Betterfox

about:config tweaks to enhance Mozilla Firefox. Files are updated as needed for your user.js.

Made for everyday browsing

A secure, blazing fast browsing experience. Without breakage.

Betterfox is an opinionated preference list inspired by the law of diminishing returns and the minimum effective dose.

Simple goals

1. Minimalism: get what isn't needed out of the way
2. Efficiency: unleash Firefox's ability to be fast and performant
3. Privacy: protect your data without causing site breakage

Simple configs

List	Description
Fastfox	Immensely increase Firefox's browsing speed. Give Chrome a run for its money!
Securefox	Global Privacy Control. HTTPS-by-Default. Total Cookie Protection with site isolation. Enhanced state and network partitioning. Telemetry disabled.
Peskyfox	Unclutter the new tab page. Remove Pocket. Restore compact mode as an option. Stop webpage notifications, pop-ups, and other annoyances.
Smoothfox	Get Edge-like smooth scrolling on your favorite browser — or choose something more your style.
user.js	All the essentials. None of the breakage. This is your user.js.

💡 Fastfox, Securefox, Peskyfox, and Smoothfox are guides to relevant prefs in Firefox. The user.js is curated from the options located in these documents. Please read the guides to understand the various options hidden in Firefox.

While Betterfox is designed to set-and-forget, it contains plenty of options for those who like to tinker.

about:Privacy

Most projects have niche concerns with no regard for daily use. But for us, features like WebGL and DRM are still enabled, and you won't find a setting like privacy.resistFingerprinting mentioned here.^{^why?}

Fingerprinting is a high threat model issue that is only reasonably addressed by Tor.¹ If your context calls for anonymity and not just reasonable privacy, then please use the Tor Browser.^{^what's the difference?}

about:Defaults

Apply preferences from the common overrides sticky if you want to revert the following behavior:

• Firefox Accessibility Service is disabled to improve resource utilization and security. Override this if you use assistive software.
• Firefox Sync and Firefox View are disabled. Override if you use these features.
• The built-in password manager is disabled. We recommend using Bitwarden or 1Password to manage your credentials on multiple devices.
• Location requests and site notifications are blocked to minimize annoyances.
• Embedded tweets, tiktoks, Instagram and Reddit posts are allowed to load on webpages in order to avoid site breakage, even though these requests are usually blocked when using Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection.

Suggestions

After applying the user.js and restarting Firefox:

1. Use an ad blocker like uBlock Origin with our recommended filters. For a quick and easy solution, use Ghostery.
2. Add DNS-level protection like NextDNS, and check out our configuration guide.
3. Change your default search engine.
   • Alternatively, select a different search engine just for Private Browsing windows.
     1. Go to Settings → Search → Default Search Engine
     2. Change your default search engine to DuckDuckGo, or add a premium search engine like Kagi.

To further harden Firefox:

1. Hide the referrer between sites by changing network.http.referer.XOriginPolicy to 1.
   • Note: This breaks embedded Instagram posts and logins to Bing.
2. Clear browsing data on shutdown (sanitize on close).
   • You can allow exceptions if you want to stay logged in to some sites:
     1. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data → Manage Exceptions
     2. Check Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed.

Recognition

User Comments

• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Browser Integration

• Floorp Browser ^{1 2} | files (April 2023)
• Pulse Browser | files (Dec 2021)
• Ghostery Private Browser ^{1 2} | files (Feb 2021)

YouTube

• Firefox is NOT private. Here's how to fix it. (April 2023)
• The ULTIMATE Browser Tier List (Mar 2023)
• I Hate Firefox. But I'm Still Switching Back to It. (Nov 2022)
• [Español] Optimize and Accelerate Firefox (Nov 2022)
• How To Improve Firefox Performance (Dec 2021)

Podcasts

• GhoSTORIES with Franz & Pete, S2|E6, 17:05-18:40 (Feb 2021)

Articles

• Full Circle Magazine (May 2023)
• [Russian] The Pulse Browser project develops an experimental fork of Firefox (May 2023)
• [German] Pulse Browser Review: Firefox fork with Turbo tweaks and Opera sidebar (April 2023)
• 2023 Browser Showdown: Comparing Chrome, Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi, and Opera (Jan 2023)

Guides

• FMHY Browser Tools: Privacy Hardened Firefox
• Firefox-UI-Fix
• Narsil/desktop_user.js
• pyllyukko/user.js comparator

Contributions

• Ghostery Private Browser
• Orion Browser
• Kagi Search Engine
• Various blocklists

Credit

• Many thanks to the Firefox team and to the people working on Bugzilla, fighting for the open web.
• This repository benefits from the ongoing research provided by arkenfox. They are the foundation to any worthwhile user.js.
• Some prefs in Fastfox come from RubenKelevra.

since 23 July 2022