Firefox includes powerful features to prevent you
from being tracked online, but they aren’t on by default. This blog will
illustrate you about how to take control of your privacy online with Firefox’s
options. Firefox also has some features that send personal data to Mozilla and
Google, but these features aren’t mandatory. Mozilla and Google use the data to
improve Firefox, provide you with search suggestions and block malicious web
pages.
Thus friends these are few of those options in
Mozilla Firefox which will definitely help to improve on your usage of the
browser.
Fig1: Mozilla Option (Privacy tab)
Do Not Track:
Firefox can send a do-not-track
request whenever you connect to a website, asking the website not to track you.
It’s disabled by default, so you will have to enable it yourself.
Fig2:
Do-Not-Track option
Click the Firefox menu --> select
Options--> and click the Privacy icon.
Fig3:
Option tab
Click the “Tell websites I do not want to be
tracked” check box at the top of the privacy pane to enable the do-not-track
feature.
Unfortunately, few websites obey your do-not-track
preference at the moment. Do not track is also available in Internet
Explorer 9 and Apple Safari, but it’s noticeably absent in Google Chrome.
Search Suggestions:
Firefox sends every letter you type into its search
box to your default search engine, which sends search suggestions back.
Fig4: Search box
You can easily disable search suggestions by
right-clicking the search box and unchecking Show Suggestions.
Safe Browsing:
Firefox
uses the same phishing and malware detection technology found in Google Chrome.
Like Chrome, Firefox automatically downloads an updated list of malicious
websites from Google after every 30 minutes. If you try to access one of these
websites, Firefox sends contacts to Google to confirm the website is malicious
or not.
Fig5: Suggestions Option
It shouldn’t be possible for Google to determine
the exact website you tried to access, but Google cookies you have on your
computer may also be sent. Phishing and malware detection helps protect your
personal data and your computer’s security, but you can disable it using the
options on the security pane.
Cookies:
Fig6: Security Certificate
Click the “Firefox will” box on the privacy pane and select “Use Custom Settings for History” to view Firefox’s cookie options.
Fig7: Security Tab
Many advertising networks track you across multiple
websites with third-party cookies. You can disable these cookies by unchecking
the Accept third-party cookies box. This may cause problems with some websites,
so you may have to re-enable this check box.
Fig8: Privacy Tab
First-party cookies can be used for tracking, too.
Many websites won’t work if you disable cookies entirely, but you can have
Firefox automatically clear them each time you close your browser. This
prevents websites from building up a profile of you over time, but you’ll have
to log into any open websites each time you reopen Firefox. Just enable the
“Clear history when Firefox closes” check box and click the Settings button.
Fig9: Privacy Options
Select Cookies and any other type of data you want
Firefox to automatically delete, and then click OK.
Crash Reports and Performance Data:
Firefox
can send crash and performance reports to Mozilla. Mozilla uses these reports
to fix problems and help improve Firefox.
Fig10: Privacy Settings
The
Submit crash reports check box on the advanced pane controls the crash reports
feature. Firefox never sends crash reports automatically; it always prompts
you. You’ll still see the prompt if you uncheck this check box, but the crash
report dialog will default to not sharing any data with Mozilla. The Submit
performance data option causes Firefox to send anonymous performance reports in
the background. The reports contain information about how you use Firefox’s
interface, how well Firefox is performing and what hardware your computer
contains.
Fig11: History Options
The Submit
performance data option causes Firefox to send anonymous performance reports in
the background. The reports contain information about how you use Firefox’s
interface, how well Firefox is performing and what hardware your computer
contains.
Fig12: Advanced Settings Tab
Remember to save your settings by clicking OK.
Fig13: Settings Apply Box
Hence at the end of the day, there will be a
feeling in your mind that these were few things which you were unaware of being
a daily user of Mozilla, but which now you are equipped with.
No comments:
Post a Comment