privacy/firefox/README.md

# README

Make using the web more safe by disabling commonly used techniques and mechanism _without_ sacrificing usability.

Why Firefox? It provides high configurability, is open source and thus better to be reviewed by external security advisories.

Mainly based on [arkenfox](https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js) with some [custom overrides](https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/3.1-Overrides).

An alternative is [LibreWolf](./../librewolf/) which comes with a lot of settings by default.

- [README](#readme)
  - [Install](#install)
  - [Custom overrides](#custom-overrides)
  - [Recommended extensions](#recommended-extensions)
    - [Must have](#must-have)
      - [uBlock settings](#ublock-settings)
    - [Advanced, but highly recommended extensions / software to use](#advanced-but-highly-recommended-extensions--software-to-use)
  - [Recommended search engines](#recommended-search-engines)
  - [Additional hints](#additional-hints)

## Install

To find your profile folder, click on the menu top right, on `Help -> Troubleshooting Information`. You can directly open your **Profile Directory** from there or see it, typically it's something like `$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/...` or in Windows `%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\...`

* Install [arkenfox](https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/releases) (copy to your Firefox profile)
* Copy `user-overrides.js` also into your Firefox profile folder
  * Change any setting if needed, e.g. not clean history?
* Apply the `user-overrides.js` by running `./updater.sh` or the `.bat` file on Windows in the Firefox profile folder
* Remove unnecessary search engines and apply your own or use DuckDuckGo/Startpage
* Install recommended extensions/plugins
* Import provides settings file for uBlock and Canvas Blocker
* Customize toolbar
  * add home button 
  * remove separator spaces
* Disallow saving logins and use a password manager, e.g. KeePassXC
* Login to Firefox sync

## Custom overrides

Look into `user-overrides.js` which custom overrides are enabled and maybe adapt to your needs. In general
they're applied to ease browsing without sacrificing too much security or are just preferences, e.g. _scroll speed_.

## Recommended extensions

Besides Firefox's integrated anti-tracking mechanisms, it's still advised to install additional plugins to further enhance this.

In addition, some of those extensions will also greatly improve your user experience: fewer ads, faster page loads. Remember, you can also switch them off (disable), you don't need to uninstall.

**Highly recommended to have all of them allowed in Incognito Mode as well.**

See [arkenfox extensions recommendations](https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions).

### Must have

* `uBlock Origin`: blocks ads and unwanted trackers, also removes certain url parameters (https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/)

**Hint**: Extensions impacting redirects or cookies _might_ lead to malfunctioning of some websites. If you encounter this, it's **recommended to disable them _per page_** and **NOT** globally! First could shot can be setting an exception for a page inside uBlock.!

You can **hide extension icons** in the overflow menu if you like. Just right click the icon in the top right in the menu bar and "pin to overflow".

#### uBlock settings

* Import the `ublock.txt` in the "My Filter" menu for proper settings from the [extension_settings/](./../browser_extension_settings/) folder within the extension.
* Import `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gwarser/filter-lists/master/lan-block.txt` in "Filter lists" (Custom)

### Advanced, but highly recommended extensions / software to use

Use a password manager and don't store or synchronize your passwords within internal browser functionality, e.g., `KeePassXC` or `Bitwarden` with a custom provider

## Recommended search engines

If not possible in another way, you can add them via [Add custom search engine](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-custom-search-engine/). Just follow instructions after installing and opening the extension.

```shell
# Tied to "Germany" for search results, maybe you like to change this
# Then generate a different URL
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s&ks=l&kav=1&kn=1&kp=-2&kak=-1&kax=-1&kaq=-1&kao=-1&kau=-1&kaj=m&kam=google-maps&k1=-1&kae=c
```

```shell
# Tied to "Germany" for search results, maybe you like to change this
# Then generate a different URL
https://www.qwant.com/?q=%s&r=DE&sr=de&l=en_gb&h=1&s=0&a=1&b=1&vt=0&hc=0&smartNews=0&smartSocial=0&theme=0&i=1&donation=0&qoz=0&shb=0&shl=0
```

```shell
# Tied to "Germany" for search results, maybe you like to change this
# Then generate a different URL
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s&ks=l&kav=1&kn=1&kp=-2&kak=-1&kax=-1&kaq=-1&kao=-1&kau=-1&kaj=m&kam=google-maps&k1=-1&kae=c
```

Be sure to add shortcuts to be used in your navigation bar, e.g. `@ddg` refers to DuckDuckGo search engine and directly issues searches to DuckDuckGo from the navigation bar and does not use the default search engine, but your default!

## Additional hints

Besides securing Firefox, you should consider not using the DNS servers of your Internet provider and instead install system-wide [DNS alternatives](https://www.kuketz-blog.de/empfehlungsecke/#dns) or a [local DNS server](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unbound) which directly queries root DNS servers. There's really no downside of this.