Sensible Firefox Setup

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I really wanted to do that Firefox guide earlier but always other things came up as usual. But that also has some upsides.

firefox.logo.2009.400

Yes – I used the Firefox logo from 2009 (some reported it is from 2013) as I believe it looks a lot better then the current one … below You can check the Firefox logo declining progress.

firefox.logo.progress

Fortunately progress of the Firefox browser seems to be directed in a good direction.

Below You will find Table of Contents for this article.

  • Magic of the Past
  • Clean Start
  • Logins and Passwords
  • Extensions
  • Preferences
  • about:config
  • Interface
  • Export/Import Bookmarks
  • Summary

Lets start then.

Magic of the Past

I struggled a lot … to find new home after Opera 12.x was killed in 2013. Its Presto engine was fast and standards (ACID3) compliant. Opera 12.x had official FreeBSD support (and was in the Ports). It had builtin Opera Mail client – imagine having Thunderbird integrated into Firefox … It has Torrent client integrated – image having Transmission integrated into Firefox as well. It had extensions support. It supported really intelligent Mouse Gestures – like it already new where the Next in Thread on the Mailing Lists link is … Opera provided at that time synchronization with Opera Mini on the phone (and other Opera instances as well) … and while having all that it was ultra fast and low on resources. Kinda like a dream. Total opposite of today’s Slack client taking 2 GB RAM …

opera-2010-12

So much potential lost … and while having all these features it had very little market share … this reminds me of a quote by Waldemar Łysiak from its Statek (1994) book.

“If majority is always right – let’s eat shit… millions of flies can’t be wrong.”

Even in 2007 the Opera allowed some crazy browsing modes … and these were not the times of FullHD or higher resolutions. When You had 1280×1024 back then on a huge CTR screen it felt like king.

opera-2007-01

Dead. Killed. Abandoned.

After a lot of time I finally settled on Firefox – and while it will never be the same – this is the closest I was able to get.

Today I will try to share the sensible Firefox setup – to focus on the web and not on the browser.

Clean Start

Lets start with a clean start (and a backup if You already use Firefox). Copy your config on a side and remove everything.

% mv ~/.mozilla ~/.mozilla.BACKUP
% rm -rf ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox

This is how the clean Firefox 123.0 more or less should look like.

firefox-first-start-clean

Complete list of what is stored where – https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data – is available here.

Logins and Passwords

If you already used Firefox – or want to know how to backup your Logins and Passwords – do these.

My old Firefox profile was ah3fnzb3.default-release and the new name was generated as o3pdrjav.default-release as shown below.

We will be copying/protecting the key3.db/key4.db and logins.json files.

% cd ~/.mozilla.BACKUP.BROKEN/firefox/ah3fnzb3.default-release
 
% cp key*.db logins.json ~/.mozilla/firefox/o3pdrjav.default-release/

You may want to also copy handlers.json for download actions and persdict.dat for personal dictionary.

Complete information of what is stored where is available – https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data – here.

Extensions

We will now focus Firefox Extensions. Today (at least for me) its impossible to just browse the Internet w/o at least uBlock Origin and Still Don’t Care About Cookies plugins … but there are more of them useful.

Currently I use below ones as a minimum and sometimes experiment with other ones.

Note about the additional preferences for some of the plugins.

The is a genius page of additional content for uBlock Origin – https://majkiit.github.io/polish-ads-filter/en/ – available here.

firefox-polish-ads-filters

Subscribe to as many lists as You want – all supported and working in uBlock Origin tool.

For the Expire History by Days I would suggest picking some limit – I use 33 days.

firefox-history-expire

Some notable mentions of other extensions that You may find useful.

Feel free to share You favorite extensions in the comments.

Preferences

Now … the preferences for Firefox I have chosen are displayed below … but its not all of course – there would be additional about:config section.

Sorry that they took that much place … initially I wanted to write everything down as text summary – but then You would have to find that in the Preferences page and … it would took even more time.

The General tab.

firefox-prefs-general

The Home tab.

firefox-prefs-home

The Search tab.

firefox-prefs-search

… and last but not least – the Privacy and Security tab.

firefox-prefs-privacy-security

about:config

As PITA as it is – there are also many of these … this time summarized in a text fashion below.

firefox-about-config-warning

The list is below.

ABOUT:CONFIG                                                   VALUE        COMMENT
browser.cache.memory.enable                                    false        -
browser.compactmode.show                                       true         (compact layout)
browser.display.show_image_placeholders                        false        -
browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel                               false        (do not show downloads box everytime)
browser.download.autohideButton                                false        -
browser.download.improvements_to_download_panel                false        (normal download behavior)
browser.download.saveLinkAsFilenameTimeout                     0            (faster)
browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction                        0            (open windows as tabs)
browser.link.open_newwindow                                    3            (open link in new tab)
browser.search.openintab                                       true         (search bar will open new tab for results)
browser.search.suggest.enabled                                 false        -
browser.sessionhistory.max_entries                             5            50
browser.sessionstore.interval                                  85000        15000
browser.tabs.animate                                           false        -
browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent                         false        -
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth                                       10           76
browser.tabs.loadBookmarksInTabs	                       true         (open links in new tabs)
dom.block_download_insecure                                    false        (normal download without yelling)
dom.event.contextmenu.enabled                                  false        (allow right click)
dom.media.autoplay-policy-detection.enabled                    false        (autoplay)
dom.webnotifications.enabled                                   false        -
general.smoothScroll.lines                                     false        -
general.smoothScroll.mouseWheel                                false        -
general.smoothScroll.other                                     false        -
general.smoothScroll.pages                                     false        -
general.smoothScroll.pixels                                    false        -
general.smoothScroll.scrollbars                                false        -
geo.enabled                                                    false        -
gfx.xrender.enabled                                            true         (works in Thunderbird too)
image.jxl.enabled                                              true         (JPEG XL)
loop.enabled                                                   false        -
media.autoplay.allow-extension-background-pages                false        (autoplay)
media.autoplay.default                                         0            (autoplay)
media.autoplay.enabled                                         false        (autoplay)
media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground                       false        (autoplay)
media.ffmpeg.vaapi.enabled                                     true         (VA-API)
media.peerconnection.enabled                                   false        -
media.webrtc.hw.h264.enabled                                   false        -
network.http.http3.enabled                                     false        -
network.negotiate-auth.allow-insecure-ntlm-v1                  true         (sharepoint)
network.prefetch-next                                          false        -
network.trr.mode                                               5            (disable TRR DNS)
pdfjs.defaultZoomValue                                         page-fit     -
privacy.firstparty.isolate                                     true         -
privacy.firstparty.isolate.block_post_message                  true         -
privacy.trackingprotection.enabled                             true         -
security.dialog_enable_delay                                   0            -
security.notification_enable_delay                             0            -
security.ssl3.rsa_fips_des_ede3_sha                            false        -
security.tls.version.fallback-limit                            0            -
security.tls.version.max                                       4            -
security.tls.version.min                                       0            (IBM/HMC)
security.tls.insecure_fallback_hosts                           10.20.30.40  (IBM/HMC)
widget.gtk.overlay-scrollbars.enabled                          false        (normal scrollbar)
toolkit.scrollbox.smoothScroll                                 false        -
ABOUT:CONFIG                                                   VALUE        COMMENT

… and some (optional for some) privacy related stuff.

ABOUT:CONFIG                                                   VALUE        COMMENT
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled                         false        (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.url                      127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.url                      127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.enabled                                   false        (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled                           false        (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.advisoryURL               127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.gethashURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.gethashURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportMalwareMistakeURL   127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportPhishMistakeURL     127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportURL                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportURL                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.updateURL                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.updateURL                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.advisoryURL              127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.dataSharingURL           127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.gethashURL               127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.gethashURL               127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportMalwareMistakeURL  127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportPhishMistakeURL    127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.updateURL                127.0.0.1   -(privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.updateURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.mozilla.gethashURL               127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.mozilla.gethashURL               127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.mozilla.updateURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.provider.mozilla.updateURL                127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.reportMalwareMistakeURL                   127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.reportPhishMistakeURL                     127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.reportPhishURL                            127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.reportPhishURL                            127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.reportURL                                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
browser.safebrowsing.updateURL                                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
captivedetect.canonicalContent                                 127.0.0.1    (privacy)
captivedetect.canonicalURL                                     127.0.0.1    (privacy)
toolkit.telemetry.enabled                                      false        (privacy)
captivedetect.maxRetryCount                                    0            (privacy)
captivedetect.maxWaitingTime                                   0            (privacy)
captivedetect.pollingTime                                      0            (privacy)
datareporting.healthreport.about.reportUrl                     127.0.0.1    (privacy)
datareporting.healthreport.infoURL                             127.0.0.1    (privacy)
datareporting.healthreport.service.enabled                     false        (privacy)
datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled                       false        (privacy)
extensions.pocket.enabled                                      false        (privacy)
ABOUT:CONFIG                                                   VALUE        COMMENT

