There are many users who think that by activating the incognito mode in their browser they are completely shielded, but nothing is further from the truth. And it is that practically the only function that it offers us is that of not store the websites we visit in the history. We are even less protected if we use a browser like Google Chrome, since on multiple occasions it has proven to be one of the ones that puts our privacy the most at stake online.
However, even if we delete the browsing history, or enter incognito mode so that the browser does not store the websites we visit, our team is in charge of collecting the DNS information every time the computer interacts with a network server, and therefore, it is possible to know which web pages we have visited even if we enter incognito mode.
How to have a record of all the websites we have visited from the incognito mode
To find out this, we just have to open a terminal window in our operating system. In Windows, we can do this through CMD (Command Prompt). To do this, just run the application and type the following command:
ipconfig/displaydns
Once we have written the command and pressed enter, the system will take care of showing us a list of all DNS servers with whom the team has recently contacted to exchange information.
Basically, what we see in the list belongs to the DNS cache. When we enter a website, the system first checks if we have ever visited that site before. If yes, it applies the stored configuration, while otherwise it will contact the DNS server to obtain the information. The data is pulled from the computer’s ‘hosts’ file and from recently retrieved resource records for DNS queries made by the system.
This way, We can even find out the web pages that have been accessed from the incognito mode from the browser. We just have to look at the address that appears in the ‘Record name’ line. There will be times when we do not identify the website, as the site’s DNS server has a completely different domain. In addition, we can also find out the IP address of it if we pay attention to the ‘A record (host)’ line.
How to delete the DNS record of the computer
If you want to delete all the information that appears stored in the registry, you just have to write the following command:
ipconfig/flushdns
This command will be responsible for completely emptying the entire registry. However, it will not do so permanently, and every time the system accesses a website, it will be stored in that list again. However, there is an option to prevent the system from saving this information on our computer. To do this, you must use the Windows Services application.
We can access it by pressing the Windows + R key combination and typing ‘services.msc’ (without the quotes) or typing ‘Services’ in the search box on the toolbar. Once here, we must look for the ‘DNS Client’ service and stop it.
Stopping this service will not prevent the system from continuing to resolve DNS names, although will stop caching information. Also, all services that depend on it will stop working.
Image | Modification by Nathana Rebouças
Via | computer today
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