Firefox Tweak Guide
[Page 5] Firefox Settings (Pt.2)
Privacy
Keep my history for at least: The addresses of the sites you visit in Firefox will be held for a certain number of days as a history you can refer to. If you don't want this history kept select 0 here. I generally recommend keeping at least 1 or 2 days' history however as sometimes you may want to go back to a non-bookmarked site you visited recently and frustrate yourself trying to remember the site address.
New to Firefox 3, browsing history can be used in a new and much more useful way in the Address Bar, nicknamed the "Awesome Bar". You can now search your history and bookmarks dynamically just by typing in any letters or words in the Address Bar, and the results will be instantly displayed in a drop down box beneath it. For this reason, you may wish to maintain your browsing history for a certain period. In any case, this feature is covered in more detail under the Awesome Bar area of the Features, Tips and Tricks section.
Remember what I enter in forms and the search bar: If this box is ticked Firefox will save any details you enter in online forms as well as in the search bar. Unless you fill in such forms very often, for security and privacy purposes I recommend having this box unticked.
Remember what I've downloaded: Every time you download a file using Firefox, it keeps a history of the file's location. If you don't wish this history to be kept, untick this box. For many people there's no real reason to keep a download history, and it can also make the download manager more responsive if this option is unticked. New to Firefox 3, the new Search functionality and improved file display features in the Download Manager, all covered under the Download Manager area of the Features, Tips and Tricks section, might give you greater reason to keep this option enabled.
Accept cookies from sites: Cookies are small files which are placed on your computer by various websites. These cookies hold information which can be used by the website the next time you visit, such as any interface preferences you may have selected for the site, or your username and password for a forum, or which ads on a site you have already been shown. Cookies are mostly harmless, and often have legitimate uses, so blocking them altogether is not wise. More details about Cookies which can help you separate myths from facts can be found here, and specific details of how to manage Cookies in Firefox are here.
To start with, I recommend ticking this option. If you really have the time and patience, you can click the Exceptions button and allow or block individual sites from placing a cookie on your machine. To get an idea of the types of cookies already on your machine, click the 'Show Cookies' button and you can individually remove any which look suspicious. However if in doubt, leave the cookies untouched - the best way to scan for bad cookies is to regularly use an Adware scanner, which is covered in the PC Security chapter of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion. The 'Keep until' option relates to how long cookies are retained - again, since cookies can hold useful information, I recommend the 'they expire' option, which will keep cookies for as long as they are needed. If you value privacy above all else and want cookies cleared every single time you close Firefox, then select 'I close Firefox'. If you want to make the choice on a case-by-case basis (which is not recommended), select 'ask me every time'.
New to Firefox 3, you can now set Firefox to only allow cookies from the originating website, and block third party cookies (which are usually associated with ads), by leaving the 'Accept third-party cookies' box unticked. Previously this option was only accessible in the advanced settings under About:Config.
Private Data: This section controls the way in which Firefox's 'Clear Private Data' functionality works. To start with, click the Settings button and you will be presented with a list of items which will be cleared each time you clear private data. Each of these options holds some aspect of your browsing history or other private details which you may not want others to see. On a machine which is shared with a lot of other people, such as a public machine, you should tick all the options. On a personal machine which you don't share with others, or if you have your own separate account, I suggest only ticking the items you genuinely feel you need to clear. Typically for example you shouldn't clear your Saved Passwords, as this can cause a lot of inconvenience when you have to reenter your username/password each and every time you go back to your favorite site(s). Constantly clearing your Cache can also slow down browsing too.
Once you've selected the types of data you want cleared, you can either click the 'Clear Now' button to clear them immediately; you can use the 'Clear Private Data' option under the Tools menu of Firefox at any time in the future; or if you want this feature automatically activated each and every time you shut down Firefox (not recommended unless you're using a shared or public machine), tick the 'Always clear my private data when I close Firefox' box. If you want to be warned any time Firefox is about to clear your data, also tick the 'Ask me before clearing private data' - which is recommended.
If you're still very concerned about leaving any traces of your activity on a PC, see the Portable Firefox tip at the Conclusion of this guide for a possible solution.
Security
Warn me when sites try to install add-ons: I strongly recommend you tick this option as it prevents websites from automatically installing potentially harmful or malicious add-ons without your knowledge. Before any unauthorized site attempts to install an add-on, you will receive prominent notification of what it is trying to install, and if in doubt, cancel out of the installation and if necessary do some research on Google to find out more. Click the 'Exceptions' button to view the sites which are allowed to install Firefox extensions and themes without warning - if any untrusted or unknown sites are listed here, highlight them and remove them immediately. In general you should only allow exceptions for sites which you know and trust 100%, such as addons.mozilla.org and update.mozilla.org, both legitimate Mozilla-run add-on sites.
Note: the most commonly used add-on software you will need installed when viewing websites is Java (See the 'Enable Java' setting on the previous page) and Flash Player which you can download and install directly from here. For other common plugins for Firefox, go to this secure Common Firefox Plugins page. For more details of how to install other add-on software for Firefox and where to get it see the Add-on Manager area in the Features, Tips and Tricks section, as well as the Add-Ons section of this guide.
Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected attack site: New to Firefox 3.0, this setting allows Firefox to warn you if the site you are about to visit could potentially be a known 'attack site'; namely a site which attempts to use malicious scripts or other techniques to harm your PC, or send personal information about you to other parties without your permission. If you try to visit such a site, Firefox will raise a prominent warning stating 'Reported Attack Site' which comes up before you can even view the site's contents, and before anything is loaded up, keeping you even safer from exposure to any malware. I strongly recommend that this option always remain ticked as it's a valuable layer of protection against being exposed to such sites, though it's not a completely foolproof mechanism for protecting you when online.
Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected forgery: Similar to the 'attack site' option above, this setting is part of Firefox's Phishing Protection feature. It will raise a prominent warning stating 'Reported Web Forgery' before the page can be loaded or viewed. Once again I strongly recommend enabling this option, as it adds another layer of protection against having your important data (such as bank account or credit card details) stolen if entered on a fraudulent site. As with the attack site protection, it is not foolproof, and should not be relied upon as the sole form of defense or a replacement for using common sense and vigilance.
New to Firefox 3, both the new anti-malware protection and existing anti-phishing protection features in Firefox 3 are now automatically powered by the Google Safe Browsing Service, and there is no option here to change this behavior. This means that aside from maintaing a list of potentially harmful sites held within Firefox itself and regularly updated when online, when you visit a potentially harmful site, the browser may automatically connect to Google's servers to provide more detailed information about it. The link above gives specific details regarding its functionality in Firefox 3 and may address any privacy concerns you have, but ultimately if you don't agree to this approach then your only recourse is either to completely disable these options, or see the browser.safebrowsing.provider preference in the Advanced Tweaking section. It is not recommended that you disable or alter these settings.
Passwords: If the 'Remember passwords for sites' box is ticked, whenever you enter a username and/or password on a web page, you will be given the option to save that username/password combination within Firefox. If you do so, the next time you go to the same site your username will automatically be filled in, and the password will also be filled in as a series of *****. This speeds up logging into various sites, however it is also obviously a significant security problem if you share a computer with others, so untick this option if security is a major concern.
New to Firefox 3, if this box is ticked, the 'Remember this password?' prompt now appears at the top of the page as soon as you enter a username/password, and will remain there until you choose the relevant option - it won't block your login progress, which allows you to see if your username/password is actually correct before you choose to remember it. When presented with options, you will see 'Never for this site', which means that your username or password will not be saved, and you will never again be prompted to save a username/password while browsing this site; 'Not now' which means that the username/password will not be saved now, but you will be prompted again the next time you login here; and 'Remember' which saves your username/password immediately for this site. If you don't wish to make a choice right now, just exit the site and the prompt will disappear, only to appear again when you next visit that site.
