Enhance Your Firefox Experience 🔥🦊

Essential tweaks, settings, and tools to optimize Firefox for usability, privacy, and customization.

Note: This setup prioritizes usability and convenience while maintaining privacy. For maximum privacy or anonymity, consider Mullvad Browser or the Tor Browser.
A well-configured Firefox < dedicated privacy Firefox folks in terms of privacy.
This guide (or honestly any guide) can’t fix the security concerns of Gecko/Firefox. Depending on your threat model, you might prefer Edge with baseline policies on Windows, Trivalent on SecureBlue, or Brave overall, or even just Chrome with telemetry toggles disabled. Avoid Ungoogled Chromium [2] / Cromite [2].

Install Firefox

Visit the Firefox Website and hit the big blue download button.

Using CLI (Recommended)

Windows

If you're on Windows, you can choose from multiple package managers:

1. Winget (Pre-installed on Windows 10/11):

   winget install Mozilla.Firefox

2. Scoop:

   scoop install firefox

3. Chocolatey:

   choco install firefox

Mac OS

Install Firefox using Homebrew:

brew install --cask firefox

Linux

Firefox might already be preinstalled on your Linux distro. If not, run these commands according to your linux distro:

1. Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

   sudo apt install firefox

2. Fedora/Red Hat-based distributions:

   sudo dnf install firefox

3. Manjaro/Arch-based distributions:

   sudo pacman -S firefox

4. Flatpak- Universal Package Manager (Not Recommended):

   flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Note: Firefox native packages (from your distro's repository) tend to not only be faster and more stable compared to Flatpak, it's also more secure. Flatpak applications include sandboxing and isolation with the OS out of the box, offering additional security But it deliberately reduces Firefox's own default sandboxing method.

For optimal protection even with native packages, I highly recommend taking the time to learn and configure AppArmor or SELinux based on your Linux distribution.
Properly configuring a Mandatory Access Control (MAC) system can provide robust protection even for native packages by limiting application privileges and preventing unauthorized access.

Setting everything up with User.js

With a user.js file, you don't need to set up everything manually. Simply place the user.js file containing your settings into the Firefox root directory, restart Firefox, and all configurations will be applied automatically.

Tip: Just like on Chromium you can restart the browser with chrome://restart, you can restart Firefox with about:restartrequired.

Betterfox is one of the most popular and well-configured user.js files. I recommend using my modified user.js file, as it is built upon the solid Betterfox foundation, offering additional tweaks and hardening which include:

