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Archive for category Internet
Letter From EFF on Net Neutrality
Posted by technohermit in FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality on 2010/01/14
If you don’t know about the Electronic Frontier Foundation, here is an e-mail request I just received from them to sign a petition to the FCC. It would be great if you could do it as well, it’s important. Here’s the letter, the link is at the bottom for the petition. Thanks!
“Last fall, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules for “Net Neutrality” — a set of regulations intended to help innovation and free speech continue to thrive on the Internet.
But is the FCC’s version of Net Neutrality the real deal? Or is it a fake?
Buried in the FCC’s rules is a deeply problematic loophole. Open Internet principles, the FCC writes, “do not…apply to activities such as the unlawful distribution of copyrighted works.”
For years, the entertainment industry has used that innocent-sounding phrase — “unlawful distribution of copyrighted works” — to pressure Internet service providers around the world to act as copyright cops — to surveil the Internet for supposed copyright violations, and then censor or punish the accused users.
From the beginning, a central goal of the Net Neutrality movement has been to prevent corporations from interfering with the Internet in this way — so why does the FCC’s version of Net Neutrality specifically allow them to do so?
Go to the Real Net Neutrality petition to tell the FCC that if it wants to police the Internet, it first needs to demonstrate that it can protect Internet users and innovators by standing up to powerful industry lobbyists. Sign your name to demand that the copyright enforcement loophole be removed:
Sincerely,
Electronic Frontier Foundation”
Encrypt Your Email Address On Your Website
Posted by technohermit in Internet, Web Tech on 2009/11/02
No one likes spam, except spammers. When you put an email address on a website for the world to see, you expect that a human will be sending you something interesting to read. What you get is a bunch of robots telling you how cheap they can sell you something to make your junk bigger, or your butt smaller.
I found this sweet website that will let you put in your email address and a link text (what people will see), then hit submit and it hooks you up, right there, with an HTML encrypted anchor tag to copy and paste onto your website. Sweet. I’ve seen programs that do this, but this way there is no need to download anything. Robots won’t read it, but humans can. People can even click on it to open their mail application. Nice.
Here’s the link: Mysterious Ways
Separate Public and Private Wireless Network Using Two Routers
Posted by technohermit in Internet, Networking, Uncategorized, Web Tech on 2009/11/01
How to create a separate public and private wireless network using 2 routers
Setting up a separate public and private wireless network is not that complicated. It involves basic setup of a router, and its wireless network. In order to create the two separate networks, you set up both routers (R1 and R2), their wireless networks, and plug R2’s WAN port into one of the LAN ports on the back of R1. The networks will essentially be separate, but use a single modem (the same ISP connection for the Internet.) I created a separate public and private network using this method for a client’s restaurant. The client did not want customers to have access to the private network, yet still wanted to provide a wireless hotspot for patrons.
As far as firmware goes, I recommend using DD-WRT’s firmware and a compatible router, which you can find a list of here: DD-WRT. Not mandatory by any means, as you should be able to set up separate wireless networks with the stock firmware of just about any router on the market. By following my setup, you will completely separate the public and private networks, other than access to the private router’s login page from the public network. Be sure to set a strong password for both routers’ login information, which is mandatory no matter where you’re setting up a network. If you have a couple of routers on hand and this isn’t clear enough, feel free to shoot me an email describing your setup, and I’ll do the best I can to walk you through that model’s setup screens.
Step 1: First, set up the private router (R1). I usually do this disconnected from the Internet, by simply plugging an ethernet cable into the switch on the back of the router. No need to connect to the WAN port yet. Access your router’s login screen. Login and immediately change the password, make sure it is strong (upper and lowercase letters, at least one number, and a special character or two).
Step 2: Apply your settings, and login using the new password, if necessary. Next, choose your router name, your IP range (I’m using 10.0.10.x for this setup), and turn on the DHCP server. You can also set the number of clients, etc. Set R1′s address to the first addressable host (x.x.x.1) on your IP range, for ease of remembering where it is. I use 10.0.10.129 for my start range on DHCP because I like to leave a lot open for static IP’s; this allows plenty of room for printers, NAS storage, servers, etc.
