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pcomac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2011
156
0
i always use private browsing when i use safari. its not suppose to remember history but its doing it and it seems to only do it with Facebook. what is up with that? this never happened with snow leopard but its happening with lion.
 

macdaddy121

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2003
758
31
Georgia
I spook easily but I neever spook too soon...I don't even know how that's possible. :D

Kidding...

I actually can't imagine a bigger flaw then allowing someone's secret web browsing to be found by their significant other.
 

pcomac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2011
156
0
^ haha...

its not that I'm afraid someone is going to find out what sites i went to but i don't like the idea that safari is keeping track of my info. i don't have antivirus ever since i upgraded to lion so I'm feeling very exposed right now. yea people say mac doesn't have virus and blah blah but the Trojans and what not can still get in which is freaking me out. i don't like the idea that i don't have any protection. i also clicked on 2 links that people post on this site and both link said that the page doesn't exist which is making me think that they might be bad and can lead to trojans. i don't like the idea that safari might be recording my private info like email stuff.
 

Mal

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2002
6,252
18
Orlando
Private Browsing has no connection to trojans, etc. It's certainly a bug if Private Browsing is on and it's still recording your web history, but that history is only on your computer. It also doesn't save the pages themselves, but only the web addresses (so no contents of your email), with the exception of the thumbnails that are generated for the visual history search. I understand not liking that, there's talk about how to disable it, but saving your history is not putting you at any risk of viruses, trojans, etc. 100% unrelated things.

jW
 

Macjames

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2007
727
0
Yorkshire, England
I always remember before, Facebook never used to work with private browsing, it is therefore my belief that Safari disables private browsing for Facebook to work. Then re-enables it after you have left.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
i don't have antivirus ever since i upgraded to lion so I'm feeling very exposed right now. yea people say mac doesn't have virus and blah blah but the Trojans and what not can still get in which is freaking me out. i don't like the idea that i don't have any protection. i also clicked on 2 links that people post on this site and both link said that the page doesn't exist which is making me think that they might be bad and can lead to trojans. i don't like the idea that safari might be recording my private info like email stuff.
You can't infect your Mac simply by clicking on a website or clicking a link in an email message. The only way to infect your Mac is to actively install an app containing a trojan, usually requiring entering your admin password. As long as you're not installing pirated software or software from untrusted sites, you're perfectly safe.

Also, Safari isn't "recording your private info". It simply keeps a history of the sites you visit stored on your internal hard drive, which you can delete at any time. It's not sharing that information with anyone. You don't have to use Private Browsing all the time. You can clear Safari's cookies, history and cache anytime you want to. If no one else has access to your computer, no one else can see your Safari history.

You don't need any antivirus software to protect Mac OS X from malware. No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install:
By the way, you can use this tip to correct your thread title, if you like.
 
Last edited:

pbrooks

macrumors regular
Jul 15, 2008
168
11
When private browsing was first introduced way back when, I tested it by completely clearing my cookies in Safari. Then enabled private browsing and browsed away. I noticed that cookies were still being recorded for some of the sites I visited and for third party sites. I've never had it continue to record my history, though.

I have absolutely no faith in private browsing.
 

Macjames

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2007
727
0
Yorkshire, England
When private browsing was first introduced way back when, I tested it by completely clearing my cookies in Safari. Then enabled private browsing and browsed away. I noticed that cookies were still being recorded for some of the sites I visited and for third party sites. I've never had it continue to record my history, though.

I have absolutely no faith in private browsing.

I am in agreement, private browsing is private in name in only! ...I guess it saves you the time to clear your history though :D

I'd be interested to find out if i was right though, that Facebook still does not work with private browsing and as such Safari briefly disables it to allow Facebook to work. As such it appears in the history.
 
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