simpler way to close the "new private window," which has the purple mask and a + sign.

why do you suppose that mozilla is so stubborn that it will not create a title that says,"close private window[s]"? especially in its latest v. 21?

what is so difficult about that, since the help site provides a detailed explanation about how to move to private browsing mode. clicking on the orange icon is not even mentioned by ff as a way to close pvt. browsing mode. why do you think ff ignores this?

i hope that you have the credentials to communicate directly with ff about the absence of a "how to close" button or box or something simple for users.

pls tell me where i can find the firefox ''menu "dropdown, to which you refer? i simply click on "file" and ""New Private Window", as you previously suggested.

thanx again for your continuing interest in this subject, and not ignoring my repeated pleas for simplicity.

take good care.

more options

You can close the current window with the usual keyboard shortcuts (Alt+F4).
Ctrl+Shift+P can no longer be used to toggle PB mode off as this only opens a new PB window.

You can't close a window that doesn't have focus easily.