Step 3: Next, set up the wireless portion of the R1 ( if you want wireless capability on the private network) This can also be set to “off” should you not require wireless setup. You absolutely want a very strong passphrase (something like, n0W1rel3$$4U) on your private wireless network (use WPA, not WEP if you can). There’s no sense in going through the trouble of having a second, public router, only to leave your wireless access open. You can leave the SSID set to broadcast, but this allows people to see the wireless network and attempt to connect. This shouldn’t be a problem so long as you have a strong password. Leaving broadcast “off” will not stop someone from finding it if they really want to, however, so the encryption still needs to be on.
Step 4: You can now plug in your WAN port from R1 to your modem, and verify you have access to the internet. Check your wireless as well, to be sure everything is working as it should.
Step 5: Next, you want to setup your public network on your second router (R2). Again, leave the router disconnected from the R1, simply plug in your computer to a port on the back of R2 and navigate to its setup screen in your browser. If you also have a wireless connection (such as setting this up from a laptop) be sure to turn it off for now, as you will not need it. This is especially true if you used wireless to set up the first router, as it might confuse the network connections and not allow you access to the setup screen on the second router.
Step 6: Set up a new username (if your router allows it) and password, and save your settings. Next, setup the network address. If you followed my first router setup and used 10.0.10.x for R1, use 192.0.10.x for R2. Again, set the router’s address to the first addressable host (192.0.10.1). Turn DHCP on, and setup your maximum clients, and your DHCP range. You could probably set this to 192.0.10.2 if you don’t need static IPs on the public network. If you are going to have a public accessible printer, set it to 192.0.10.10, so you can have a few static IPs if you ever need them.
Step 7: Apply your settings, and log back into the R2 by going to the router’s new address in your browser. It is highly recommended to set the R2′s WAN PORT to STATIC IP and set the address to something R1, outside of the DHCP range. See the screenshot below (click to enlarge). Basically, I set it up to be the second host on the router’s network, 10.0.10.2. The gateway will be 10.0.10.1, subnet mask 255.255.255.0.
WAN LAN Setup Screen Public Router
Step 8: Apply your settings, and you can now set up the SSID (be sure to pick a name different from the private router) and client type for your public network. If you want people to be able to access it, leave the encryption off, and broadcast the SSID. You may want to look into a hotspot server, such as set up a DD-WRT enabled router with Chillispot, but that is out of the scope of this post. To really make this work efficiently, you may want to set the channels of both routers apart (i.e., one to channel 1 and one to channel 11), but you can also leave them on auto. Another idea might be to have the public network on the 5ghz spectrum, as it would get less interference from surrounding networks and give your clients a better experience. An Airport Extreme or a TRENDnet TEW-672GR offer dual band functionality, although you sacrifice not being able to run the DD-WRT firmware with either of those.
Step 9: Finally, disconnect your computer from the R2. Plug R2’s WAN port into one of the switch ports on R1. You can now use a wireless connection to verify internet connectivity through the public router’s SSID.
Step 10: You should probably reboot everything at this point. Power down the modem and both routers. Leave off for 30 seconds, and plug the modem in again. Allow it to fully boot, then turn on the first router, allow it to fully boot. Turn on the second router, and you should be good to go.
Use Two Routers To Separate N and G Wireless Network Clients
Posted by technohermit in Internet, Uncategorized on 2009/10/30
[If you'd like to completely separate the G and N clients, set up the two routers to use the different SSIDs, and follow the instructions here for setting the second router to a Static IP from the first router.]
I had this problem, however strange, of a mixed wireless G and N network, where my MacBook Pro would drop its internet connection, or become really slow whenever my wife booted up her Asus Windows laptop. My assumption was because her laptop was 802.11G, and mine was 802.11N. I use a DD-WRT equipped Linksys WRT-350N for my home use and didn’t want to switch to G-only wireless.
What I figured I could do is similar to what I’ve done in the past, separate my wireless network to two different routers. What I didn’t want, though, is to have a separate network for the connection. I didn’t know if it would work, but I had a Buffalo router laying around and figured it was worth a shot.
First you set up your router as you normally would, in my case it’s DD-WRT, but this should work on the standard Linksys firmware as well. I have a cable connection, so my router gets its address via DHCP from Optimum Online. You are going to want the first router to handle DHCP. I set the DHCP to the second half of the IP range for the subnet (10.0.10.129), although this really only matters if you want to worry about setting up subnets. I don’t really do anything with subnets either, but I do have both routers, three printers, and a LaCie NAS, all with static IP’s. This way I don’t have to worry about my setting a static IP in the DHCP range, which could cause problems.
