Firefox Addons to Increase Security and Usability

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#Security Enhancements

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uBlock Origin
Download: uBlock Origin

uBlock Origin is, at first glance, an adblock tool. It’s also a great security tool. With an easy-to-use dashboard, toggling security and adblocking is a snap.

After installing uBlock Origin, make sure to set up the adblock lists. By default, only the adblock script EasyList is enabled, but there are a number of extra available right from the dashboard. Of course, if you’ll be using Anti-Adblock Killer Continued, click this to enable AAK-Cont rules for uBlock Origin.

**Privacy Badger**
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Privacy Badger is EFF’s anti-tracking addon for Firefox. Similar to Disconnect and Ghostery, Privacy Badger differs by being open-source. On being installed, it will replace tracker blips with in-active vesions and prevent most tracking. It’s a great addition to any browser.

**NoScript**
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NoScript is a venerable stalwart of browser protection, dating back to the old Firefox 2.0 days. It boasts impressive XSS (cross-site scripting) prevention, and per-site granular permissions. It adds a bit of friction - at least when you’re getting it broken in - and that’s a fair price for security.

**FlashStopper**
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FlashStopper is a simple anti-autoplay and anti-Flash plugin. Great at stopping annoying auto-play videos.

**ViolentMonkey**

ViolentMonkey is a GreaseMonkey fork. What it does is run userscripts, such as my toggle-to-autolike on Discourse script and the indispensable Anti-Adblock Killer, Continued.

Hide Captionbar Title Plus

A UI improvements and customization addon, Hide Captionbar Title Plus is packed with features that allow you to make Firefox look sleek and modern.

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This is timely. I’ve been using Adblock Plus and NoScript for a few years with no problems, but three days ago, when I went to Salon.com, a site I visit often, I got a grey screen with this message:

Something interfered with this website loading
This could be a temporary problem with your network, or due to your adblocker
Try:
Check your internet connection and reload the page
If you are using an adblocker disable it by clicking on the adblock icon in your browser toolbar
If the problem persists, consider leaving a message on the adblock user forums

To correct this I disabled ABP on Salon. Same thing.
I disabled ABP globally. Same thing.
I deleted the ABP addon from Firefox. Same thing.
I downloaded uBlock Origin and went through the same sequence.

Right now I’m not using any ad blocking, but I still can’t access Salon. I’ve had issues before where whitelisting sites (wired.com was one) didn’t seem to have any effect. The wired.com problem cleared itself up a few months ago. Could this be an issue with the browser cache? I’m reluctant to delete it and lose saved passwords and such, and it wouldn’t help anyway if sites object to the presence of an ad blocker even when whitelisted, since I will certainly continue to use one. Any thoughts?

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If it’s just one or two sites use a different browser and keep the ad block on your main one.

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I’ve accessed Salon on Microsoft Edge, the world’s most annoying browser. That just reminded me why I use an ad blocker in the first place. :grin:

Oddly, most of the ads just show as blank spaces, but there are too many that follow you as you scroll and block the text.

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Love Ublock…I’ll have to check the others out.

thanks!

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hey, cool! I already use U-block and NoScript, but I went ahead and installed the Badger also. the little exposition/tutorial it gives you is really well done, too.

I’ve got a Greasemonkey script running to make pure-white backgrounds into slightly off-white called Eye Protector, but the listing is gone. I can pretty much guarantee there’s something else out there that does the same thing but this one was just the right shade and no bloat; it just does one thing perfectly–set-and-forget.

I noticed that Firefox will let you click a restart for when you newly install something, but if you just want to restart because it’s been running for a week and it’s laggy af, there is no button or menu drop-down for restart. So I have to quit, but it saves all the history etc before it actually quits, and my comp is slow anyway, so you have to keep checking before you can start it again and it’s a real drag, man. So:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/restart-button/?src=userprofile

I have several scripts running to get a universal darkened theme, including blackening new tabs and about:blank so pageloads and new tabs don’t blind me at night. the universal darkened web-page theme can be toggled on at night and off in the day. I have a write-up with links here

I use this thing to get around YouTube buffering because my comp and OS are old and slow.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-no-buffer/?src=userprofile

I was using a thing to get around YT ads and general fuckery but (A) it quit working and (B) it seems NoScript/U-Block are blocking them for me at this point? Does anyone use a YT extension that’s up to date? I don’t know if I still need it but I’m curious if there’s anything good out there i might need.

I seldom use ebay, but I really wanted something once so I found this sniper which i found to be simple and “just works.” On the bids where nobody else was using a sniper (or were but bid below my maximum) I got my thing, no problem.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/joybidder-ebay-auction-1806/?src=userprofile

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I use close to half of these Firefox add-ons, yet the memory leak hobbles my laptop horrendously. Closing the tabs does not free up memory. Waiting three-plus minutes for my keyboard input to show up as screen output is not within my frame of “usability.” I have a six-year-old Dell Latitude laptop. Yes, I know there’s a Firefox add-on to check the memory usage of my add-ons!

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