Help Desk Geek – Help Desk Tips For IT Pros

If you need to surf the web and you don’t want anyone looking over your shoulder at the sites you are visiting, there are two extensions to Google Chrome that allow you to quickly hide all the open tabs and display either a blank tab, the Google search page, or a page of your choice.

Boss Button

The first extension is a very simple one called Boss Button that hides all your open tabs and replaces them with the innocent Google home page.

Install Boss Button from

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pogmacaemahbfkgmmopldjnbajblecah.

When Boss Button is installed, you will not see an icon on the toolbar like you would with other extensions. That is normal. It makes the button more elusive.

To hide your tabs, click the Boss Button on the toolbar. The Google search page displays as the only open tab.

To access your open tabs again, just click the Boss Button again.

NOTE: We have heard that the Boss Button extension may have issues with a large number of open tabs. We haven’t tried it with that many tabs yet, so just be careful.

Panic Button

The second extension is called Panic Button, and has a few more features.

Install Panic Button from

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/faminaibgiklngmfpfbhmokfmnglamcm.

When Panic Button is installed, a new icon displays on the toolbar to the right of the address bar.

To hide all the open tabs, click the red Panic Button. All your open tabs are hidden and the default new tab displays as the only open tab.

When the tabs are hidden, the Panic Button turns green and displays a small number indicating how many tabs are hidden. To display the tabs again, click the green Panic Button.

There are a few options available for Panic Button. To access the options, right-click on the Panic Button and select Options from the pop-up menu.

A new tab opens in Chrome displaying the available options for Panic Button.

You can use the Esc key to hide the open tabs instead of the button on the toolbar. To use this option, select yes from the Keyboard shortcut drop-down list.

To require a password to access hidden tabs, select yes from the Password protection drop-down list and enter password in the edit box that displays. Click the save button.

If you want a specific web page to open when you hide your tabs, enter the URL for the desired page in the Set a safe page edit box and click the save button to the right of that edit box.

To return to the default settings for these options, click the reset options button.

If you chose to set a password to protect your hidden tabs, a pop-up displays when you click the green Panic Button asking you to enter your password. Enter the password and click OK to display your hidden tabs.

These two extensions provide some quick and easy privacy when surfing the web at work, in public places, or anywhere you don’t want your browsing activities to be observed.

by Lori Kaufman