Browsers
Browser Comparison
| Browser | Privacy | Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | Good | Good | Best balance; open source |
| LibreWolf | Excellent | Good | Firefox with privacy hardening pre-applied |
| Brave | Good | Excellent | Chromium-based; built-in ad/tracker blocking |
| Tor Browser | Best | Slow | Routes through Tor; for sensitive browsing |
| Chrome | Poor | Excellent | Extensive Google telemetry |
| Edge | Poor | Good | Microsoft telemetry |
| Safari | Moderate | Good | Better than Chrome/Edge on Apple hardware |
Recommendation: Firefox + uBlock Origin for daily use. Tor Browser for sensitive sessions.
Essential Firefox Add-ons
uBlock Origin
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
The best ad and tracker blocker. Use “Medium mode” for stronger protection:
- Blocks third-party scripts by default
- Easy to whitelist trusted sites
Privacy Badger
privacybadger.org — learns to block invisible trackers based on behavior.
Firefox Multi-Account Containers
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/
Isolates sites in containers. Facebook Container prevents Facebook from tracking you across the web.
HTTPS Everywhere (Now built into browsers)
Most modern browsers enforce HTTPS automatically. Verify yours does:
- Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > HTTPS-Only Mode
ClearURLs
Strips tracking parameters from URLs (?utm_source=..., ?fbclid=...).
Private Search Engines
| Search Engine | Notes |
|---|---|
| DuckDuckGo | No tracking, no profile building |
| StartPage | Google results without Google tracking |
| Brave Search | Independent index |
| SearXNG | Self-hostable meta-search |
Set DuckDuckGo as Default
Firefox: Settings > Search > Default Search Engine > DuckDuckGo
Firefox Privacy Settings (about:config)
Open about:config and set:
privacy.trackingprotection.enabled = true
privacy.trackingprotection.socialtracking.enabled = true
geo.enabled = false
media.navigator.enabled = false
network.cookie.cookieBehavior = 1