🔥🦊 Firefox Stuff

Everything Firefox! Info, tips, benefits, feature suggestions, add-ons and more.

Tips/suggestions/corrections/complaints welcome!

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💪 Firefox is better...

💯 Over 100 reasons Firefox is more powerful, flexible and customisable

Feature	Firefox	Chrome	Edge	Comment
Restores previous session properly	✅	?	❌	Edge is flaky, even when using Ctrl + Shift + T. I've lost so many sessions and tabs due to its incompetence
History: Remembers browsed pages properly	✅	?	❌	Edge has a memory like a goldfish, especially its address bar suggestions which are limited
History: Customise number of days to keep	✅	❌	❌	Edge and Chrome are limited to 90 days of retention only
Picture-in-Picture button	✅	❌	✅	In Chrome, you have to right click the video twice to reveal the Picture-in-Picture option
Picture-in-Picture: Subtitles support	✅	❌	❌
Picture-in-Picture: full controls	✅	❌	❌	Including a progress bar, mute, fullscreen and -5/+5 sec jump. Chrome/Edge only have Play/Pause
Picture-in-Picture: no limits on window size	✅	❌	❌	Edge has a limit on the PiP window size
Picture-in-Picture: supported on most sites	✅	❌	❌	Firefox supports Dailymotion, TikTok and Twitter, among many others. Edge and Chrome lack this.
Picture-in-Picture: multi PiP windows	✅	❌	❌
Picture-in-Picture: use arrow keys to jump forward/back	✅	❌	❌
Video player: Volume controls	✅	✅	❌
Video player: Speed control	✅	❌	❌
Video player: Take Snapshot feature	✅	❌	❌
Multi Account-Containers	✅	❌	❌	Lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple accounts. While some addons/hacks/workarounds exist for Edge/Chrome, none work as well as Firefox's!
Ctrl+Tab MRU tab switcher	✅	❌	❌	Allows you to use Ctrl+Tab to switch tabs in most recently used order (MRU) like Alt+Tab/Cmd+Tab in Windows/Mac. Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn can still be used to go next/previous tab too!
Reader View	✅	⚠	✅	Chrome's Reader feature needs to be enabled first under chrome://flags, and requires a re-launch of the browser to become available
Reader View: Read aloud/Text To Speech feature	✅	❌	✅
Block videos from playing automatically	✅	❔	❔	Firefox blocks many videos from auto-playing by default
uBlock Origin: works best	✅	❌	❌	https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox
LocalCDN: works best	✅	❌	❌	"Chromium unfortunately doesn't support all the cool features of LocalCDN."
Vertical tabs/Tree Style Tabs	✅	❌	✅	Edge has this built-in, but without the heirachy or customisability of Tree Style Tabs. Half a point to Edge!
Close push notifications with middle-click	✅	?	❌	Edge's notifications can only be closed by clicking the small X
Tracking Protection: Blocks Fingerprinters	✅	❌	❌
Tracking Protection: Blocks Cryptominers	✅	❌	❌
Tracking Protection: Blocks Cross-Site Tracking Cookies	✅	❌	❌
Tracking Protection: Blocks Tracking Content	✅	❌	❌	Note - the Do Not Track feature is turned off by default, except for Private Windows.
Tracking Protection: View stats	✅	❌	✅	View short and long-term blocked trackers, fingerprinters and cryptominers at about:protections. I can't find a way to view stats in Chrome
Tracking protection: View stats since install date	✅	❌	❌	This is a small thing, but Firefox shows "number of trackers blocked since "
Developer Tools: Open immediately using F12 key	✅	✅	❌	Edge has a welcome screen prompt - I find this annoying but others may like it.
Developer Tools: pop out into a separate window easily	✅	✅	✅
Developer Tools inspector: Search bar	✅	✅	⛔	Edge is awkward about searching HTML
Developer Tools: show the Domain column in Network tab by default	✅	❌	❌	What are they trying to hide??
Developer Tools: easily select multiple types, eg Font and Img	✅	❌	❌	You have to hold down Ctrl+Click in Chrome/Edge (discovered that by accident)
Developer Tools: auto size column with double click	✅	❌	❌
Developer Tools: live variable testing	✅	?	❌	Firefox lets you mess with variables in the console live, without having to execute any commands!
Developer Tools: Edit and Resend	✅	❌	✅
Developer Tools: Preview images	✅	✅	❌	Hover to preview images. Chrome actually goes one better though, images are shown as thumbnails which is nice!
Granular customisation/configurability	✅	❌	❌	Firefox's about:config allows users to change hundreds of settings unlike edge/chrome's about:flags
Context Menu: Access keys	✅	❌	❌	Firefox underlines access keys in context menus like all apps should.
SSL/certificate/HTTPS can be permanently excepted/stored	✅	❌	❌	On Chrome/Edge you have to choose Advanced, then Proceed each time.
Certificates: doesn't rely on OS's cert store	✅	❌	❌	Firefox manages its own certificates, separate from the OS. This means it doesn't rely on OS patches/updates if certs need updating/revoking
Copy hyperlinked text using Alt + Left click	✅	?	❌	In Edge, the only way to do this is by Inspecting Element
Circumvent sites that block right-clicking	✅	❌	❌	In Firefox, you can Shift + Right Click on sites that prevent you from right clicking
View hyperlink URL instantly on hover	✅	❌	❌	Edge (and now Chrome) force you to hover over a link for a few seconds to reveal the URL
Simple homepage config	✅	✅	❌	Seriously Edge, how do I turn off all the junk??
Keyboard shortcut for Dev Tools: Network tab	✅	❔	❔	Hit Ctrl+Shift+E to open dev tools: Network tab in Firefox
Send tab to other device function	✅
Ability to use your own sync server	✅	❌	❌	Apparently it's possible! No, I haven't tried it. MS and Google are your only options with Chrome and Edge
