Incognito mode
Incognito windows keep their own data, and everything in them is erased when you close the last one. They cannot hide you from sites: sites and your internet provider see you as usual.
What Incognito mode does
Once all Incognito windows are closed, they leave no history, cookies or data entered in forms. While they are open, their cookies and site data are kept in memory, apart from regular windows: a site does not know that you are signed in to it in a regular window.
What you type in the address bar is not sent to the search engine for suggestions in Incognito. The search itself reaches it as usual.
What it does not do
It does not hide you from sites: they see your IP address and what you do there, and if you sign in, they know who you are. The Incognito tab itself says who can still see your activity: the websites you visit, your employer or school, your internet service provider.
Downloaded files and new bookmarks stay on the computer after the windows close.
Extensions do not run in Incognito by default, and neither does the built-in Sverk Shield blocker. So in an Incognito window ads and trackers are not blocked, there are no warnings about dangerous sites from the lists of the Bank of Russia, other regulators and PhishTank, and video download does not work. To turn Sverk Shield on in Incognito, open chrome://extensions, click Details for Sverk Shield and turn on Allow in Incognito. Blocking and warnings then work; video download still does not.
How to open an Incognito window
- Ctrl+Shift+N;
- the ⋮ menu → New Incognito window;
- the Incognito button under the search box on the new tab;
- for a link, right-click it → Open link in incognito window.
The new tab of such a window says You’ve gone Incognito. To erase everything from it, close all Incognito windows.
Third-party cookies in Incognito
In Incognito Sverk blocks third-party cookies — the ones set by other sites embedded in a page (more about cookies). A site that relies on them does not work properly without them, and the Incognito tab offers to give it temporary access. Here is how:
- Open the site in the Incognito window.
- Click the Third-party cookies blocked icon in the address bar. It appears when embedded sites have tried to use their cookies.
- In the Site not working? window, turn on Third-party cookies. The page reloads.
The permission holds on that site while Incognito windows are open and goes away with the rest of their data.
Guest mode
The guest profile is a separate, empty profile — for someone you lend the computer to, for example: it has none of your bookmarks, passwords or history. To open it: the ⋮ menu → the row with your profile name (such as Your Sverk) → Open Guest profile.
The new tab of a guest window says You're browsing as a Guest. Once you close all guest windows, the pages opened in them stay out of the history and leave no cookies behind; only downloaded files remain.
Separate sign-ins that last
Incognito forgets sign-ins as soon as you close its windows. If you need a second set of sign-ins that stays — a second account on the same site, or a separate place for your bank — create a protected space: the ⋮ menu → New protected space. It has its own cookies, history, passwords and site permissions, and its sign-ins survive a restart. More in Spaces.
Didn't find the answer?
Write to us at support@sverk.ai: what you did, what you expected to see and what you saw. Other topics are in the help contents.