To view the currently stored usernames and passwords (and the sites they relate to), click the 'Saved Passwords' button. This opens a box which shows every combination of username/password you've entered on particular sites. To view the actual passwords for each site and username, click the 'Show Passwords' button at the bottom of the box, and this will reveal a new Passwords column. You can highlight specific entries and click Remove to delete any incorrect or unnecessary username/password combinations as required. If you want to protect yourself from other users who may try to view your password list, tick the 'Use a master password' option under the main Passwords section of the options and then enter a master password - note that the more letters and numbers the password contains, the stronger it will be as indicated by the password quality meter at the bottom of the master password dialog box. Now whenever you click the 'Show Passwords' button you must enter this master password to gain access.
New to Firefox 3, there is now also a search box in the Saved Passwords dialog box, allowing you to find any site, password or username much more rapidly. You can enter any letters, words or partial words and matches will instantly be shown.
Warning messages: As you use Firefox in a variety of situations you may see a range of warning messages which state some important facts about your current web activity, such as when you about to view an encrypted page. You can disable these messages at the time they're shown, or you can click the Settings button here and tick/untick which messages you want shown. For the most part none of these warnings is absolutely vital as long as you are vigilant - especially as Firefox now makes the security status of sites more obvious via a color-coded favicon button (see Site Identification Button under the Features, Tips and Tricks section). However I recommend leaving 'I am about to view a page that uses low-grade encryption' ticked, just in case. If in doubt, leave the rest of these items ticked and disable them on a case-by-case basis as the warning prompts occur.
Advanced
General
Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages: When ticked, a flashing cursor will be shown on the web page. You can then use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor around, and you can also use the SHIFT key along with the arrows to highlight portions of text. This is the same as if you were using the mouse by highlighting portions of text with the mouse cursor and using the left mouse button to begin/end selections. Set to suit your taste, however note that firstly you may have to click on a text portion of a site to initiate the cursor, and secondly, if enabled this option may force a flashing cursor to appear on many web pages even without being clicked on, which may be annoying to some. If you just want to use this mode at certain times, use the F7 key to toggle it on or off as desired.
Search for text when I start typing: If ticked, this option allows you to initiate a search on the current page in Firefox simply by typing one or more letters. That is, if you start typing, the search box automatically appears at the bottom of the screen and accepts your input for a new search on the currently displayed web page. If unticked, you will have to press the Find shortcut key (F3 or CTRL+F) to open the search box. I suggest you tick this option to begin with, and if you find it annoying then untick. See the Faster Searching area of the Features, Tips and Tricks section for more details of ways to speed up searching and customize this function.
Warn me when web sites try to redirect or reload the page: New to Firefox 3, this option has been added to prevent sites which try to automatically redirect or reload the page without your permission. If that happens, a prompt will appear at the top of the screen indicating what has occurred and asks you whether you wish to allow this behavior or not. It is worth ticking this option to maintain greater control over your browsing, but it may get annoying as it also comes up on legitimate sites which reload/redirect. Note that if you manually want to force refresh a web page at any time, press CTRL+F5.
Use autoscrolling: If ticked this option enables Autoscroll, letting you scroll the page quickly by holding down the middle mouse button and moving your mouse up or down. I suggest ticking it initially, then untick it if you find it annoying.
Use smooth scrolling: If this option is ticked, when a page is scrolled up or down using the Page Up or Page Down keys, it doesn't instantly jump from one place to another - it scrolls more slowly, allowing your eyes to better track your existing position to its new spot on the screen. This can make reading long passages of text easier, however it can also make some pages seem 'laggy' when scrolling them, even when using the mouse scroll wheel. If you want maximum responsiveness while browsing it's best to disable this option.
