Hi, i’m new to VPNs but i am using nordvpn right now and it’s good so far. Now here is a scenario:
I use my VPN and browse on google chrome, not in incognito mode. I stop browsing and disconnect the VPN. I notice that google chrome still saves my browsing history.
My question is can my ISP still look at all the sites i’ve been because it was logged into my browser? I also have read some posts about google able to download browser history but i’m not sure about ISPs.
Thanks in advance and sorry for the noob question.
Browser history, no, if you closed all Chrome browser tabs. The ISP can only see what you query for DNS (if using cleartext DNS) and traffic that is not encrypted (including SSL handshake for TLS1.2 and earlier protocols.
If you left browser tabs open and the page is set to refresh the content, the the ISP might be able to see that you are going to a specific site/domain, but not specific pages without decryption of your traffic.
I would also recommend installing the duck duck go browser extension for Chrome too. If you log into your Google account you will see that every site / page that you have been to will be recorded, basically a 2nd history. So even though your ISP can’t see anything Google can, that’s all fine within Chrome.
I have Chromeos so very hard to change my browser, I was recommended duck duck go extension so all your searches and browser activity is hidden from Google too and pretty much wiped after each time. In West pretty much wiped as your local history still remains.
Been using it for a while now, even before I joined Nord and or works great.
I do log into Google every now and then to check and not history at all, only from when do search via Google search page.
Yes and No, but mostly No. Google chrome is one browser, and yes, it keeps track of what you ask for, where you go… what you click on to go to next. So set security to delete browser history and cache each time you exit the program… then quit everything and shut down your comp each night you go to bed… everything gets erased… good for you.
Now, that request goes first out to the DNS server to figure out what it’s server’s IP is… and that gets tracked… not a lot you can do about the ISP’s DNS records… yes, one copy is on your web browser, and one copy is on your home perimeter router/ modem… but so too, one copy is on the ISP’s router system… and the return answer.
Here is the big No… they don’t care… the different places which run these machines don’t need the headache in dealing with the multi-millions of requests and logging data ( per request handled) that they see come across their machine(s)… it is a metric shit load of data, which needs to be logged, stored, and then backed up… on very expensive back up servers; and looked at by very expensive SIEM logging device softwares…
So this is where NORD comes in. They say, we don’t log, we don’t care, we don’t track… we don’t store nuttin… good for them, and why you pay them a monthly fee.
Thanks. So in short they can only see what i’m currently doing (without VPN) but can’t see what site i browsed while on VPN and have no access to my browser history right?