Everybody knows that if you're looking at something really, really weird you can use private browsing mode to make sure that nobody except for the NSA and your ISP know what you're doing. But if I'm on my own computer, why should I have to hide my activities? When searching in private no passwords, forms or history is saved which is inconvenient if you're looking at that weird stuff all the time.

Now the problem comes when I simply want to show someone a funny cat video on my laptop and the autofill box returns hundreds of furry porn results and the halfbakery.

What's needed is the opposite of private mode, a public mode specifically for letting other people see the computer. The history will be hidden, autofill will be turned off, and it will be like your searches for high strength genital wart remover never even happened.

Now lets refine the idea - extend it to the entire computer so that you don't accidentally display those folders of Twilight fan fiction you wrote. On a Mac folders can be tagged now as a certain color. It should be relatively simple to say "hide all red tagged folders" while InPublic mode is engaged. People may wonder what is taking up 700GB of space on your hard drive but they won't know for sure. In order to disengage InPublic mode you have to enter a password, so you can safely let someone borrow your computer and not have to worry. It may even be possible to setup facial recognition on the webcam so that if the computer sees a second person enter the room it will go to InPublic mode automatically.
-- DIYMatt, Jul 15 2014

Guest account http://www.google.c...ufzm8ZPCCExK2LeDiUw
OSX features temporary ringfenced 'guest accounts'. [rodti, Jul 21 2014]

But _everything_ on my computer is weird! This would be like creating a completely new clean guest user account!
-- pocmloc, Jul 15 2014


Alternatively, get somebody to write a PC operating system.

Linux and Mac are Unixen (originally developed to handle 1 host computer and a bunch of terminals in a multi-user university environment), and the core bits of Windows that actually work are VMS (business, government, record-keeping).

The fact that there's no phones that can be found with a "memo/record" button or a full-size USB port would lead one to assume that their OS's are likewise not written with the user in mind.
-- FlyingToaster, Jul 15 2014


// It should be relatively simple to say "hide all red tagged folders" while InPublic mode is engaged. People may wonder what is taking up 700GB of space on your hard drive but they won't know for sure. //

Yes.

// In order to disengage InPublic mode you have to enter a password, so you can safely let someone borrow your computer and not have to worry. //

That would require full encryption of those files, and you accessing them with private keys, including the links from browser history, etc. Might get a bit complicated, because you won't go to mark every link as porn, unless being in "porn" mode marks all them for you automatically.

So, perhaps a triple mode would work better: (public, normal, porn).
-- Mindey, Jul 16 2014


Setting up the guest user account is likely the best option, and your idea really doesn't improve on it. You still have to click a button and type in a password.
-- rcarty, Jul 21 2014


//Setting up the guest user account is likely the best option, and your idea really doesn't improve on it. You still have to click a button and type in a password// If someone walks in or wants to see something on your computer, clicking a button is less suspicious than logging out and logging back in on a guest account. Also like I said, it may be possible for the computer to go into the mode automatically. Typing in the password is only needed to get back out of InPublic mode.
-- DIYMatt, Jul 21 2014


Added a link to guest accounts in OSX which are sort of the right idea but as you say require you to log off first. inPublic mode needs to be seamless.

Bun!
-- rodti, Jul 21 2014


" hundreds of furry porn results and the halfbakery."

Yes, but there's only one item in that selection you should really be embarrassed about.
-- normzone, Jul 21 2014



random, halfbakery