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Firefox
Firefox is a free and open-source web browser.
Usage
The following section addresses different uses and add-ons of Firefox.
Compact Mode
In Firefox compact mode is a configuration to make tabs and navigation elements
including bookmarks smaller.
After navigating to about:config the configuration can be done at
browser.compactmode.show.
List of useful Firefox Add-ons
Following is a list of useful Firefox add-ons.
They can be removed and configured under about:config.
The add-ons are grouped thematically
Privacy and Security Add-ons
The following add-ons increase the security or privacy.
- Chameleon spoofs your browser profile including user agent and screen size.
- ClearURLs removes tracking elements from URLs.
- Consent-O-Matic automatically refuses GDPR consent to a bunch of platforms. An alternative to this is an addon named I don't care about cookies.
- Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you separate cookies in different containers on a per site base. With this add-on a proxy can be selected for each container which enables usage of a VPN that acts as a Proxy like a OpenVPN Proxy.
- I don't care about cookies is an even faster alternative to Consent-O-Matic.
- Temporary Containers
opens tabs and websites, that are not already managed by
Firefox Multi-Account Containersin a new container. - NoScript blocks all javascript so that the parts you need can be reenabled and the rest is not used.
- Privacy Badger blocks unwanted invisible trackers.
- Privacy Redirect redirects youtube, instagram, twitter, etc to free alternatives or alternative frontends.
- SponsorBlock skips YouTube video sponsors automatically, works with Invidious too.
- Tampermonkey is a userscript manager that can be used for the following tasks:
- uBlock Origin blocks unwanted content like ads.
- User-Agent Switcher and Manager spoofs websites that try to gather information about your webbrowser.
Style Add-ons
The following add-ons provide changes to the default style.
- Dark Reader creates an automatic dark mode for sites without native dark mode.
- hide-scrollbars hides scrollbars.
- Midnight Lizard is a add-on similar to Dark Reader. It is slightly more customizable but has worse default settings.
Tool Add-ons
The following add-ons add various functions.
- Floccus syncs your bookmarks across devices (supports Nextcloud and WebDAV (ownCloud, etc)).
- Sidebery is a sidebar with treestyle tabs and bookmarks.
- Surfingkeys introduces keyboard-based navigation. It is similar to Vim Vixen, further down this list.
- Tree Style Tab shows tabs like a tree. This is especially useful if many tabs are used.
- Vim Vixen enables vim movement for Firefox. It is similar to Surfingkeys further up this list.
Translation Add-ons
The following add-ons provide translation options.
- Firefox Translations is an add-on made by Mozilla itself that gives an option for marked text to display its translations quickly from the extension menu but can also translate whole sites.
- Simple Translate is an add-on supporting both DeepL and Google Translate to translate marked text in various different ways that can be automatically displayed.
- To DeepL translation gives an option for marked text to display its translation in a pop-up window using DeepL.
Shopping Add-ons
The following add-ons add information to online shops.
- Fakespot is an add-on made by Mozilla which displays additional information on online shops, ebay and amazon. It can give shops, vendors and products a trust score which can be used as an alternative to reviews, which might be fake.
Add a new search engine
You can add a new search engine with the add-on Add custom search engine.
Make sure to replace <url to search engine> with the according url.
It is possible to add it without an add-on.
Navigate to the search engine and click the ... in the address bar.
Then click Add Search Engine
Telemetry
Telemetry is the remote measurement and transmission of data.
To change the telemetry of Firefox navigate to about:telemetry and click the
options to toggle between enabled and disabled.
Scrolling
On Linux distributions auto scroll is disabled by default.
This means that you cant click the middle mouse button to use it for scrolling.
To enable it go into the preferences and check Use autoscrolling.
Sponsorings
Sponsorings are embedded ads in Firefox.
After navigating to about:config enabling and disabling of sponsorings can be done at
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsored.
Make Fullscreen Only Window Wide
Firefox' default fullscreen does not only hide UI elements of firefox but also increases Firefox'
size beyond the borders of the current window to the whole size of the screen.
By setting the following options in about:config the fullscreen and also the kiosk mode will only
hide the UI of Firefox.
The expansion of the window will be disabled by it.
This is often reffered to as fake fullscreen.
full-screen-api.ignore-widgets = true
Disable Unneeded Services and Features
The following section is based on the website
privacy-handbuch.de which discusses ways to
disable often unneeded features in Firefox.
The way to disable these services is by setting values in about:config.
To disable the Pocket expansion set the following config.
extensions.pocket.enabled = false
To disable the screenshot expansion set the following config.
extensions.screenshots.disabled = true
To disable Firefox Sync set the following config.
identity.fxaccounts.enabled = false
To disable form fillings set the following configs.
browser.formfill.enable = false
extensions.formautofill.addresses.enabled = false
extensions.formautofill.creditCards.enabled = false
extensions.formautofill.heuristics.enabled = false
To disable fingerprinting the GPU set the following configs.
webgl.enable-debug-renderer-info = false
webgl.disable-extensions = true
webgl.min_capability_mode = true
webgl.disable-fail-if-major-performance-caveat = true
To avoid operating system attacks via WebGL set the following configs.
webgl.disabled = true
webgl.enable-webgl2 = false
To disable speculative loading of websites when hovering over links set the following config.
network.http.speculative-parallel-limit = 0
To disable remote deactivation of plugins by firefox aswell as connection of the AMO-servers on a daily basis set the following configs.
extensions.blocklist.enabled = false
extensions.getAddons.cache.enabled = false
To disable various health reports and telemetry data set the following configs.
browser.tabs.crashReporting.sendReport = false
datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled = false
datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled = false
toolkit.coverage.endpoint.base = ""
toolkit.coverage.opt-out = true
toolkit.telemetry.coverage.opt-out = true
To disable the localization done by pinging Mozillas location server set the following configs.
browser.region.update.enabled = false
browser.region.network.url = ""
To disable safebrowsing which grabs block lists by Mozilla every 30 minutes run the set the following configs.
browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled = false
browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled = false
browser.safebrowsing.blockedURIs.enabled = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.enabled = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_dangerous = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_dangerous_host = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_potentially_unwanted = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_uncommon = false
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.url = ""
browser.safebrowsing.provider.*.gethashURL = ""
browser.safebrowsing.provider.*.updateURL = ""
browser.pagethumbnails.capturing_disabled = true
To disable ads after an update set the following config.
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone = ignore
To disable the ad system for Firefox add-ons set the following configs.
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.userprefs.cfr.addons = false
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.userprefs.cfr.features = false
extensions.htmlaboutaddons.recommendations.enabled = false
extensions.ui.lastCategory = addons://list/extension
To disable VPN ads set the following config.
browser.vpn_promo.enabled = false
To disable the rating samples set the following config.
app.normandy.enabled = false
To always keep add-ons active even on Firefox and Mozilla sites set the following config.
extensions.webextensions.restrictedDomains = ""
To avoid the fingerprinting of desktop settings deactive the standard values for system colors by setting the following config.
ui.use_standins_for_native_colors = true
Firefox contacts Firefox' servers on each start to check IP connections. To disable this set the following config.
network.connectivity-service.enabled = false
To disable Microsoft Family Safety on Windows systems which can be used as a censoring tool set the following config.
security.family_safety.mode = 0
Additionally check the telemetry section and the sponsoring section.