However, VPNs don’t make your browsing completely anonymous, and there are drawbacks to using them too.

You’re being watched while on the internet.

Let’s go over a few tips for anonymous browsing so you could avoid this surveillance.

Closeup of a laptop keyboard with a person’s hands on it.

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From this follows that if you were to use another IP address, you’re harder to track.

Enter virtual private networks.

Theway VPNs workis that they reroute your internet connection through a server they own.

However, they come with some downsides—the most important of which is that thebest VPNsall cost money.

There are free VPNs, but most of them are terrible.

VPN Alternatives (What About Tor?)

That said, it’ll work fine in a pinch, and it’s entirely free to use.

Decentralized VPNs, or dVPNs, are another option.

These aim to be the evolution of both VPNs and Tor.

Supposedly, they use decentralized networks like Tor does but employ VPN levels of encryption.

Finally, there’s a cool little tool calledShadowsocks.

We have aShadowsocks installation guidethat has more details.

Also called private browsing, this handyin-net internet ride tool and a VPN togethermake you much harder to track.

This makes it so nobody uses the computer after you could see what you were doing online.

Besides not storing your history, incognito mode also doesn’t storebrowser cookies.

This is great because these online accounts, especially those of Google and Facebook,track you while online.

If you’re signed out of your account, though, they can’t do that.

Is Completely Anonymous Browsing Possible?

Between incognito mode and a VPN—or its alternatives—you’re a lot more anonymous than before.

As a result, you may only want to use it when absolutely necessary.

Related:Do ISPs Track and Sell Your Browsing Data?

The upshot is that in everyday usecomplete anonymity isn’t really possible.

Using the tools outlined above, you might seriously minimize it, however.

To do so, you should use services that put privacy first.

Among VPNs, these areIVPNandMullvad.

When choosing a online window, you could consider using privacy-conscious browsers likeBraveorVivaldi.

Between these services, you should be able to move around the web a lot more quietly than before.