Check my spelling as I type: This setting controls the built-in spell checker in Firefox. If this option is ticked, the spell checker will automatically check the spelling of text entered in any text input boxes on the screen and underline in red any words which are misspelled. You can then right-click on the word to see suggested spellings and select one, or you can add the word to the current dictionary used. For the most part I recommend that you enable this option, as it is very useful. The dictionary used depends on the particular version of Firefox you're using. See the Features, Tips & Tricks section for more details of this feature.
System Defaults: Whenever you click on a hyperlink in an email, document or PDF file Windows uses your 'default browser' to view the web page. On Windows this is always Internet Explorer unless otherwise specified. The 'Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup' option if ticked allows Firefox to check whether it is the default browser each time it starts, and set itself as such if it is not. You should untick this option for fastest startup, and instead if you want to be certain that Firefox is your default browser, in Vista go to Control Panel>Default Programs>Set Default Programs and select 'Set this program as the default' for Firefox. In Windows XP go to your Windows Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs. On the left hand side of the 'Add or Remove Programs' box, click the 'Set Program Access and Defaults' icon. Select the Custom option, and under the 'Choose a default web browser' section select 'Mozilla Firefox'. Click OK to close, and now Firefox is your default browser. To confirm this, click the 'Check Now' button here, but again, be sure to leave this box unticked for optimal startup performance.
If this doesn't work, go into Internet Explorer, and under the Tools menu select 'Internet Options'. Under the Programs tab, at the very bottom of the box untick the 'Internet Explorer should check...' or 'Tell me if Internet Explorer is not...' box so that Internet Explorer doesn't nag about this or switch itself back to being the default browser each time you run it.
Network
Connection: This setting is very important, and if you need help configuring it correctly contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If configured incorrectly you will have problems accessing web pages and/or you may have relatively slow loading of pages. Click the Settings button, and for most people, the 'No Proxy' option is the recommended one. However if you are behind a Proxy - which is normal for networked computers for example - then select the 'Auto-detect proxy settings for this network'. This choice might also be preferable if you don't know whether you are or aren't behind a proxy. If possible, check this with your ISP or Network Administrator. If you are definitely behind a proxy, it is recommended that you manually specify your proxy settings for even better performance, but once again you require specific information from your ISP or Network Admin to do this.
Note: To potentially optimize your network connection usage and speed in Firefox, see the network.-related preferences in the Advanced Tweaking section.
Offline Storage: The browser cache is a form of offline storage on your hard drive where Firefox holds website elements such as images, text, ads etc. This speeds up browsing, because when you revisit these sites, the stored version of the unchanged elements are loaded from your hard drive as opposed to having to be redownloaded over the Internet. It is best to make the cache size not too large so that it takes a while for Firefox to search through it to retrieve the right elements, and not too small so that it is constantly being overwritten by new information. I suggest something like 150MB as a good compromise value for everyone. I don't recommend the cache be extremely large - unless you have a very fast hard drive; and no smaller than 50MB - unless you have a very fast Internet connection combined with a very slow hard drive. As web content becomes more and more data intensive, you may have to increase the cache size, particularly depending on your own usage patterns. For example, if you constantly see graphics elements of web pages you commonly visit reloading slowly, you should increase the cache to help hold more of those elements locally. See the Customizing Firefox section for more details about the Browser Cache.
Note: See the browser.cache.check_doc_frequency preference in the Advanced Tweaking section to find out how you can alter the frequency with which Firefox uses the cache.
Tell me when a website asks to store data for offline use: New to Firefox 3, you can now specify whether to be prompted when a website explicitly wants to store data on your drive for offline use. This is not the same as the regular offline storage specified in the option above - this is a new feature which allows web applications to be specifically written so that they can be used when Firefox is in offline mode; that is, accessible when you're not connected to the Internet, or when the 'Work Offline' option under the File menu is selected. In general you should tick this option, so that you are aware of when an application may wish to use this feature. You can see a list of the sites which have stored such data in the box below this option, and you can opt to remove any which you are not familiar with. You can also add specific exceptions if you know certain sites should always be allowed to use this functionality without requiring a prompt. Finally, you can adjust how much storage space Firefox allocates for offline files by changing the browser.cache.offline.capacity preference as covered in the Advanced Tweaking section.
