Hi all,

Was wondering if anyone has anyone experience disabling Incognito mode on Google Chrome. I'm using a Windows 10 machine. 

I was recently using K9 filter, I'm not sure if it was that or a Google setting that made Google image search in incognito locked to safe search. I recently uninstalled K9 as it was clashing with another application and causing disconnects. My ISP provides some filtering so I'm covered there and I've used the hosts file to blacklist some grey sites I don't want access to.

If it was me alone I'd probably block all Google images or even google completely but my wife uses image search for work (she is a teacher and needs images for handouts, etc).

However I have now found that searches in Incognito windows are NOT set for safe search. This is a big weakness for me and I really want to sort this ASAP.
Can I disable or block access to incognito mode? Even remove the option to launch an incognito window?
Can I lock incognito searches to safe search? I did set safe search on all Google domains and then locked it but it seems incognito windows are unaffected. 

I've spent some time searching but haven't found anything useful. I've found one setting to disable it using a group policy but I have no idea how to go about that.

Thanks in advance!
sR

edit: forgot to add that I did reinstall K9 to see if I could get it to work with the other application, however incognito search was still NOT being filtered even after the reinstall so I'm not sure what exactly has broken. K9 search filtering was set on but seemed only to work in a normal chrome window

I have Covenanteyes. it does the job, I think on all modes, if you filter correctly.

That didn't stop me. I just found another search engine that seemed to allow everything... haha....

I've spent a long time trying to remove incognito... Results always show it can't be done. If you find something PLEASE share. 

Please advise what operating system you are on and what version of Chrome.
I can try to assist you with disabling incognito mode and enforcing safe search.

Could Help to login to chrome and disable all imagens and your wife could login on her email without image blocking.

Have you thought or tried about using a different browser?

ISP filtering sounds good but how do you make sure that you cant go and undo the hosts file afterwards?

Blocking incognito sounds like a fun challenge. i don't know if it's possible but I love those types of challenges

Hi sonicReducer,

I believe K9 will by default enable the strict-filtering mode in Google Search even when you are navigating in Incognito mode. However, the uninstalling and reinstalling may have changed some settings somewhere. If you still have access to the control panel, please look in there, as I am sure there is a box that needs to be checked.

If K9 was updated and does not have that option anymore, I would venture to say that this is not really a big deal. Why? Because so long as you have emunah in Hashem and are truly willing to get off this addiction, you would not choose to navigate in Incognito mode.

I remember Rabbi Mizrachi telling the story of a jew that needed to get somewhere in the city. He had two options: Take the shortest route which goes on the main street or take a detour on a quiet street, yet a much longer route. The jew knew that there would be goyim all over the street including immodest women; therefore, looking at them would be a great sin. But he promised Hashem that he would force himself to look at the ground the whole time so as to not awaken his yetzer hara. In the end, the jew took the shortest route thereby walking on the main street. B"H, he was able to walk the whole street without lifting his eyes. He had made it. He thought he was a tzadik. But was he?

The moral of the story is not that the jew was a tzadik because, B"H, he was able to make it to the other end of the city without looking at immodest things. If fact he was not tzadik at all. Quite the contrary! Why? Because he took a chance! He could have put himself in a dangerous situation! What would have happened to this jew, if an immodest lady would have asked for directions; if the person walking in front of him would have had a heart attack, etc. etc.—the scenarios are endless. Surely, he would not have been able to keep his eyes locked to the ground. Anyhow, in the end, he was not a tzadik because he took a gamble...

The same would be apply here. If you have emunah—B"H it does not matter if Google Image does not filter in Incognito mode. That would be like taking the main street whilst you know that you have other alternatives.

Hawkman wrote on 14 May 2017 15:05:

Someone sent me this once:Windows

1. Hold down the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run box.
2. Type “regedit“, then press “Enter“.
3. Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” > “SOFTWARE” > “Policies” > “Google” > “Chrome“.
   Note: You may have to create the “Google” and “Chrome” folders.
4. Right-click “Chrome” and select “New” > “DWORD 32-bit value“
5. Give the value a name of “

   IncognitoModeAvailability

   “.
6. Double-click on “

   IncognitoModeAvailability

   “. A box will appear where you can set the value data to “1“.
7. Restart the computer, and the option to select “Incognito Mode” in Google Chrome will be gone.

MacOS

1. 1. From the Finder, select “Go” > “Utilities“.
   2. Open the “Terminal” application.
   3. Type the following, then press “Enter“:
      

      defaults write com.google.chrome IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 1

   4. Restart your Mac. The Incognito Mode option will no longer be available

the.guard wrote on 27 Mar 2018 21:17:

Hi Guard,

Thanks for the share. Personally in my opinion, it is not advisable to share such info openly. Whatever can be set, can also be unset by reverting the Registry back to normal.

I don't have a computer at the moment to check, however as far as I know this will no longer work. Google removed the option to set these settings via the Registry. You need to use a group policy. Depending on which version of Windows this person has, he might not even have GPO installed on his computer.

This below quote is from Google directly.


Hatzlocha Rabba and thanks for this amazing site!

alain wrote on 27 Mar 2018 18:07:

Hi Alain,

First of all welcome here. You have come to a great place. It is very helpful for a lot of people to start a thread and journal their journey to sanity. Feel free to post and keep up the good work.

K9 needs to also have the option "Redirect Google SSL" enabled in order to force safe search. 

Regarding the rest of your post, I don't want to get into a whole discussion why this might not be an appropriate answer, especially for this site. I just want to ask you two questions and let the answers speak for themselves.

1. Did Emunah help you in your acting out history?
2. Would you leave Knives, Chemicals, etc... within reach of children and rely on Emunah?

Try to post what works for you, perhaps others will be able to apply that to their own lives.

Hatzlocha Rabba!