Firefox Quantum is the Firefox version you want, not the ESR version, as of version 70, Mozilla™ included a default social tracking blocker, no more Facebook tracking etc.
Firefox recently was awarded the only "safe" browser on the market.
I recommend you install Firefox Quantum the oldfashioned way, albeit more difficult, you'll get the latest version faster.
A how to install, is listed below the plugins and settings recommendations.
Firefox ESR comes pre-installed with Debian 9 "Stretch", Debian 10 "Buster" and Debian 11 Stable "Bullseye" and by default the Mozilla Firefox browser collects some telemetry.
As of version 67.0.4 Firefox Quantum Mozilla™ claims Firefox Quantum is now 40 - 80% faster than Chrome, when you do Google searches etc...
As of Version 69, firefox removed the support for the <keygen>, feature to easily deploy TLS client certificates.
Before installing Quantum to replace Firefox ESR, the old Firefox needs to go.
NOTE: I recommend you read through the entire page if you are concerned about privacy. Also, I recently updated this page after much time has passed.
If your Firefox browser has any of the below-listed four extensions by Avast and its subsidiary AVG installed:
Remove them asap!
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Avast Online Security
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AVG Online Security
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Avast SafePrice
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AVG SafePrice
Install Firefox Quantum In Debian Linux.
Firefox Quantum is also available in Snap Store.
Firefox Quantum can be installed in two different ways, either via SNAP or the classic way, download a .targz packet and go from there.
However SNAP packages are a little bit easier to install, they autoupdate themselves and are supposed to be safer to use.
But, and yes there is a but, Mozilla takes some extra time to update the Firefox SNAP in Snap Store, days to a week.
NOTE: I do however recommend you first dowload chromium, just in case something goes awry, that way you can access this page while resolving the situation.
First off you should uninstall Firefox ESR before installing Firefox Quantum:
Open a terminal windows and type:
sudo apt-get remove firefox-esr
Press Enter,
Then Install SNAP:
sudo apt update
Press Enter,
sudo apt install snapd
Press Enter, done.
Now to install Firefox Quantum, type:
sudo snap install firefox
Press Enter,
Then once installed you need to restart your system in order for the icon to appear.
To list available updates for snap packages:
sudo snap refresh --list
Press Enter, and if there is a new version for Firefox Quantum, you can update it by typing:
sudo snap refresh firefox
Press Enter, done.
Now if you want you can also look at Snap Store.
Now if you for some reason want to uninstall Firefox Quantum snap, just type:
sudo snap remove firefox
Press Enter, if you run into problems with the Firefox Snap version see our FAQ.
Firefox Keyboard shortcuts:
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Open A New Tab:
Press CTRL + T to open a new tab in the same window.
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Open A New Tab In A New Window:
CTRL + N
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Close A Tab:
CTRL+W
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Open A New Private Window:
CTRL + Shift + P
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Open Recently Closed Tabs:
CTRL + Shift + T
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Reload Webpage:
Press F-5 Button once.
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Scroll Up/Down Webpage Using Your Keyboard:
Simply use PAGE UP to scroll up and PAGE DOWN key to scroll down.
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Find A Text In Webpage:
CTRL+F
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Close Your Browser At Once:
CTRL + Shift + W to close all the tabs.
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View The Page Source:
CTRL + U to open view source in a new tab.
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Switch Tabs Quickly:
If you have multiple tabs opened up, you can easily navigate through them by pressing.
CTRL + Tab.
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View Your Downloads:
Do you want to look at your download library press.
CTRL + Shift + Y
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Bookmark A Webpage:
To bookmark a webpage, hit CTRL + D and press the ENTER key to save it.
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Select the Address/Search Bar:
CTRL + L to immediately highlight the search bar for you.
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Check Browsing History:
CTRL+H
IMPORTANT: If you have added extensions, they will not run by default in a private window unless you give your permission.
You should add the following extensions:
Privacy Badger, Cookie AutoDelete, HTTPS Everywhere, Decentraleyes, Terms of Service, USER-AGENT SWITCHER.
Firefox Settings: Change the following recommended settings, if you value your privacy.
Note: Using incognito mode in Firefox will not make you anonymous for real ! There are more you need to know and change in your browsers settings.
How To:
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Enter "about:config" in the firefox address bar and press enter.
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Press the button "I'll be careful, I promise!"
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Follow the instructions below...
For more information on telemetry being sent to Mozilla:
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Enter "about:telemetry" in the firefox address bar and press enter.
media.peerconnection.enabled = false ( Disabled by default in V100.0 )
WebRTC and the processes described are implemented through a set of JavaScript APIs that actually produce and transmit the multimedia data being used for real-time communications. WebRTC allows a desktop or mobile browser-based application to access the device's microphone and video camera.
