In Private Browsing.

[Dobbiesmum]

I need you lot to help me decide if I should dig a little deeper on this or if I'm overthinking it.
Last night DH was in the office on his laptop. He shouted through to me asking if I knew someone who had sent him an FB friend request, I went through to have a look and we figured it out. No issue there. His FB login is his work email address. About 10 minutes later I made us a brew and took his through to him just as he was logging onto hotmail. In the top left corner of the window it said 'In Private Browsing is on'. He didn't realise that I had noticed and we chatted for a few minutes. During the chat he didn't type anything in on the keyboard at all.
The toddler woke up screaming, night terrors I think, a few minutes later so I ended up upstairs sorting her out for about half an hour, took her into our room and dozed off on the bed with her. I woke up at around 2ish this morning. He was still on the laptop but was shutting it down when I went downstairs. Apparently he was working. This isn't unusual, he often brings home work.
So this morning as I am an early riser I went onto his laptop before he got up. There are 3 sites on the history in the last 24 hours. FB isn't one of them, even though I saw him logged in last night. The sites are innocent ones, hotmail, news and a football forum.
Digging back a few weeks there is nothing out of the ordinary, but even that's weird. We do online banking but there is no history of the bank website, even though I know damn well he's been on (and there's nothing strange going on with the bank account either).
So.
Would hotmail even show (just the login page) if he was using in private browsing?
Is there anyway to bypass the private browsing without installing spyware or similar? I am fairly techie in most things (more so than DH thinks) but having an iPad rather than a laptop for the last few years I know very little about this.
I should say that this wouldn't ring major bells for me so soon, but coupled with very out of character behaviour recently it's niggling. He's very very over affectionate at the moment, constantly stroking my hand or hair, telling me he loves me all the time, over cuddly in bed and suggesting nice underwear for me. Again, on it's own mildly irritating as we're not 'touchy' types but these things together are strange.
I'm starting to think I'm not overthinking at all...

[TheWomanWhoMisplacedHerHusband]

She's listed the reasons several times Treen the posts above list them - H being overly affectionate etc.

Op - always listen to your instincts. How about having a look through his phone or emails? I wouldn't condone that normally but seeing as you have a feeling something is amiss, might help.

[Treen44444]

Thewoman - I was wondering if there was previous cheating from her or her husband.

If you want absolute transparency. Ask him.
You should also tell him about this thread and previous times you have snooped on his computer and through his Facebook/phones. You should also mention that you planned to snoop through his work desk.

I was just wondering about trust, you can't control him.

[ALittleStranger]

I use private browsing all the time. To keep forums private, to stop things popping onto Facebook, get around limits, stop targeted ads etc. Add porn into the mix and there are loads of non-affair reasons to. Maybe start a conversation about ads or something to see if it's something on his radar?

I think if he was being really devious he'd only do the top top secret stuff in private to leave enough of an internet history to avoid arousing suspicion.

But you have spidery senses - you shouldn't ignore that.

[Dobbiesmum]

Sorry, had to go sort out WW3... No history of cheating at all and up to now I've had no reason not to trust him. We were friends for a long time before we got together and I know him. Or at least I think I do, hell I hope I do and I'm having a premenstrual fit of paranoia.
I think that this why I'm getting this hunch that something is not right now, his behaviour is so unlike the 'him' that I know, and it's bringing out my instinct to check up on him in ways I wouldn't have thought of before. We know each others passwords, I have the Fb app so it's always available for him to have a quick look, same with my emails. We're in each others phones if one of us are being too lazy to pick up a text, the other will do it. It's been an honest relationship.
If it comes to the crunch I will certainly tell him that I've been looking and that I've sought advice from other people about what to do. He uses the iPad if he's checking something quickly online so he might find this thread anyway.
I'm asking you all first simply to see if I'm right to have these hunches that something is up.

[Dobbiesmum]

Have to nip out with the tribe so am not ignoring anyone.

[SawofftheOW]

Dobbiesmum, follow your hunches. Always. And don't show your hand yet. You only have to read through some of the threads on here and see how an initially unsubstantiated feeling that something is 'different' leads to the discovery of something devastating.

However, the fact that he mentions you wearing nice underwear makes me wonder if it is porn rather than an affair. Then again, some men become more sexually interested in their DW/DP when they are getting it elsewhere either as a way of gaslighting them/attempting to head off suspicion or because the excitement of the sex with the OW makes them feel, well, sexier (urrgh). My DH had absolutely no drop off in his sexual interest in me when engaged in a high-octane affair with his OW (before I knew, that is) and indeed it was probably greater. He of course told his OW that we weren't having sex at all..

I do wonder if your DH left the 'innocent' stuff for you to see in his History to put you off the scent if you did happen to check up. So it's one of two things - I hope it's just porn as you have said porn isn't a problem for you (but then, as you say, why would he be secretive), but I suspect it may be what others have suggested, either sexual chat online (hence his feeling more amorous around you), or it is an affair and that's his way of dealing with his guilt.

I have to say that his constant reiteration that he loves you, when he doesn't normally do this, rings warning bells with me re an affair, either physical or EA. My BF realised something was up when her normally very reserved DH began telling her how much he loved her, constantly touching her, dragging her into fields when walking home from the pub to have sex etc. Her digging, following her instincts, and following him to the OW's flat in the final resort as he had covered his email, text and FB trail very effectively, revealed a year-long affair with a fellow police officer. I do so hope that this is not the case with your DH.

Best of luck.

[Mumsyblouse]

I use private browsing a lot, mainly as I use work computer for non-work stuff like MN, and certainly for things like airline tickets.

The over-affection is far more worrying, but you can't know what's behind it, yet.

[Quiltcover]

How do you know if someone has used private browsing on a laptop?

[Apocalypto]

I use this all the time when doing banking on a laptop (in case it is nicked and the session somehow restored), and when reading the Daily Labourgraph online. After you've read some limited number of articles a month it blocks you, but if you use an incognito window it doesn't, because that mode hides who's reading the site, so it can't see who to block.

The bloke who sits next to me at work complains all the time that he gets filth ads put on his work PC screen all the time "because Chrome has worked out that I'm a bloke". Our work PCs block porn, FB and youtube, so the work PC this chap uses cannot possibly have "worked out he's a bloke" based on porn viewed from that machine, because there cannot have been any. He has looked at football, war gaming and car sites on it, however, which I suppose is how it is done.

If your bloke is techie enough to rebuild a laptop, he is poss also techie enough to browse stuff in private for reasons of PC hygiene.

[Treen44444]

I don't disagree but would your fella see you different if he knew you were snooping? Would you see your partner differently if you knew he'd been through your phone/emails
?

[ImperialBlether]

It would be interesting to know the times of the Hotmail etc visits. If he's been on InPrivate Browsing all evening, then clicked on the others just before going to bed, I'd wonder that he was up to something.

OP, you've said there's nothing wrong with the bank. You feel something's going on, that at the very least he's feeling guilty. What else could he be feeling guilty about, apart from money and sex? I know you don't want to think about it, but if the money is OK and something is wrong, surely it has to be sex related?

[Treen44444]

Maybe, he is feeling over judged. Maybe your spying is pushing him away?

