This exists in three places that I know of already. They are:
1. <a href=http://www.apple.com/safari/download/>Safari</a> by Apple
2. <a href=http://www.privacyview.com>Anonymous Surfing</a> by PrivacyView
3. <a href=http://www.heatseek.com>Porn Browser</a> by HeatSeek

Each one of these products protect people’s privacy. HeatSeek is purely designed for Porn. Safari is a full featured browser. PrivacyView has both privacy software and an anonymous proxy.

When will Nick grow up and quit his addiction to onanism which leads him to see his favorite pastime even in something as boring patents?

The story should be that they have applied for patents for a feature that is not just obvious but already widely used. 

If they get the patents and if the patents are as described then it just reinforces the impression anything at all can be patented in the US.

Dear Apple/Linux Scavengers this feature is not borrowed from you glorious/godish OSes. thefeature is a standard technology called sandboxing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(computer_security)

About Vista propaganda. Vista is the MS's first OS which has same/ditto kernel runing under the bonet of Windows-Server-2008
http://blogs.msdn.com/vijaysk/archive/2008/02/11/using-windows-server-2008-as-a-super-desktop-os.aspx

Not sure how anyone can dog on microsoft for this as other browsers already have this in place. Kind of sickening to see all of the uneducated "tech" people that have been trying to bash MS lately.

It's another thing that Micro$oft has 'borrowed' from others, not just FireFox but Apple's Safari also contains a Private Browsing feature.

I don't see how Micro$oft can patent this without being sued at some point.

I'm not sure why they would bother trademarking such a feature.

On the other hand, something being blindingly obvious or already done doesn't appear to be an obstacle for getting a patent in the US anymore, so I'm surprised they haven't failed for a patent on it as well ...

"Microsoft, making life easy for paedofiles since IE8..."

Sorry, couldn't resist

safari has "private browsing" too

Nice one microsoft i bet gary glitter is all ready downloading it .ie the pervs favorite .

It could be used as a security "feature". When you go to an internet cafe that you have to use their computers and not your laptop and log into your accounts, the programs could run to delete your history so that your account info is safe. I wouldn't recommend using the cafe for that but it's a thought.

"We're struggling to find a use for this beyond looking at porn without getting rumbled."

How about online banking and other secure sites. Don't want to leave tracks there do you?