Firefox 15 base config

I updated one of my computers to Firefox 15 and took the opportunity to make some notes on its base configuration (excluding extensions) in case I have to setup another one from scratch. I thought I'd post this for critique and/or reference. Security is obviously a goal but most of the changes are privacy related.

InstallDir->application.ini
------------------------
[Crash Reporter]
Enabled=0
ServerURL= // blank

Options->Content
-----------------
Block pop-up windows = checked
Enable JavaScript = checked, Allow scripts to: all unchecked

Options->Applications
---------------------
Various potentially unsafe content types set to Save File

Options->Privacy
----------------
Tell websites I do not want to be tracked = checked
Use custom settings for history // want to save cookies for some non-critical sites
Always use private browsing mode = unchecked
Remember my browsing and download history = checked
Remember search and form history = unchecked
Accept cookies from sites = unchecked with minimal Exceptions added
Clear history when Firefox closes, All settings checked except Cookies and Site Preferences
When using the location bar, suggest: nothing

Options->Security
-----------------
Warn me when sites try to install add-ons: checked and no exceptions
Block reported attack sites: checked // needs rethink
Block reported web forgeries: checked // needs rethink
Remember passwords for sites: unchecked
Use a master password: unchecked

Options->Sync
-------------
Not configured

Options->Advanced->General
----------------------------
Submit crash reports = unchecked
Submit performance data = unchecked

Options->Advanced->Network
----------------------------
Don't use a proxy
Tell me when a websites asks to store data for offline use: checked, no exceptions

Options->Advanced->Update
---------------------------
Check for updates but let me choose whether to install them // needs rethink
Automatically update search engines: unchecked

About:Config user sets of interest (due to Options and/or manual changes)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
accelerometer.enabled;false

app.update.auto;false
app.update.service.enabled;false // uninstalled

browser.cache.offline.enable;false

browser.download.manager.retention;0

browser.fixup.alternate.enabled;false

browser.formfill.enabled;false
browser.formfill.saveHttpsForms;false

browser.newtabpage.enabled;false
browser.pagethumbnails.capturing_disabled;true

browser.search.suggest.enabled;false
browser.search.update;false // don't use

browser.send_Pings.require_same_host;true // feature disabled though

browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash;false

browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled;false

browser.urlbar.trimURLs;false

dom.battery.enabled;false

dom.disable_window_move_resize;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.close;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.menubar;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.minimizable;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.personalbar;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.scrollbars;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.titlebar;true
dom.disable_window_open_feature.toolbar;true

dom.enable_performance;false

dom.event.contextmenu.enabled;false

dom.network.enabled;false // testing

dom.storage.enabled;false

general.useragent.override; // Tweaked with some false info, can cause inappropriate default downloads

geo.enabled;false

network.allow-experiments;false

network.cookie.cookieBehavior;2
network.cookie.lifetimePolicy;1
network.cookie.thirdparty.sessionOnly;true

network.dns.disableIPv6;true // don't need ATM

network.dns.disablePrefetch;true
network.dns.disablePrefetchFromHTTPS;true
network.prefetch-next;false

network.websocket.enabled;false

plugin.expose_full_path;true

plugin.scan.4xPluginFolder;false
plugin.scan.Acrobat;999.999
plugin.scan.Quicktime;999.999
plugin.scan.SunJRE;999.999
plugin.scan.WindowsMediaPlayer;999.999
plugin.scan.plid.all;true // default, allows for flash which I use on this box

plugins.click_to_play;true

privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies;false // want to keep some cookies
privacy.clearOnShutdown.offlineApps;true
privacy.clearOnShutdown.passwords;true
privacy.cpd.cookies;false
privacy.donottrackheader.enabled;true
privacy.popups.showBrowserMessage;false

privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs;true
privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown;true
privacy.sanitize.timeSpan;0

security.warn_viewing_mixed.show_once;false // revisiting
security.warn_entering_weak.show_once;false // revisiting

security.OCSP.require;true // certificate checking needs rethinking

signon.rememberSignons;false
signon.autofillForms;false

toolkit.metrics.ping.enabled;false
toolkit.telemetry.prompted;2
toolkit.telemetry.rejected;true
toolkit.telemetry.server; // blank

 

Thanks for this !!

 

FWIW...

The Crash Reporter settings were overwritten during install of FF 15 so watch out for that. It may have been how I updated.

Based in part due to finding additional information including at:

Firefox - Change These For Better Privacy
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=309748

JonDoFox Defenses
https://anonymous-proxy-servers.net/wiki/index.php/JonDoFox_sources

I made more changes, which like the earlier ones are selected based on what I'm doing/testing so carefully consider them for yourself...

Code:

browser.history.allowReplaceState;false        //new, testing
browser.history.allowPushState;false           //new, testing
browser.history.allowPopState;false            //new, testing
browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes;0     //new
browser.sessionstore.privacy_level_deferred;2  //new
browser.sessionstore.privacy_level;2           //new
browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand;false   //new
extensions.getAddons.cache.enabled;false       //new
geo.wifi.uri;localhost                         //new
keyword.enabled;false                          //new
network.http.sendRefererHeader;0               //new, testing with RefControl 
network.http.sendSecureXSiteReferrer;false     //new, testing with RefControl
network.http.spdy.enabled;false                //new, until push risk assessed 
network.http.spdy.enabled.v2;false             //new, until push risk assessed
network.http.spdy.enabled.v3;false             //new, until push risk assessed

So many settings. I probably won't update this anymore unless there is discussion about something.

