Have you ever had a software modify your Firefox settings? It is for instance relatively common that software installations try to modify the homepage and search provider in the web browser. A core issue here from a security point of view is that Firefox – and other browsers as well – do not offer mechanisms [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

If you are using Firefox as a web browser you have probably made some modifications to it. This can be something simple like a different home page or more sophisticated customizations like about:config under the hood changes. Modified parameters in about:config are highlighted in bold, but there is not a way to display only those [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

I’m not really sure why extension preferences that are generated during installation are not deleted when the extensions are uninstalled. That’s in my opinion a serious flaw in the browser. Why would someone want to delete those old extension preferences? First to keep the preference file clean and tiny, second to limit privacy implications and [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

One of the biggest issues that I personally have with Firefox, and that for a very long time, is the fact that add-on preferences are not deleted when the add-on that has written them to the config is uninstalled in the browser. This means that the config file grows over time. Up until now I [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

One of the thing that’s extremely unhandy when you are working with Firefox preferences is that you cannot access a detailed explanation of a preference’s functionality directly. You have to copy the name, do a search on the web in hope of finding a suitable explanation. This often leads to the Mozillazine entry of the [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

One thing that bothers me a lot in Firefox is how add-on uninstallations are handled. Many add-ons add preferences to the Firefox prefs.js file in the profile folder of the browser. These parameters often define values for settings that the user can change directly in the add-on’s options. The problem becomes apparent during uninstallation of [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox, Software, Windows

The Firefox web browser stores a lot of its preferences in config files. Many advanced users know that the about:config parameters displays many of those preferences directly in the web browser, offering options to edit parameters and settings directly while Firefox is running. Most basic preferences, like changing the homepage, switching scripting languages on or [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

Many Firefox extensions add their own entries to the Firefox configuration that can be accessed by typing about:config in the address bar of Firefox. It is relatively easy to backup the full Firefox user profile that includes the extension preferences but problems arise if only selected preferences from some specific extensions are needed. I’m thinking [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox