What is an Incognito Window?
An Incognito window is a private, temporary Chrome session that starts clean every time you open it. It ignores your saved cookies, cached files, signed-in accounts and most extensions, and it throws away anything created during the session when you close the last Incognito window.
In practice, a website sees you as a brand-new visitor: not signed in, no saved preferences, no stored data from earlier visits.
Why we ask you to use one
Incognito is the quickest way to tell whether a problem is caused by the website or by something stored in your browser. If a page works in Incognito but not in a normal window, the fix is usually on your side (clearing cache, signing out, or disabling an extension), not the site.
Common reasons the helpdesk will ask you to try it:
- A page won't load, looks broken or shows old content. Incognito skips your cached files and cookies.
- Sign-in loops or the wrong account. You can sign in fresh without the accounts already saved in Chrome getting in the way.
- Suspected extension conflict. Extensions are off in Incognito by default, so ad blockers, password managers and similar add-ons are ruled out.
- Testing access or permissions. You can check what a site looks like to another user, or sign in as a second account without logging out of your own.
- Using a shared or borrowed computer. Your sign-ins and browsing are not kept after you close the window.
How to open one
- Click the three dots (⋮) at the top right of Chrome, then New Incognito window.