Description	Preference	Reason
Match OS theme	layout.css.prefers-color-scheme.content-override, 2	Ensures websites follow the browser's theme setting (dark or light) based on OS preferences.
Improve font rendering using DirectWrite	gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.rendering_mode, 5 gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.cleartype_level, 100 gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.force_gdi_classic_for_families, "" gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.use_gdi_table_loading, false	Makes text sharper and visually pleasing on Windows.
Restore search engine suggestions	browser.search.suggest.enabled, true	Improves usability by showing search suggestions directly in the search bar.
Disable Firefox Sync	identity.fxaccounts.enabled, false	Prevents syncing personal data like bookmarks and history across devices for enhanced privacy.
Disable Firefox View tour popup	browser.firefox-view.feature-tour, {"screen":"","complete":true}	Avoids unnecessary distractions by skipping the feature tour.
Disable login manager	signon.rememberSignons, false	Stops Firefox from saving passwords to ensure data isn't stored locally. Use any external password manager.
Disable address autofill	extensions.formautofill.addresses.enabled, false	Reduces the risk of sharing sensitive personal information automatically.
Disable credit card autofill	extensions.formautofill.creditCards.enabled, false	Prevents autofill for sensitive financial information for better security.
Enable HTTPS-Only Mode	dom.security.https_only_mode, true	Ensures secure connections by default, protecting against HTTP risks.
Warn on loading HTTP sites	dom.security.https_only_mode_error_page_user_suggestions, true	Provides a warning before visiting potentially insecure sites.
Set DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) provider to Mullvad	network.trr.uri, https://base.dns.mullvad.net/dns-query	Routes DNS queries securely via Mullvad for improved privacy.
Enforce DNS-over-HTTPS	network.trr.mode, 3	Guarantees encrypted DNS queries for better security and anonymity.
Ask where to save every file	browser.download.useDownloadDir, false	Gives users control over storage location and prevents accidental downloads of malicious or unintended files.
Enable smooth scrolling	general.smoothScroll, true general.smoothScroll.pages, true	Enhances browsing experience with fluid page navigation.
Disable WebRTC to prevent IP leaks	media.peerconnection.enabled, false	Prevents IP address leaks, as WebRTC can expose your IP even while using a VPN.
Disable new tab page	browser.newtabpage.enabled, false browser.newtab.preload, false	Ensures a clean and distraction-free new tab experience.
Disable sidebar	sidebar.revamp, false	Restores the traditional browser layout.
Double-click to close browser tabs	browser.tabs.closeTabByDblclick, true	Lets you close a tab by double-clicking on it, similar to Edge and some browsers.
Disable Web Search on Firefox Home	browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSearch, false	Removes the web search bar from the Firefox Home tab for Blank Tab.
Disable preconnect and speculative connections	network.preconnect, false network.http.speculative-parallel-limit, 0	Prevents the browser from making early/preemptive connections, Reduces Attack Surface and Stops Leaking Intent.
Disable JavaScript Just-in-time (JIT) Compilation	javascript.options.baselinejit, false javascript.options.ion, false javascript.options.jithints, false javascript.options.main_process_disable_jit, true javascript.options.native_regexp, false javascript.options.wasm_baselinejit, false javascript.options.jit_trustedprincipals, false	Disables all JIT optimizations to substantially improve security against exploits.
Harden SSL Pinning & Certificate Security	security.OCSP.enabled, 1 security.OCSP.require, true security.certerrors.permanentOverride, false security.ssl.require_safe_negotiation, true security.pki.certificate_transparency.mode, 2 security.enterprise_roots.enabled, false security.certerrors.mitm.auto_enable_enterprise_roots, false network.http.http3.disable_when_third_party_roots_found, true	Enforces strict SSL/TLS certificate pinning, disables exceptions if any and prevents use of root CA that could MITM web traffic.
Disable weak TLS cipher suites	security.ssl3.ecdhe_ecdsa_aes_128_sha, false security.ssl3.ecdhe_ecdsa_aes_256_sha, false	Prevents use of weak TLS cipher suites to improve connection security.
Disable Deprecated Fakespot	toolkit.shopping.ohttpConfigURL, "" toolkit.shopping.ohttpRelayURL, ""	Mozilla is discontinuing Fakespot
Disable Mozilla's captive portal detection	captivedetect.canonicalURL, "" network.captive-portal-service.enabled, false network.connectivity-service.enabled, false	Reduces unnecessary background connections on untrusted networks (e.g., hotel/airport login pages).

Steps

1. Download the user.js file from here (Right click > Save Page As…).

2. Go to about:profiles in Firefox. Under Root Directory, click Open Folder.

   

3. Paste the downloaded user.js file into the folder.

   

4. Restart Firefox (Just close and open it again), and it should look like this:

   

Customize Firefox

• To rearrange or remove elements, right-click on the toolbar and select Customize Toolbar. Drag out items as desired.

rearrange.elements.mp4

• Black by XI is my favorite theme. It offers a pure black design.
  

• You can also use Firefox Color which is an addon developed by Firefox team themselves which lets you create your own theme.

• Customize Firefox using CSS! You can make Firefox look like Chrome with Material Fox Updated or even the trending ARC browser with Arc UI. Check out these resources to know about Firefox-CSS:

  • FirefoxCSS Store
  • r/FirefoxCSS
  • Firefoxcsshacks
  • ToyfoCSS by u/It_Was_The_Other_Guy

Recommended Firefox Add-ons

Here are some must-have add-ons to enhance your Firefox experience:

• uBlock Origin [Must Install]
  The best ad blocker in the world. Don't forget to enable these filter lists:

  • r/piracy's filter recommendation
    OR
  • yokoffing's filter recommendation

• FMHY-SafeGuard
  Detects starred, safe, unsafe, or potentially unsafe sites using the FMHY Filterlist.

• Firefox Multi-Account Containers
  Create separate cookie sessions for different websites within the same browser window.

• VPN

  • Windscribe VPN
    No-logs VPN with free 2GB/month if you enter your email and 10GB/month if you verify your email. My referral link.
    OR
  • Proton VPN
    No-log Unlimited VPN, Servers are selected randomly.

• Bitwarden
  A free, cross-platform password manager.

• Vimium-FF
  Use Vim-style keyboard shortcuts in Firefox.

• Gesturefy
  Shortcuts but for mouse.

• Web Archives
  View deleted, 404 pages, or archived and cached versions of a website, can be used to access old or unavailable website/content.

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For any query/suggestions/recommendations create an issue or DM me on Discord wixlogo