maybe it’s because I’ve been using nightly for some time now, but these aren’t new, right? that said, you can (and probably should) turn these off; for each new system I provision with Firefox as the browser, I run through a check list of toggles / flags to turn on and off.
Alternatively, there are several forks of Firefox that are preconfigured to be more private out of the box
LibreWolf is literally just the FireFox build, with the telemetry & adware ripped out, and ublock origin and similar preinstalled. (I suspect people that downvoted me above assume I am shilling some commercial browser and just don’t know what LW is)
I ran into a problem with Video Download Helper, it installs a co-app that had “~/.firefox” hardcoded in a script. I changed that to point to LibreWolf and it worked.
No, this is something i should have, particularly given how many systems I provision in general. I’ll see if I can put one together when I have some time.
I’ll see if I can export all modified flags but generally skim through about:config for references to “reporting”, “telemetry”, “pocket”, “browser.ml”.
On desktops I also like to enable UI density == 1.
In the settings GUI I generally disable sponsored links, autoplay stuff, studies and recommendations.
prior to anything, I install ublock origin and enable its use in private browsing.
Edit: if you use regular firefox for android (not beta, nor nightly), you can access about:config via chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml
Hey no prob - I’ve swept through a new install of nightly on another system to get a concise set of ideas together (personal preference / UX tweaks have a † prepended):
#GUI configs:
about:preferences#general
† check Open previous windows and tabs
† uncheck Ask before quitting with Ctrl+Q
uncheck Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups
† uncheck picture in picture video controls
uncheck Recommend extensions as you browse
uncheck Recommend features as you browse
uncheck Enable link previews
about:preferences#home
uncheck Recommended stories
uncheck Sponsored shortcuts
uncheck Sponsored stories (disabled when you uncheck Recommended stories)
maybe it’s because I’ve been using nightly for some time now, but these aren’t new, right? that said, you can (and probably should) turn these off; for each new system I provision with Firefox as the browser, I run through a check list of toggles / flags to turn on and off.
Alternatively, there are several forks of Firefox that are preconfigured to be more private out of the box
Yeah, this is ancient news and takes all of 8 seconds to permanently disable.
Or you can just switch to LibreWolf and get no ads and no tracking, the way Mozilla was supposed to be
firefox extensions still work fine?
Most of them.
LibreWolf is literally just the FireFox build, with the telemetry & adware ripped out, and ublock origin and similar preinstalled. (I suspect people that downvoted me above assume I am shilling some commercial browser and just don’t know what LW is)
I ran into a problem with Video Download Helper, it installs a co-app that had “~/.firefox” hardcoded in a script. I changed that to point to LibreWolf and it worked.
You don’t have a script for all the stuff you toggle, do you?
No, this is something i should have, particularly given how many systems I provision in general. I’ll see if I can put one together when I have some time.
Mind sharing said list?
I’ll see if I can export all modified flags but generally skim through about:config for references to “reporting”, “telemetry”, “pocket”, “browser.ml”.
On desktops I also like to enable UI density == 1.
In the settings GUI I generally disable sponsored links, autoplay stuff, studies and recommendations.
prior to anything, I install ublock origin and enable its use in private browsing.
Edit: if you use regular firefox for android (not beta, nor nightly), you can access about:config via chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml
That is helpful! Thanks!
Hey no prob - I’ve swept through a new install of nightly on another system to get a concise set of ideas together (personal preference / UX tweaks have a † prepended):
#GUI configs:
about:preferences#general
about:preferences#home
about:preferences#search
about:preferences#privacy
uncheck Send technical and interaction data to Mozilla (I don’t usually offer my information as my behaviour is a poor representation of end users)
uncheck Allow personalized extension recommendations (disabled with the above)
uncheck Install and run studies (disabled with the above)
uncheck Send daily usage ping to Mozilla
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
(install ublock origin and allow its use in provate browsing)
[right click and customise toolbar]:
#about:config
falsify the following: