Adding private browsing Vivaldi joins the browser elite

Sep 4, 2015 08:07 GMT  ·  By

The developers of the relatively new Vivaldi Web browser are making huge headway with their product, and they have now managed to add private browsing support.

This feature was added to the latest Snapshot 1.0.264.3 release, which was unveiled yesterday, and allows users to safely browse the Internet without being tracked by various ad publishers or analytics services.

Vivaldi can be a little different from other browsers, so to start a new private browsing window, click the Vivaldi icon in the top left corner of the browser window, select File, and then "New Private Window."

This opens a new window, and you'll be able to see a new icon in your URL address bar that looks like a hat and some glasses, the universal sign for anonymity and privacy.

Since this is a snapshot release, the Vivaldi devs are urging users to be cautious, "Please test this carefully. Since it is our first implementation it might not be bug free. Let us know if you find ways of leaking data. [...] Private Windows on Mac look the same as normal windows."

Problematic CTRL+Q keyboard shortcut was removed

Other major changes were also made to the Web Panel feature that allowed two websites to be opened in the same window, which now comes with a smaller title bar.

A context menu option was also added to allow users to remove the title bar in the Web Panel, and the Back and Forward buttons were replaced by a "Home" icon which brings the user back to the original Web Panel URL.

One bug that was causing huge problems for Linux users was also fixed, and that was the CTRL+Q browser shortcut.

This command is universally designed to close applications on GNU/Linux machines, so when Vivaldi users wanted to access the Quick Commands panel, which this shortcut opens in Vivaldi, they were closing the browser altogether.

This has been removed in the latest Snapshot, and users can now map it to whatever they want using Vivaldi's previous custom keyboards shortcuts feature.

You can download the latest snapshot of the Vivaldi Web browser from Softpedia, for Linux, Mac OS X, or Microsoft Windows. Don't forget, this is a pre-release version, not suitable for production use, so expect some crashes from time to time.

A Vivaldi private browsing window
A Vivaldi private browsing window

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Vivaldi Snapshot 1.0.264.3 fixed the Web Panels
A Vivaldi private browsing window
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