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It’s easy to let work bleed into other aspects of your life if you work from home, especially if you use your own personal computer like I do. Juggling multiple log-ins, extensions, and tabs for two separate purposes can get messy. Simply using two different browsers has been a game-changer for me.
The number of people who work from home–even just part-time–has risen dramatically in the last few years. I’ve been doing it for over a decade, and I know how hard it can be to separate your work life and personal life when you can’t compartmentalize them with physical locations. Nobody wants to see work stuff when they’re off the clock.
The Problem: Digital Overlap
My daily workflow has changed a lot over the years. At first, I tried to do everything in one browser. I didn’t want to be juggling workspaces and browser windows, so I just dumped everything into one Chrome account.
Unsurprisingly, this got messy very quickly. It requires switching accounts often, checking to make sure you’re signed in to the correct account before doing something, keeping track of multiple logins, and trying to balance preferences for two very different purposes.
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Eventually I came to my senses and created a dedicated Chrome profile only for work. This allowed me to separate my multiple Google accounts and everything else completely, but still only use one browser. Honestly, if you’re happy with Chrome, this is a great route to take. It worked for me for a long time.
The one problem I had with Chrome profiles is they’re not available on tablets and phones. Occasionally, I need to access work stuff from my mobile devices, and that wasn’t easy to do with Chrome profiles. I’m also just generally interested in trying out new apps, so limiting myself to one browser forever was getting old.
The Solution: Two Browsers at the Same Time
The first thing that led me down this path was curiosity about Firefox. I hadn’t used the browser for many years and I was hearing good things about its recent updates. So, I gave it a download and set it up as my browser for personal life stuff.
I ended up liking Firefox a lot more than I expected. As I’ve said in the past, the best thing about Firefox is sync that actually works. You expect Chrome to remember every page you visit, but then you type a page name into the address bar and it acts like it’s never heard of it before. Very frustrating.
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With so much of our digital lives neatly saved and synced in our web browser of choice, the idea of switching to a different one can feel as daunting as moving to a new home. Chrome Sync, in particular, has kept many people using Chrome. However, as good as Chrome Sync is, Firefox Sync is surprisingly better.
However, as much as I like Firefox, it doesn’t do profiles nearly as nicely as Chrome does. Moving both my personal and work accounts over to the same Firefox instance would put me back into the same situation I started out with. I decided to simply keep my work profile in Chrome and have both browsers on my PC.
This has been my setup for a couple of years now, and I am extremely happy with it. Not only do I have both Firefox and Chrome on my PC, but I have them both on my phone as well. It’s super easy to know where to go for work or personal stuff. Everything is always logged in and set up how I want it.
To separate things even more, I’ve created multiple desktops in Mission Control on my Mac. Firefox is assigned to one desktop, and Chrome is assigned to the other. This allows me to not only keep my browsers apart, but all the other apps and tools I use as well. You can do the same thing on a Windows PC, too.
You might think two browsers are overkill, but it works well for me. No more second-guessing which account I’m logged into or which extensions are active. And with the addition of separate desktops, it’s like having two separate rooms for my digital life–and I can close the door on work when I’m done.
Ultimately, it comes down to what works best for you. If you’re content with Chrome profiles, stick with it. But if you’re looking for a more robust separation, especially across devices, consider the two-browser approach. You might be surprised at how much it simplifies your digital existence.
