Private browsing, one of the features that were dropped from the final release of Firefox 3.0, is not that big of a deal any more. It’s coming to IE, and Chrome already has it (in a very nifty implementation), so forgive me for not being too excited about it.

Still, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can try the latest Firefox 3.1 build which finally has this feature. It’s simple - although not as elegant as in Chrome, which doesn’t require closing your current browsing session - choose “Private browsing” from the “Tools” menu; your current session will be closed and saved, and a new, private one, will open. This new session will leave absolutely no trace about your online activities; once you’re finished, uncheck “Private browsing” and your previous browsing session will be restored.

If you want your Firefox to always start in private browsing mode, do the following: type “about:config” in the address bar, click “I’ll be careful, I promise”, type “browser.privatebrowsing.autostart” in the Filter text box, and double click the entry to change it to “true”.

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