Looks for example like that.

firefox-127.0.0.1

One of the things I learned that is possible to ‘glob’ the about:config options. This way you can enter – for example the bro*ses*deb value and Firefox will filter possible options for You.

firefox-about-config-glob

Interface

I am a fan of the Compact layout – it needs one more step (browser.compactmode.show = true) to be visible and was already done in the previous section.

firefox-compact-interface

The details are in one of the Mozilla – https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/compact-mode-workaround-firefox – support pages.

To start click somewhere besides buttons and select Customize Toolbar… – like that.

firefox-customize

On the lower side You will now find needed option as shown below.

firefox-compact-interface-where

Also feel free to setup your preferred buttons and search box if needed.

This is how mine config looks like after all these tasks.

firefox-setup-complete

Export/Import Bookmarks

You may want to also backup/restore your bookmarks … assuming you have any.

Summary

I wanted to focus only on config part and no the Firefox features – this maybe some time in the future πŸ™‚

Regards,

EOF

10 thoughts on “Sensible Firefox Setup”

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  3. tau

    > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/select-link-text/

    You can select link text in Firefox by holding down the ALT key, no extension required πŸ˜‰

    > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/
    > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls/

    Id reccomend replacing ClearURLs with the “Actually Legitimate URL Shortener Tool” filter list you can add to uBlock Origin, and replacing Privacy Badger with nothing, because its generally more of a hinderence to privacy then a help and uBlock will block 99% of what Privacy Badger was going to block anways.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. vermaden Post author

      Thank You – but as long as Select Link Text is available its more convenient to NOT have to press [ALT] each time. I got used to this (select link text) when I used Opera back in 12.x times and I see absolutely no sane reason to force myself to press [ALT] when I do not have to πŸ™‚

      … and thank You also for the ‘privacy’ tips. I did not installed Privacy Badger in ‘this refresh’ Firefox instance πŸ™‚

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    1. vermaden Post author

      Thank You.

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easy-youtube-video-download/

      I use www/yt-dlp for that (and also to download videos from all other places – like X/Twitter for example).

      % yu 'URL'                                                         
% which yu    
yu: aliased to      youtube-dl --trim-filenames 80 -c -i -f b --skip-unavailable-fragments
% which youtube-dl
/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
% pkg which -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
/usr/local/bin/youtube-dl was installed by package www/yt-dlp

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/

      This one is interesting – will definitely add it to the list πŸ™‚

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/onetab/

      This one I used in the past – but while I sometimes end up with pile of tabs it made the situation even worse – instead of pile of tabs with OneTab I ended up with pile of piles of tabs πŸ˜€ Because of that I removed it and started to keep some discipline. Both attitudes have ups and downs of course πŸ™‚

      Regards,
      vermaden

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  6. Son Phan Trung

    What a shame to see how the Opera browser has gone: It became a Chinese spyware-powered Chromium/Chrome, and has a cringe-worthy, glorified browser called “Opera GX”, for “gamers”. “Award-winning”, what a joke! I felt similar vibes to Project Trident/TrueNAS SCALE, wonder whether you feel that.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. vermaden Post author

      Similar vibes here.

      Its not the first time since iXsystems abandon their FreeBSD based project just to β€˜follow the market’ and use Linux instead.

      For me – NAS being based on FreeBSD (and ZFS) is most important – when they move to Linux – they stop to exist for me.

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