wiki/wiki/firefox.md

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.

• Cameleon spoofs your browser profile including user agent and screen size.
• ClearURLs removes tracking elements from URLs.
• Dark Reader creates an automatic dark mode for sites without native dark mode.
• 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.
  • Temporary Containers opens tabs and websites, that are not already managed by Firefox Multi-Account Containers in a new container.
• Floccus syncs your bookmarks across devices (supports Nextcloud and WebDAV (ownCloud, etc)).
• hide-scrollbars hides scrollbars.
• Never-Consent automatically refuses GDPR consent to a bunch of platforms.
• 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.
• Sidebery is a sidebar with treestyle tabs and bookmarks.
• SponsorBlock skips YouTube video sponsors automatically, works with Invidious too.
• Tampermonkey is a userscript manager that can be used for the following tasks:
  • Bypass YouTubes age restrictions
  • Exclude pages from search results
  • Auto close YouTube ads
• To DeepL translation gives an option for marked text to display its translation in a pop-up window using DeepL.
• Tree Style Tab shows tabs like a tree. This is especially useful if many tabs are used.
• uBlock Origin blocks unwanted content like ads.
• User-Agent Switcher and Manager spoofs websites that try to gather information about your webbrowser.
• Vim Vixen enables vim movement for Firefox.

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.