The WebRTC vulnerability is that your true IP address can be exposed via STUN requests with Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Brave browsers, when you are using a VPN.
media.peerconnection.false = True ( Enabled by default in V100.0 ) Needs to be changed !!!
Click + or Add button ( the same ), then change it to false. disables WebRTC-based IP address identification.
privacy.firstparty.isolate = true ( Activated by default in V100.0 )
A result of the Tor Uplift effort, this preference isolates all browser identifier sources (e.g. cookies) to the first party domain, with the goal of preventing tracking across different domains. (Don't do this if you are using the Firefox Addon "Cookie AutoDelete" with Firefox v58 or below.)
privacy.resistFingerprinting = true ( Activated by default in V100.0 )
A result of the Tor Uplift effort, this preference makes Firefox more resistant to browser fingerprinting.
privacy.trackingprotection.fingerprinting.enabled = true ( Activated by default in V100.0 )
Blocks Fingerprinting
privacy.trackingprotection.cryptomining.enabled = true (Activated by default in V100.0)
Blocks CryptoMining
privacy.trackingprotection.enabled = true (Activated by default in V100.0)
This is Mozilla's new built-in tracking protection. It uses Disconnect.me filter list, which is redundant if you are already using uBlock Origin 3rd party filters, therefore you should set it to false if you are using the add-on functionalities.
browser.cache.offline.enable = false ( Disabled by default in V100.0 )
Disables offline cache.
userPrefs.browser.search.region = false ( Disabled by default in V100.0 )
It collects your preferred browser region and sends telemetry data to Mozilla. It is set to Boolean, but you can change it to String etc. Change it to False.
cpu.vendor = false ( Disabled by default in V100.0 )
It is set to Boolean True, Number,String. Change it to False.
os.name = false ( Disabled by default in V100.0 )
Sends telemetry about your current operating system to Mozilla. It is set to Boolean True, Number,String. Change it to False.
os.version = false ( Disabled by default in V100.0 )
Sends telemetry about your current operating system version to Mozilla. It is set to Boolean True, Number,String. Change it to False.
browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V71.0)
Disable Google Safe Browsing malware checks. Security risk, but privacy improvement.
browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V71.0)
Disable Google Safe Browsing and phishing protection. NOTE: Security risk, but privacy improvement.
browser.send_pings = false (disabled by default as of V71.0)
The attribute would be useful for letting websites track visitors' clicks.
browser.send_pings.require_same_host = true (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Allows Click-Tracking if sending and receiving host match. For better privacy, change to True.
browser.sessionstore.max_tabs_undo = 0 (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Even with Firefox set to not remember history, your closed tabs are stored temporarily at Menu -> History -> Recently Closed Tabs.
browser.urlbar.speculativeConnect.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Disable preloading of autocomplete URLs. Firefox preloads URLs that autocomplete when a user types into the address bar, which is a concern if URLs are suggested that the user does not want to connect to source.
browser.privatebrowsing.autostart (enabled by default as of V100.0)
This automatically starts Firefox in Private Browsing mode.
datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled = false
Prevents health reports being sent to Mozilla.
dom.battery.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
The battery status of your device could be tracked.
dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Disable that websites can get notifications if you copy, paste, or cut something from a web page, and it lets them know which part of the page had been selected.
geo.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Disables geolocation.
media.eme.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V71.0)
Disables playback of DRM-controlled HTML5 content, which, if enabled, automatically downloads the Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc. Details DRM-controlled content that requires the Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight NPAPI plugins will still play, if installed and enabled in Firefox.
media.gmp-widevinecdm.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Disables the Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc., used for the playback of DRM-controlled HTML5 content.
media.navigator.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Websites can track the microphone and camera status of your device.
network.proxy.socks_remote_dns = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Set this to True.
network.cookie.cookieBehavior = 4 (Default as of V71.0)
Disable cookies
0 = Accept all cookies by default
1 = Only accept from the originating site (block third-party cookies)
2 = Block all cookies by default
network.cookie.lifetimePolicy = 2 (Default as of V71.0)
cookies are deleted at the end of the session
0 = Accept cookies normally
1 = Prompt for each cookie
2 = Accept for current session only
3 = Accept for N days
network.http.referer.trimmingPolicy = 2 (Default as of V100.0)
Send only the scheme, host, and port in the Referer header
0 = Send the full URL in the Referer header
1 = Send the URL without its query string in the Referer header
2 = Send only the scheme, host, and port in the Referer header
network.http.referer.XOriginPolicy = 2 (Default as of V100.0)
Only send Referer header when the full hostnames match. (Note: if you notice significant breakage, you might try 1 combined with an XOriginTrimmingPolicy tweak below.)
0 = Send Referer in all cases
1 = Send Referer to same eTLD sites
2 = Send Referer only when the full hostnames match
network.http.referer.XOriginTrimmingPolicy = 2 (Default as of V100.0)
When sending Referer across origins, only send scheme, host, and port in the Referer header of cross-origin requests.
