Firefox Tweak Guide

[Page 5] Firefox Settings (Pt.2)

Privacy

By default, Firefox will keep a history of your browsing habits, saving such details as which files you've downloaded, any form data entered, search terms used, and any custom preferences for websites. This is not something to be concerned about in general, as none of it is reported back to anyone, and most of it is used to improve your browsing experience. However if you don't wish Firefox to keep any such records, in the History drop down box you can select either 'Never remember history' - which is the same as the Private Browsing Mode feature covered later, or you can select 'Use custom settings for history', which is generally recommended and covered in more detail below:

Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session: If ticked, this option will force Firefox to automatically start in Private Browsing Mode each time Firefox is launched. Private Browsing Mode is covered in full detail under the Features, Tips and Tricks section.

Remember my browsing 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 untick this box. 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.

Remember download history: 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. However the Search functionality and file display features in the Download Manager, all covered under the Download Manager area of the Features, Tips and Tricks section, might give you one reason to keep this option enabled.

Note that browsing history can also be used in much more useful ways in the Address Bar, nicknamed the "Awesome Bar". You can 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 search and form history: 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.

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 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'. You can also 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.

Clear history when Firefox closes: If ticked, this option clears history-related data from Firefox each time you close the browser, effectively removing almost all traces of your browsing. When the box is ticked, the Settings box to the right is ungreyed and you can click it to customize which particular items are cleared when Firefox closes. 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 password-protected user account, I don't suggest ticking this box.

Once you've selected the types of data you want cleared, you can either close Firefox to clear them immediately, or you can use the 'Clear Recent History' option under the Tools menu of Firefox at any time in the future. Note that that Clear Recent History feature under the Tools menu of Firefox allows you the added bonus of only clearing your history from a set period of time, such as the past Hour, Two hours, Four hours, or Day of browsing. If you just want to get rid of all your history for the selected items, choose the Everything option. Note that unless you're on a shared or public machine, I recommend against constantly clearing 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). I also recommend against constantly clearing your Cache, Site Preferences or Cookies, as all of these aid in speeding up browsing.

If you're genuinely concerned about leaving any traces of your activity on a PC each time you use Firefox, use Private Browsing Mode or see the Portable Firefox tip at the Conclusion of this guide for more useful solutions.

Location Bar: The Location Bar is also known as the Address Bar or Awesome Bar - see the Awesome Bar area of the Features, Tips and Tricks section for more details. Here you can select which aspect of your stored data is used for the search functionality of the Location Bar. By default if you enter any text in the Location Bar it will show the closest results from your browsing history and bookmarks. If instead you wish the Location Bar to just search through your stored browsing history, select History; if you just want it to search through your saved bookmarks, select Bookmarks. If you want the added Location Bar functionality disabled such that it conducts no searches and shows no results, select Nothing instead.

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 getpersonas.com, both legitimate Mozilla-run add-on sites.

Note: the most commonly used add-on software you will need installed when viewing certain websites is 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.

Block reported attack sites: 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 safe from exposure to any malware on the site. 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.

Block reported web forgeries: 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.

Both these anti-malware protection and anti-phishing protection features in Firefox are automatically powered by the Google Safe Browsing Service, and there is no option here to change this behavior. This means that aside from maintaining 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 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. If this box is ticked, the 'Remember this password?' prompt appears at the top of a 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. There is 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 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: 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 first clicking the middle mouse button and then simply moving your mouse up or down. 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 or 7 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, untick any option related to checking for or making Internet Explorer the default web browser.

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 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 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. I don't recommend the cache be extremely large - unless you have a slow connection and a relatively 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.

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: You can 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 (cache) specified in the option above - this is a 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 incremental updates is quick and easy and doesn't require manually downloading separate files and uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox.

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. 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 secure sites should support SSL 3.0.

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.

Go to Page... Page 1: Introduction Page 2: Essential Optimization Page 3: The Basics Page 4: Firefox Settings Page 5: Firefox Settings (Pt.2) Page 6: Features, Tips & Tricks Page 7: Features, Tips & Tricks (Pt.2) Page 8: Add-Ons Page 9: Advanced Tweaking Page 10: Adv. Tweaking (Pt.2) Page 11: Adv. Tweaking (Pt.3) Page 12: Adv. Tweaking (Pt.4) Page 13: Neat Stuff & Conclusion