Update
Automatically Check for Updates to: Here you have the option of enabling Firefox's automatic update checker. If you tick the Firefox box, Firefox will periodically check for Firefox updates and tell you if it has found a new version of itself. If you tick the 'Installed Add-ons' box, Firefox will periodically check for updates to your currently installed extensions and themes and let you know when new versions of those are available. The 'Search Engines' option checks for updates to the built-in search engines in Firefox. I suggest you tick all three of these options so that you can be reminded of updates in case you don't manually check regularly. You should always run the latest version of Firefox software and any add-ons to ensure maximum security and stability with Firefox, and with the built-in updating features of Firefox, installing updates is quick and easy and doesn't require manually downloading separate files.
When Updates to Firefox are Found: If you enable the automatic updates checker, you can choose here what Firefox should do when it finds an update. You can either force it to 'Ask me what I want to do', or allow it to 'Automatically download and install the update'. I recommend the first option, so that you can choose when to install updates at the most appropriate time, so as not to interfere with other downloads or applications using your Internet connection. New to Firefox 3, if you select to have updates automatically downloaded, you can also select whether to have Firefox warn you in advance whether any updates will result in your existing add-ons being disabled due to a lack of compatibility.
If you don't want the automatic update checker to do its job, untick all the automatic update options, and to manually check for updates at any time, regularly visit the Firefox Home Page and the Firefox Add-Ons Page. However this is generally not recommended as it is neither efficient nor ensures maximum security.
Encryption
Protocols: The options here are 'Use SSL 3.0' and 'Use TLS 1.0'. I recommend that you tick both options, as they use appropriate security protocols (SSL is Secured Sockets Layer and TLS is Transport Layer Security) to ensure secure transmission of data over the Internet. If one or the other is unticked, you may not be able to visit some sites. If you encounter any difficulties with a particular website, untick 'Use SSL 3.0' first, then untick 'Use TLS 1.0'. If you still have difficulties, avoid using the site for entering sensitive data, as all sites should support SSL 2.0.
Certificates
When a server requests my personal certificate: This setting determines how Firefox reacts to a request by a website to present a Certificate. Certificates are used to verify identity and/or provide authorization for secure transmissions. You should select 'Select one automatically' to allow Firefox to determine the appropriate Certificate to present. If you know what you are doing or you are having difficulties accessing certain secure sites, you may wish to select 'Ask me every time' and manually select a Certificate.
View Certificates: Clicking this button brings up a box which allows you to add or remove various types of Certificates - those which are yours, those of others, those of web sites you visit, and those of authorities which verify certificates. In general you shouldn't need to change these settings unless you know what you're doing.
Revocation Lists: CRL is your Certificate Revocation List - a list of Certificates which are no longer valid. Firefox can use such a list if you need to add one, however as with the other Certificate options in Firefox, this is not something you need to adjust unless you are familiar with this functionality.
Validation: OCSP is the Online Certificate Status Protocol, an online method to determine the validity of a Certificate. By default you should have the 'Use the OCSP to confirm the current validity of certificates' box ticked, along with the first option below it. If you want to manually specify a server, tick the second option below it and specify the server. If you want even more advanced security select the 'When an OCSP server connection fails, treat the certificate as invalid', however this can cause many problems, so is best left unticked unless you know what you're doing.
Security Devices: Clicking this button allows you to manage the tools which give you secure access. There are two which are built into Firefox, but you can manage or use others which are installed on your system. Once again there is no need to change these settings unless you know exactly what you're doing and have specific needs.
Once you're done with all the settings, click OK to exit the Options box, and I also recommend closing all incidences of Firefox and reopening a new one to ensure all settings are applied properly and in effect.
The next section provides a range of details and tips on all the major features of Firefox. These are perfect for the beginner and advanced user alike, especially those new to Firefox 3.
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