Help me to be a Secret Santa

November 30, 2013 12:24 PM

I need to make some purchases online for Christmas - but I don't want the items to show up on the sidebar. We're a one computer family and my 16 year old daughter will easily figure out what Santa's bringing. I know there's a way to surf and purchase covertly, but when I Google "shop online secretly" and other such phrases, I don't find what I'm looking for.
posted by kbar1 to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Best answer: In Google Chrome, you can open a new incognito window, the history of which gets removed as soon as you close it. Firefox calls it private browsing. This will eliminate the issues with your history.

However, if your (familywide?) amazon/whatever account is logged in constantly to the main browser and your daughter can click through to that, then you may wish to set up a second account. Is there an e-mail program that your family uses that she also might be able to see order e-mails in? If so, get a secret gmail account to link to the amazon/etc. account, and then access all that only through your incognito browsing.
posted by knile at 12:31 PM on November 30, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yeah, you need to just use the "private browsing" in Firefox or incognito mode of Chrome. It won't remember your browser history. It works perfectly, but you can double check when you're done. Just close out of the browser completely when finished, and then open it up and check the history menu. It shouldn't show the online shopping sites you visited during the private sessions. If you're using Internet Explorer, you really need a new browser anyway -- IE is very slow and just generally awful. I recommend Mozilla Firefox, which has private browsing. (You could just go into your browser history and delete your history manually, but you don't sound very computer savvy. It is pretty simple though if you google "erase partial browsing history" + whatever browser you use, or something like that. The private browser mode will just do the work for you though.) Not sure if Safari has a private browsing mode -- I assume it probably does. But if not, Chrome and Firefox can be downloaded for Macs in their app store. If your daughter has access to your Amazon.com account, you'll want to create a new account. I don't think private browsing or incognito mode will remember site logins, but to be safe, after you're done shopping, you may want to just log out too.

It also sounds like maybe Santa could get you a laptop. I can't imagine sharing your computer with your kids is that fun. Chromebooks are very cheap (like $200) and designed to allow you do everything online. But if you want a real laptop that runs Windows, you can probably get one for as low as $400 right now with all the current sales. It should last you until hopefully your daughter graduates college!
posted by AppleTurnover at 12:53 PM on November 30, 2013

Best answer: but I don't want the items to show up on the sidebar.

Re-reading your question, this part I quoted... You do know that you can right click any of the visited websites in the sidebar and just delete them, right? Just right-click on the entry you don't want in the history sidebar and press "delete this page" or "delete." I am assuming you use Internet Explorer (which again, is the worst browser to use). But if you do have Firefox, be aware that selecting "forget about this page" instead of "delete this page" would remove every instance of visiting the page AND any saved passwords/usernames for it. You also don't need that sidebar open all the time -- you can X out of it and just hit ctrl + H to make it disappear and reappear as needed.
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:07 PM on November 30, 2013

Do you have a computer you can use whereever you work? If you do your ordering there, and aren't logged in (to Amazon et. al.), it shouldn't show up on your home computer.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:38 PM on November 30, 2013

If using a computer at work isn't an option, how about one at your local library? Or heck, ask a friend to either order for you or let you use *their* computer.
posted by easily confused at 2:10 PM on November 30, 2013

I just use the in congnito function in Chrome.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 2:18 PM on November 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Regarding confirmation emails that will give away your secret, I go to the filter option and put these emails that come in to a specified folder that way it is not easily seen. For instance, I have them routed to my "saved" or "ebay" folder I use to sort my stuff that my husband never looks at. You can filter by subject matter or even the sender.
posted by just asking at 2:48 PM on November 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Firefox - File, New Private Window. You can delete the old searches in the search box, and/or use History, Clear Recent History.
posted by theora55 at 5:16 PM on November 30, 2013

Sounds like you got some good answers, but I just thought I'd add the option of creating/using the guest account function on your computer. You could just login as a guest user when doing the shopping, and then logout and go back through your usual user login.
posted by belau at 8:07 AM on December 1, 2013

Recent versions of Internet Explorer have InPrivate Browsing which works like Chrome or Firefox's Incognito/Private modes.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:40 AM on December 1, 2013