 

I appreciate your effort but is hard to understand for what is each setting, where do you get the information?

There is any way to put all those settings in a file or something so you can backup/export them to add them easily to a new firefox installation?

 

All those settings are listed and explained on http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries . If they make sense is another question, though.

Yes, save them in a user.js file and save that one in your profile folder. Details here and here.

 

I use the http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries page mentioned by tlu (which doesn't list everything at this time), use general and Mozilla site specific searches to look for information including in some cases bug reports that make the picture clearer, and if necessary search the source code via http://mxr.mozilla.org/. Most of the settings are straight-forward but some require study and of course testing to make sure they don't break the sites you use. Its a process (that I am still chipping away at too).

 

Thanks for the work.

PD

 

My latest in the easier form...

Code:

user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind", true);
user_pref("accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar", 0);
user_pref("app.update.auto", false);
user_pref("app.update.enabled", true);
user_pref("app.update.mode", 2);
user_pref("app.update.service.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.update.silent", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.offline.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.download.manager.addToRecentDocs", false);
user_pref("browser.download.manager.retention", 0);
user_pref("browser.fixup.alternate.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.formfill.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.formfill.saveHttpsForms", false);
user_pref("browser.history.allowPopState", false);
user_pref("browser.history.allowPushState", false);
user_pref("browser.history.allowReplaceState", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.pagethumbnails.capturing_disabled", true);
user_pref("browser.search.suggest.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.search.update", false);
user_pref("browser.send_pings", false);
user_pref("browser.send_pings.require_same_host", true);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes", 0);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.privacy_level", 2);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.privacy_level_deferred", 2);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand", false);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.trimURLs", false );
user_pref("browser.zoom.siteSpecific", false);
user_pref("device.sensors.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.battery.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_move_resize", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.close", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.menubar", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.minimizable", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.personalbar", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.scrollbars", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.titlebar", true);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_open_feature.toolbar", true);
user_pref("dom.enable_performance", false);
user_pref("dom.event.contextmenu.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.indexedDB.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.network.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.storage.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.getAddons.cache.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.update.autoUpdateDefault", false);
user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:15.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/15.0.1");
user_pref("geo.enabled", false);
user_pref("geo.wifi.uri", "http://localhost:9437");
user_pref("keyword.enabled", false);
//user_pref("media.enforce_same_site_origin, true);
user_pref("media.navigator.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.allow-experiments", false);
user_pref("network.cookie.cookieBehavior", 2);
user_pref("network.cookie.lifetimePolicy", 1);
user_pref("network.cookie.thirdparty.sessionOnly", true);
user_pref("network.dns.disableIPv6", true);
user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetch", true);
user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetchFromHTTPS", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.ssl", false);
user_pref("network.http.sendRefererHeader", 0);
user_pref("network.http.sendSecureXSiteReferrer", false);
user_pref("network.http.spdy.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.http.spdy.enabled.v2", false);
user_pref("network.http.spdy.enabled.v3", false);
user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false);
user_pref("network.websocket.enabled", false);
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", false);
user_pref("plugin.scan.4xPluginFolder", false);
user_pref("plugin.scan.Acrobat", "999.9");
user_pref("plugin.scan.Quicktime", "999.9");
user_pref("plugin.scan.SunJRE", "999.9");
user_pref("plugin.scan.WindowsMediaPlayer", "999.9");
user_pref("plugin.scan.plid.all", true);
user_pref("plugins.click_to_play", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.cache", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies", false);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.downloads", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.formdata", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.history", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.offlineApps", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.passwords", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.sessions", true);
user_pref("privacy.clearOnShutdown.siteSettings", false);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.cache", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.cookies", false);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.downloads", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.formdata", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.history", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.offlineApps", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.passwords", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.sessions", true);
user_pref("privacy.cpd.siteSettings", false);
user_pref("privacy.donottrackheader.enabled", true);
user_pref("privacy.popups.showBrowserMessage", false);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs", true);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown", true);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.timeSpan", 0);
user_pref("security.OCSP.require", true);
user_pref("security.default_personal_cert", "Ask Every Time");
user_pref("security.enable_tls_session_tickets", false);
user_pref("security.warn_entering_weak.show_once", false );
user_pref("security.warn_viewing_mixed.show_once", false );
user_pref("security.xpconnect.plugin.unrestricted", false );
user_pref("services.sync.jpake.serverURL", "http://localhost:9437");
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand", false);
user_pref("services.sync.serverURL", "http://localhost:9437");
user_pref("signon.autofillForms", false);
user_pref("signon.rememberSignons", false);
user_pref("toolkit.metrics.ping.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.prompted", 2);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.rejected", true);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.server", "http://localhost:9437");
user_pref("webgl.disabled", true);
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.add", "");
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.add.36", "");
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.required", true);