How to Set Two Default Search Engines On Any Browser.
Quite frankly, Google is the best search engine available today. Period. However, we also cannot ignore the privacy concerns associated with this. Google tracks your searches, your search patterns, and stores your profile on its server.
While I can sacrifice my privacy for better search results, when I use incognito mode, I prefer to keep my searches private. One easy way out is to start using two different browsers, with Google and DuckDuckGo set as your default search engines. But this is too much work. In general, the ideal solution would be to use Google in default mode and DuckDuckGo (or any other privacy-focused search engine) in incognito mode. But neither browser supports the two default search engines. So, we need a workaround, and here’s my advice on how to do it.
Why DuckDuckGo: DuckDuckGo vs. Google: Which Browser Is More Private
Use DuckDuckGo as the default search engine in incognito mode
1. Create a bookmark
The easiest way to do this is to bookmark DuckDuckGo. When you need to switch to incognito mode, just right-click the bookmark and select “Open in incognito window”. An incognito window will open with DuckDuckGo as the search engine.
But creating a bookmark followed by a right-click requires three clicks, which is not possible every time. How about if you could just activate incognito mode when you enter a URL.
2. Use a supplement
Incognito Regex is a Chrome extension that lets you filter websites for incognito mode. If you enter a website name, it will open in incognito mode. All you have to do is record the extension.
To get started, download the extension, click Options. A new tab will open.
Here you need to enter the website you want to filter. When you load the specified site, it will automatically open in incognito mode. In our case, we will enter duckduckgo.com.
Now when I type duckduckgo.com and as soon as the page loads, it pops up and opens in incognito mode. Incognito Regex provides many possibilities and you can filter a set of websites to open in incognito mode.
Like most of you, I try to do most of my work with hotkeys. It requires minimal effort and I don’t have to take my fingers off the keyboard.
3. Create shortcut and shortcut keys
This is the best solution since it does not require downloading any applications. The only caveat is this only works for Windows.
First, create a Google Chrome shortcut on your desktop. To do this, go to C: Program Files (x86) Google Chrome Application and find the Google Chrome.exe file. Right-click it and choose Create Shortcut.
Windows will prompt you to place the shortcut on your desktop, click “Yes”. Now. this desktop shortcut will launch Google Chrome and we need to change it so that it opens in incognito every time.
Open Properties and on the Shortcut tab add the following text to the text in the Target text box. –incognito https://duckduckgo.com/
The addition of -incognito means that Google Chrome will open in incognito mode with the https://duckduckgo.com/ web page. Now I want to invoke this shortcut with a hotkey and for that edit the shortcut parameter with Ctrl + Alt + D. Now from any screen if I press Ctrl + Alt + D it will open Google Chrome in incognito mode with DuckDuckGo as search engine systems.
Alternatively, you can also set the CTRL + SHIFT + N keyboard shortcut, which will override the keyboard shortcut for launching incognito mode in Google Chrome.
This makes me switch search engine easily on the go. So, I can use Google in default mode and switch to DuckDuckGo in incognito mode without any problem. Since this trick does not require any third party applications, you can use it in any browser.
For Edge, Mozilla Firefox or Opera, you need to add the following to the Target text box. – private https://www.duckduckgo.com
Add a shortcut and it works just like Google Chrome.
Closing words
You cannot have two default search engines in any browser unless this feature is provided by the browser itself. This workaround works like a hack and you get the best of both worlds – the accuracy and efficiency of Google Chrome in normal mode and DuckDuckGo’s privacy in incognito mode.
For any questions or questions, write in the comments below.
Also Read: How to Turn Off Incognito Mode in Google Chrome for Android