Private Windows

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Private browsing mode is intended to protect your privacy from other users of your computer. When you browse using a Private Window, Vivaldi will minimize what is stored locally on your computer so that very few traces are left of what you were browsing once you close all private browsing windows.

To open a Private Window:

• Go to the  Vivaldi menu (Windows and Linux) > File  > New Private Window;
• Type ‘New Private Window‘ in Quick Commands;
• Use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl Shift N / ⌘ Shift N;
• Create a new Mouse Gesture for opening a new private window.

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Private Window Theme

Vivaldi has a separate theme for Private Windows to make it easier to differentiate them from regular Windows. To change the Private Window Theme:

1. Go to Settings > Themes > Private Window Theme.
2. Select a theme from the drop down menu.

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Private Window Search Engine

The default Search Engines can be different in regular and private windows. To select a search engine for Private Window:

1. Go to Settings > Search > Private Window Search Engine.
2. Select a Search Engine from the drop down menu.

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A few things to keep in mind about using Private Windows

• Using a Private Window does not encrypt or otherwise modify your connection.
• All private windows share the same session while they are open, so you need to close all of them to cause the session data to be deleted.
• A Private Window in Vivaldi does not use the same cookie store or cache as for regular browsing.
• Third-party cookies are blocked by default. To change it, go to Settings > Privacy > Cookies > Third-party cookies.
• It does not store the history of addresses that you visit.
• It tries – as much as possible – to only store website cache files in memory instead of on disk, so that disk scanning tools will not find residual traces of the files.
• If you intentionally download something, that content cannot be protected. Downloads are downloads, whether they start in private browsing mode or not.

If you have forgotten to use private browsing mode, you can select Delete Browsing Data from the Tools menu to either delete all your browsing history, or just the history for a selected amount of time. Of course, this cannot remove traces from the disk so disk scanning tools may be able to find traces.

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Always open Vivaldi in a Private Window

To open a Private Window without opening a normal window first, follow these instructions.