0 = Send full url in Referer
1 = Send url without query string in Referer
2 = Only send scheme, host, and port in Referer
network.dns.disablePrefetch = True (Default as of V100.0)
Setting this preference to true will disable Firefox from “prefetching” DNS requests. However you might want to read this !
network.prefetch-next = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Disable pre-fetching of webpages as this poses as a privacy risk.
network.websocket.enabled ( enabled by default as of V100.0 ) IMPORTANT TO CHANGE THIS FOR VPN Users!!!
If you use a VPN, the Websockets can leak your real IP-address ( caution ). Click add in Firefox, then double click True to change it to False.
privacy.trackingprotection.enabled = True ( enabled by default as of V100.0 )
Prevent cross-site tracking.
toolkit.telemetry.enabled = True ( enabled by default as of V100.0 and earlier versions ) Change this to false !!!
Prevent data from being sent to Mozilla.
webgl.disabled = false (Default as of V100.0) - Security Risk !
WebGL is a potential security risk. You should set this to True !!!
browser.sessionstore.privacy_level = 2 (Default as of V100.0)
This preference controls when to store extra information about a session: contents of forms, scrollbar positions, cookies, and POST data. Details
0 = Store extra session data for any site. (Default starting with Firefox 4.)
1 = Store extra session data for unencrypted (non-HTTPS) sites only. (Default before Firefox 4.)
2 = Never store extra session data.
extensions.pocket.enabled = false (disabled by default as of V100.0)
Disables Pocket completely.
network.IDN_show_punycode = true (enabled by default as of V100.0)
Not rendering IDNs as their Punycode equivalent leaves you open to phishing attacks that can be very difficult to notice.
extensions.blocklist.url = https://blocklists.settings.services.mozilla.com/v1/blocklist/3/%20/%20/
Limit the amount of identifiable information sent when requesting the Mozilla harmful extension blocklist.
Optionally, the blocklist can be disabled entirely by setting extensions.blocklist.enabled to false for increased privacy, but decreased security.
IMPORTANT ! Enable DNS-over-HTTPS in Firefox:
DNS-over-HTTPS works by sending URLs to a DNS server over encrypted HTTPS.
The point is to hide your DNS queries from third-party observers.
With this protocol at play, those observers won't be able to sniff out your packets and tell what websites you're about to access.
This is how:
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Open Firefox, click the menu button, and then click Preferences.
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In the resulting window, scroll down to Network Settings and click Settings.
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In the Connection Settings popup, click the checkbox for Enable DNS over HTTPS.
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In the dropdown, select either Cloudflare (which is the default), or select Custom to enter your choice of DNS servers.
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If you choose custom route, you have to have a DNS provider that supports DNS-over-HTTPS (such as CleanBrowsing, Google Public DNS, Quad9, and Yandex.DNS).
The new settings will apply, without having to restart your browser.
Once you're done, close the preferences window and enjoy your DNS queries tucked inside the HTTPS protocol.
IMPORTANT A NEW FEATURE:
Track THIS lets you cover your browsing history tracks from advertisers.
You must however enter the site created by Firefox and there choose one of four profiles. For Firefox, only 20 tabs will open, but for others like Chrome etc, 100 tabs will open.
How to install Firefox Quantum, the oldfashioned and fastest way.
This will work with Debian 10 "Buster", plus instead of waiting for the Snap version to be updated with the latest releases and security updates, you'll get them first.
Begin with downloading.
Once downloaded in Downloads, right-click and chose extract here. I am assuming you did this in the Downloads folder.
Open a terminal window:
cd Downloads
Press Enter,
Then copy the firefox folder into /opt:
sudo cp /home/username/Downloads/firefox /opt
Press Enter. done.
Now create a desktop icon, by right-clicking the mouse and chose Create A New Launcher Here..
First you want to chose the Firefox logo instead of a rocket, so click the rocket and browse for:
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Other locations,
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Computer,
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opt/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
Click the OK button, done.
You should see Firefox instead of a rocket now.
Let us move on: Name, then Command and last Comment.
For command, see below this image !
Command: Use browse button or just type: /opt/firefox/firefox and when done click OK button.
Done, now you have a working Firefox icon on your desktop.
BETA TESTERS OF FIREFOX:
Now if you want to become a beta tester of the latest Firefox, this is how you do it. Don't worry it will be installed separate from the stable version. Normally snaps autoupdate, so if something doesn't work in the latest, you can downgrade the beta-version.
The snap version does provide more protection from a compromised Firefox, however if you download from Mozilla, that is highly unlikely to happen.
Open a terminal window and type this:
sudo snap install firefox --beta
Press Enter, done.
sudo snap revert firefox
Press Enter, done.
► Developers website