So the first router (the DHCP server) I set to the IP 10.0.10.1, the gateway to 10.0.10.1, and the Local DNS to 10.0.10.1. This is the first available address in that IP range. Turn the DHCP on, set the range to 10.0.10.129, and the number of clients to whatever you think you may need (25 to 50 should be fine, if you’re doing this for your house.)
Basic Router Settings--Router 1
Next, setup the wireless N network. Under the Wireless tab, Basic Settings, fill in your SSID. Wireless mode is AP(access point), Wireless Network Mode will be N only (or G only if this is your G router.) See screen shot below:
Wireless Settings--Router Connected to Modem
Don’t forget to setup the WPA encryption in the Wireless–> Wireless Security tab.
Next, you will set up the second router to be an access point in tandem with the first router, only to be a N (or G…opposite of whatever you did for router 1) only host. You want the WAN port set to disable, and you want to set its gateway as 10.0.10.1 (or whatever address you decided on for the first router.) The IP address for the router, which I set to 10.0.10.127, which would be the last addressable range in that subnet if I decided to set that up. Technically it would be the broadcast address for the .0 address range of the /25 subnet, but that’s why I did it. So I’d remember. Nevertheless, here are screenshots of the second router, now set up as a regular access point serving G-only clients:
Router 2 Setup
Router 2 Wireless Settings
The SSID is different, although I did make the WPA key exactly the same. This way you don’t have to worry about managing people coming over, they get one key for their iPhone, laptop, whatever, and the network hands it an address from the appropriate router. Seamless. This has stopped my connection issue, and my link is a consistent 130Mbps (it used to fluctuate wildly from 36Mbps to 78Mbps) on my MacBook Pro. No more dropped connections, either.
Also, for all of your shares it still works, because the actual network is still the same. Everyone will still be addressed to the 10.0.10.0/24 network. Meaning, all of your shares still work without issues, even though the wireless clients are on two different SSIDs, they are still connected to the same network. Beautiful!
Letter to Congressman Regarding Net Neutrality
Posted by technohermit in FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality, Uncategorized, Web Tech on 2009/10/29
I’ve been entertained lately by Fox news and some other reading on net-neutrality. So much so, in fact, I felt obliged to write my Congressman John Hall, who is in district 19 here in NY. The last letter I wrote to him was begging him not to vote for Bush’s money for the banks bill that Congress really had no time to review. He went ahead and voted for it anyway, which was disappointing. Alas, I digress. Here is the letter I sent him:
“It is imperative for the future success of our country that you form stringent opposition to Sen. John McCain’s proposals against net neutrality. Net neutrality is making the infrastructure neutral, meaning data is data no matter who put it on the wire.
Forcing people (or allowing) payment in return for priority on the national grid is absurd, and will only serve to keep and strengthen the basic oligopoly that stands to weaken and destroy our country.
Separating the infrastructure from the content providers is paramount to quality, affordable prices, and universal access to services. It is time we catch up to the rest of the world on this issue. We have gone from 4th to 15th in broadband penetration due to the policies of the last administration, and cannot afford to slip backwards any longer (even though we are still declining.) Please read the Berkman Broadband Study (Harvard University) here: http://www.fcc.gov/stage/pdf/Berkman_Center_Broadband_Study_13Oct09.pdf which was presented to the FCC for a better understanding of what the government policies across the globe have accomplished as compared to ours here in the United States. It is very well researched and makes it very obvious where Mr. McCain gets his money. They spend less, and their country gets more. The trend is not in our favor, and will only get worse if we keep or strengthen the current policies in place today.
Don’t let us down!
I try to stay informed the best I can on this issue, and hopefully when it comes time to vote, we can see some real change. Here is the response I received from Congressman Hall:
Thank you for contacting me about “net neutrality.” I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue.
Over the last decade, the Internet has grown and evolved at a rapid pace. People now shop online for clothes, cars and even groceries. People can buy music and movies and download them immediately. They can also send photos and home movies to friends and family all over the world. The development of the Internet has revolutionized the way people communicate, innovate, and do business all over the world.
I believe that much of the Internet’s ability to spur innovation and change is rooted in the ability of individuals to enjoy equal access to a wide array of sites and services. There is significant concern that this principle, known as “net neutrality,” could be undermined by 2005 decisions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)and the U.S. Supreme Court that broadband Internet service is an information service as opposed to a telecommunications service, and therefore not subject to the more stringent regulations that govern telecommunications services. Specifically, questions have been raised about whether or not telecommunications providers will be able to create a “two-tiered” internet that will allow individuals to connect to provider-owned or favored sites and services more quickly than those run by competitors or small businesses and groups that cannot afford to pay for high-speed preference.
I am concerned that compromising the principle of net neutrality would undermine the fundamental principle of open access that has fueled the growth of the Internet, and could hurt consumer choice, discriminate against sites involved in public discourse or espousing political views, and disadvantage small businesses.
I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind as Congress considers this issue. Please feel free to contact my office whenever I might be of assistance to you.
What I am particularly concerned with, is this quote:
“the fundamental principle of open access that has fueled the growth of the Internet, and could hurt consumer choice, discriminate against sites involved in public discourse or espousing political views, and disadvantage small businesses.”
The rest of the world has been putting in place legislation that truly affords open access to the backbone, whereas our legislation has not.
If you managed to read this long-winded post (and maybe even that Harvard study linked up top in my letter), tell me what you think.
How do you feel about net neutrality?
If you care about a free and fast internet…
Posted by technohermit in FCC, Internet, Uncategorized, Web Tech on 2009/10/27
Berkman Broadband Study
Please visit the above link and read their pdf, a worldwide broadband review for the FCC. It outlines why the infrastructure of the United States is outdated and ultimately fails us as a society. There aren’t enough providers because the companies who laid out the infrastructure (on our dime) also control who gets to use it, even though we heavily subsidized their implementation as taxpayers. This Harvard study seeks to inform our government what has worked worldwide to advance other countries telecommunications policies, and why they are “winning” a technology race.
I think the only thing to get the average person in this country to get up and voice their opinion is to be scared about being behind. If this research doesn’t wake you up and get you to vote for a better future, nothing will. Here’s to hope about getting rid of the terrible oligopolies in the US, and to a brighter future (with faster internet 
.)
Please read this and exercise your voice to the FCC about it. People who install cable shouldn’t have the final say in who gets to use it, as they are given heavy subsidies and grants to install it. They should be broken up into separate businesses and made to compete, like everyone else has to do.
E-Mail and Optimum Online — Updated With Response From OOL
Posted by technohermit in Internet, iPhone, Mail, OS X, Programs, Uncategorized on 2009/10/23
[Looking for iPhone settings and Optimum Online? Click here. ]
[Looking for POP/SMTP settings? Incoming and Outgoing Servers are both: mail.optonline.net. Scroll down for the outgoing settings.]
Update: Here it is, response straight from Optimum:
“Thank you for contacting Optimum Online regarding your question about email. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and will be happy to assist. I do apologize, apart from normal unencrypted POP/SMTP there is no SSL option at this time to encrypt your connections.”
Sorry guys, that’s it. Nothing about any if/when they might include it, or any hint of a plan to include it at all. Unfortunate. [/Update]
I get a lot of hits on my post here about the iPhone Mail and Optimum Online, so I figured I’d write a post on regular old computer mail as well.
The problem basically is that Optimum doesn’t allow SSL connections to their servers, either outgoing or incoming. They only allow secure log-in to their servers through HTTPS port 443 on their Optimum Webmail Portal. I currently have a question in to them about using SSL with third party applications and am awaiting a response. You see, on 1xRTT or 2G EDGE, it is still quite fast to download e-mails through your phone. But in order to pass encrypted information, you would need to access your e-mail through your phone’s browser of choice (Safari on the iPhone, in my case.)
This problem extends to your mail application regardless of operating system. I will show you how to set up an email address using Optimum Online through Mail on OS X.
Mail, helpful application it wants to be, will automatically check your connection settings when you type in your name and email address. Poor Mail, though, fails miserably at connecting via SSL, and asks you if you’s like to continue, or setup your account manually.
So, to start setting up your e-mail (if you don’t yet have one setup through OOL, you can do so here) first open Mail. Then open preferences with ⌘-, (holding ⌘ and pressing comma.)
Mail Preferences
This brings you to your account page, where you will begin setting up your new account. I am using Mail on Snow Leopard, but the steps to follow are similar enough in Leopard and Tiger for you to follow along. Click on the “Accounts” tab in the top of the window, which brings you to this screen:
Accounts Pane
Once there, click on the “+” button to add your new account. Mail will ask you for your Full Name, User Name, and Password, and then try to automatically set you up with the correct servers:
Add Account Screen
Click continue, and Mail will tell you it cannot connect securely to the servers:
Mail Password Security Warning
Click “Setup Manually” so you can adjust the account settings, and begin sending and receiving your mail. Using Optimum, you are going to setup a POP mailbox, and both your incoming and outgoing mail servers are mail.optonline.net :
Incoming Settings
Click continue, and then you want to disable the SSL by unchecking the “Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)” check box, but still have “Authentication” set to “Password”:
Uncheck SSL
Click Continue, and you will be brought to the outgoing server section. Enter a description for the server, which is something you will use to identify it in Mail. It has no other significance. Check the box that says “Use only this server”, as well as “Use Authentication”. Enter in your username without the “@optonline” or “@optimum” ending, as well as your password:
Outgoing Setup
You will then be told, once again, Mail cannot connect securely to the server. Again, click “Setup Manually”, which takes you to here:
Outgoing Security
Leave these settings intact, and click “Continue”. You will be shown an Account Summary screen, and both incoming and outgoing mail should say SSL off. Be sure the “Take Account Online” box at the bottom is checked, and click “Create”.
I am waiting to hear back from Optimum about a different port or setting allowing SSL connections via third party mail clients, and hopefully I just couldn’t find the correct port to use. If not, here’s to hoping they are working on getting SSL enabled soon!
Downloading and Installing Applications on OS X
If you are a new Mac user, switching from Windows, or just new to computers in general, you may not know there is something a little bit different in the way you install programs on Mac OS X.
Many people I know run into trouble installing applications they download from the internet, simply because they are not used to dropping an application into the “Applications” folder from a mounted virtual disk. My brother had 4 copies of Google Earth downloaded, none installed, and wondered why it was “reset” every time he tried to run it. So, for those of you out there trying to figure out why you cannot just drag the icon into the dock and run it at will, here is a tutorial made just for you.
First, download your application. In OS X, on Safari, the default location for your downloads is in your “Downloads” folder, located inside your “Home” folder. To access this location, find “Finder” on the left hand side of your dock (by default.) It looks like this:
Finder
When you click on the icon in the dock it will open a new Finder window. You can accomplish this same task by holding down ⌘ and hitting N, or “Command-N”. Be sure it says “Finder” by the in the menu bar, upper left hand corner of your screen. You should see something similar to this:
New Finder Window
I am currently running OS 10.6.1, Snow Leopard, but the above ⌘-N works throughout OS X. Also, I have already clicked on the “Home” folder (looks like a house) and the Downloads folder inside of Home. That is why they are highlighted in blue. If you do not have this view enabled, it may look like this:
Cover Flow View in Finder
You can see the top center of the window shows my Home Folder, meaning this is the directory you are currently located in. You can use your arrow keys to navigate down the list shown in the bottom half of the window until you get to the “Downloads” folder. Hitting enter, however, will not get you into that folder. You can use ⌘-Down Arrow to go into the folder, or you can use ⌘-Right Arrow to open the folder’s contents and display it in the list. As a matter of fact, when you select any file and want to open it, using ⌘-Dn (I’ll list command-down arrow like ⌘-Dn from now on) will work. You can also hit spacebar to see a QuickView of the file. Yet, I digress.
So, now that you are in your “Downloads” folder, you can find the file you have recently downloaded. I will use Google Earth as my example here:
Google Earth Download Page
When you click the “Agree and Download” button, you see a new “Downloads” window open, and the file begin to transfer to your computer:
File Transfer In Progress
After the file transfer completes, a bunch of stuff happens. First, OS X verifies the disk image is not corrupted, and then it will mount. A file with “dmg” after the period means “Disk Image”, which basically means it is just like a CD or DVD you would put into your drive. If you had a physical disk and stuck it in your DVD drive, it would show up on your desktop, and you could click on it. Same goes for .dmg files, but you don’t need the physical disk:
Google Earth Downloaded and "Mounted"
The download automatically verifies, and “mounts” on your desktop, just like you had a Google Earth CD and put it in your drive. The white thing above the disk name on my desktop there is the icon for a virtual disk, or some USB drives as well.
You can also see the actual Google Earth application in the window titled Google Earth and the virtual disk picture just to the left of it. If you close that window, the disk stays mounted on your desktop. What you want to do now is actually install the program by dragging it to somewhere on your computer. This is done simply by holding down the left mouse button (trackpad button, or sometimes your only mouse button) and moving it off of the window it is currently in.
I recommend always installing programs into your “Applications” folder, to keep everything nice and tidy. Open a new “Finder” window, and below your home folder it says “Applications”. Click on the link, and it will open your “Applications” folder to the right hand side:
Installing into Applications Folder
One thing to note here is above the “Applications” link, there is the Google Earth disk image with an Eject symbol next to it. More on that in a second, first let’s install Google Earth. Get your two windows side-by-side on your desktop, and drag the Google Earth application from it’s current window and drop it on the list in the “Applications” window. Before you let go of the mouse button, be sure there is a little green “+” sign, letting you know the file you are moving is going to be copied into this location. If you see it, go ahead and drop it in there:
Side-by-Side
Look for the + Sign 
Now that you have installed and application, you can unmount the disk image. First, close the window titled “GoogleEarth-Mac”. Next you can either click the eject button next to the GoogleEarth disk in the “Applications” window you still have open, or you can click once on the disk image on your desktop to highlight it. You can then drag it to the trash can in the dock (with turns into a big Eject button), or you can use the keyboard shortcut ⌘-E (command-e for ”e”-ject.)
Lastly, if you want to back up your GoogleEarthMac.dmg file, you can do so. You can leave it in your “Downloads” folder, or you can delete it. To delete it, navigate back to your “Downloads” folder, in your home directory, and highlight the .dmg file:
Highlight the File in Finder
To send it to the Trash, simply drag it there and let go, or hit ⌘-Delete.
That’s all there is to installing an application on OS X. Once you can effortlessly find your way around the windows, installing is as easy as drag and drop!
Safari and Firefox Cache Preferences
Posted by technohermit in Apple, Internet, OS X, Uncategorized, Web Tech on 2009/10/20
I have a MacBook Pro, and I’m always trying to keep it running the best that it can. Most of the time, the trouble I have is related to the amount of space Safari and Firefox use to store files in the cache. If you would like to limit Safari’s space on your hard disk, you are kind of stuck as far as the options in the file menu’s “Reset Safari” go.
In order to reset ( or clear ) your cache, history, cookies, etc., you can easily do this by clicking Safari in the menu bar, and either selecting just “Empty Cache” or “Reset Safari” from the drop-down menu. There is a lot of options in Reset Safari, and you can partially clear certain things as you like.
You may also be interested in limiting the actual size of the cache, of which you have but one option–WebPreview, or CoverFlow. You can check here for instructions on how to disable that feature. Unfortunately, there is no option in Preferences to limit the cache size of Safari, or if there is I couldn’t find it. There is a cryptic “database size” option in the advanced section of preferences, and I am trying to find out from Apple what that is in reference to (as I have none listed in the box.) The “Database Size” in the advanced section of Preferences has been an option to JavaScript developers to store code client-side rather than server-side as a way to avoid code getting trashed by storing it with a user’s cookies. Unfortunately, after my call with Apple, there is no way to limit the size of the Cache.db file yourself (from Apple directly.) They did mention that there “may be a third party” application out there that could do this for me, of which I will have to scour the intrawebs to find. My cache.db is 180MB after only two days of having cleared it. Bummer.
Firefox, on the other hand, does give you the option to limit the cache size in Preferences –> Advanced –> Network:
Firefox Preferences
This is nice to have, and the default is a modest 50MB. I’ve had Safari’s WebPreview images top 500MB, which is just out of hand.
Firefox also has the ability to start sessions and save information as you’d like, found under Preferences–>Security:
Custom Security Settings
Private Browsing Option
The private browsing feature should show in your window’s title bar letting you know it is activated. With this feature enabled, you just aren’t saving anything to your cache, history etc. You are not surfing the web anonymously, however, so don’t do things you wouldn’t normally do!