If he said to you 'can you tell me what you are doing', how would you feel. I think people need to breathe,

[Dobbiesmum]

I knew getting it out on here instead of going into anything mob handed would make a difference.
So, inspired by what's been said I tackled him and admitted to having a look on his laptop this morning. It turns out he has been hiding something... He found a lump in a very sensitive area and instead of making an appointment (as he promised to do) he has been consulting Dr Google and looking at all sorts of horror stories. He's been scared shitless for days about it and in his words saw his life flashing before his eyes. He has hidden the history just in case either me or the DC's saw anything.
Apparently he uses in private browsing at work quite a bit and just didn't turn it off.
He has an appointment at the Docs tomorrow and has asked me to go with him.
So, the snooping would appear to have a good affect, we have had a look at a couple of sensible websites which seems to have put his mind at rest a little as well. He is a pretty capable bloke usually but give him a health scare and he turns into a wobbling wreck...
Oh and he relaxed a little too and didn't do the puppy thing when he nipped out again thank god, it was getting really bloody irritating!
So thanks all, I really appreciate your advice on this and tonight I think!

[YoniBottsBumgina]

The hotmail, other login pages would show up so I wouldn't worry about that - in fact private browsing doesn't save cookies so it would log you out as soon as you close the tab. Another reason to use it would be to save disk space as it doesn't add unnecessary bloat to things.

Not sure whether to be glad or not as to what it turned out to be though! Obviously it's v. good he is now being seen by a doctor. I know that with breast lumps most turn out to be benign but it's best to check, hope this is the same. Good luck with the appointment.

[Dobbiesmum]

I know Yoni, having had a look on the cancer research site put my mind at rest as it's quite painful. This is apparently a goodish sign so we're hoping for the best outcome now, just have to wait and see tomorrow.
I think my feeling is that now it's something known that we can deal with and he can stop bottling things up and talk to me instead of 'I don't want to worry you' which in all honesty makes me stabby...

[sunshinemeg]

I am so relieved that the huge number of people who have jumped to the affair conclusion are wrong. It does shock me on here how quick people are with that, I also very much hope that the lump turns out to be nothing, and your other half realises that google is the worst thing to do when researching health. Hope your worries about trust can go now.

[ImperialBlether]

I really hope the visit to the doctor goes well, OP. I must have spent too much time with men who like to share all their symptoms of very minor illnesses; I didn't think he might have been looking up symptoms. Best of luck for tomorrow.

[Dobbiesmum]

Thanks, There's a whole new set of worries now but at least they can be dealt with quickly. I should have known that something big was up, he's not a worrier in general, he has an ongoing health concern (not connected to this) that he talks about freely but this came on so suddenly that it shocked him, although I think he knew it was there before he initially told me and had worked himself up into a state.

[Dobbiesmum]

Oh and the next time he consults Google about his health I'm going to brain him with the laptop...

[SuperiorCat]

Dobbiesmum - I am relieved that there was no bad intent on his part, but also that you trusted your instincts and had a proper grown up conversation with him.

I do hope the lump turns out to be nothing sinister

[Treen44444]

That's a relief. Will you let him read this thread? Or is it ok for you to not be totally honest?

[OhDearNigel]

I turned on inprivate browsing by accident once. May be perfectly innocent

[cronullansw]

I don't believe him, making a feeble excuse like this when we all KNOW the beast is looking at porn, how dare he be so disrespectful to you thinking he can cover his lies like this. LT filthy porn watching B.

:)

Oh MN, the vitriol, the bitterness, the vile bile spewed from so many, and so few apologies too.

OP, I'm very sad to hear he has an issue and I really, really hope it all get's cleared up quickly and smoothly xxx

[Boosterseat]

OP - please ignore Cron he tars all men with his hairy handed brush and likes to plant little seeds of nastiness in all his does.

FWIW, i use In-Private browsing all the time, looking up presents for DC, forums,banking etc. My 2 reasons are the following:

1. If someone steals my laptop/ipad, they have less chance of committing identity fraud
   
   and
   
2. I wouldn't want DC/Nosey SIL etc reading my posts on MN if i left a device hanging around
   
   obviously a porn habit though because no-one should take internet safety seriously

[MadAboutHotChoc]

Glad you have an explanation for the odd behaviour - as I have said earlier, the in private browsing itself is not a big deal as long as nothing else has changed.

Hope all goes well at the GP.