Extensive customisation (eg userChrome.css)	✅	❌	❌
Multiple dictionary (spell checker) support	✅	❌	❌
Protected from spell-jacking	✅	❌	❌	Chrome and Edge use an online spell checker, which sends your data to their servers https://geekermag.com/stop-chrome-edge-spell-check-leaking-passwords/
Extensions/Add-ons on mobile	✅	❌	❌	Currently mainstream Firefox on Android supports a limited number of addons, but Firefox Nightly does not have this restriction. As for Firefox on iOS - blame Apple
Easy on RAM/CPU*	✅	❌	✅	I see way too many complaints about RAM/CPU utilisation by Chrome. I'll give a point here to Edge though as it snoozes tabs and seems to handle many tabs well
Allows blocking WebRequests in Manifest v3	✅	❌	❔	One of the most controversial changes of Chrome’s MV3 approach is the removal of blocking WebRequest, which provides a level of power and flexibility that is critical to enabling advanced privacy and content blocking features. Unfortunately, that power has also been used to harm users in a variety of ways. Chrome’s solution in MV3 was to define a more narrowly scoped API (declarativeNetRequest) as a replacement. However, this will limit the capabilities of certain types of privacy extensions without adequate replacement.
Android: Background media play	✅	❌	❌	Firefox allows you to listen to a videos in the background or with the screen off!
Screenshot tool built in	✅	❌	✅	Really shouldn't need this, but on Windows the Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch apps suck
Open source	✅	❌	❌	While Chromium (the engine Chrome and Edge are based on) is open source, the rest of the browser isn't
Offline translation feature	✅	❌	❌	The Firefox Translations addon (WIP) allows offline translation, without relying on Google
Doesn't clutter Alt+Tab dialog with browser tabs	✅	✅	❌	This is annoying, and the setting to disable it is misleadingly in Windows' settings, not in Edge's settings (To disable, "Choose what windows appear when pressing Alt+Tab" > "Pressing Alt+Tab shows" - Select "Open Windows Only")
Community to request features	✅	❌	❌	Vote for, comment and suggest new features here: https://connect.mozilla.org
Total cookie protection	✅	❌	❌	https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-rolls-out-total-cookie-protection-by-default-to-all-users-worldwide/
Re-open closed browser windows	✅		❌	Use Ctrl+Shift+N. Note: in Edge, while you can re-open the site from the previously closed window, itopens in your current window instead
Re-open a closed Private/incognito tab	✅	❔	❌	This can be achieved by the standard Ctrl+Shift+T in Firefox
Ability to disable DRM	✅	❌	❔
Blocks CNAME cloaking	✅	❌	❔	https://thehackernews.com/2021/02/online-trackers-increasingly-switching.html
Removes tracking parameters from URLs	✅	❌	❌	As of version 102, Firefox removes parameters from URLs automatically when these may be used to identify and track users.
Advanced JSON viewing	✅	❌	❌	Edge and Chrome only show very basic info, eg compared to Firefox:
Better font/Image rendering*	✅	❌	❌	Down-scaled images are blurrier in Chromium browsers: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37906602/blurry-downscaled-images-in-chrome . Anecdotetally, people mention that fonts are sharper in Firefox, although I don't have evidence to back this up
Able to run portably/from USB	✅
"View page source" available in context menu	✅	✅	❌
Address bar at bottom (Android)	✅	?	?	Address bar can be set to top or bottom
HTML table subsections selection / Select HTML tables by column	✅	❌	❌	In Firefox, Ctrl+Click to select multiple cells of a table
Easily opt out of telemetry	✅
Incognito/Private mode that doesn't track you	✅	❌		Source: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-chrome-incognito-mode-privacy
Can place bookmarks on the address bar	✅	❔	❔
View source: shows the 'raw' HTML/CSS/JS as it was sent… and highlight syntax errors in red and describes what went wrong in the tooltip	✅	?	?
Sidebar	✅	❌	❌
Address bar: always show 'www'	✅	❌	?	Some (crappy) sites don't work without www. Chrome hides this so it looks like a "different" URL
Address bar: hightlight top level domain	✅	❌	✅	Chrome makes it harder to spot deceptive sites in the address bar
Address bar: "Switch to tab" using Enter	✅	❌	❌	If you hit Enter in Chrome/Edge, they open a new tab of one you already have open (otherwise you need to use the mouse
Smooth scrolling	✅	?	?	You can also customise the scroll behavior on about:config
Tor browser based on it	✅	❌	❌
Tags in bookmarks, which makes more sense than using directories.	✅
Ability to override system proxy	✅	❌	❌	Firefox allows you to configure proxy settings independently of the limited Windows settings
Access to a vast array of settings through about:config	✅
Reader view available on mobile (Android)	✅	?	?
"Switch to" option when opening a link in a new tab (Android)	✅	❌	?	Chrome opens a new tab in the background but without any notification/option to view it immediately
Search for whole words (Ctrl+F)	✅	❌	❌
Context menu: show extensions	✅	?	❌	Edge doesn't always show ublock origin for example in context menu
Better SSL certificate viewer	✅	❌	❌	Firefox uses a modern, full page view that shows more info, and doesn't lock up the tab while you view the cert
Option to set image as desktop background	✅	❌	❔
Choice of search engine for every search	✅	❌	❌	Firefox lets you choose an alternative search engine from the address bar
Add custom search engines while browsing	✅	❌	❌	Sites that implement OpenSearch can be added as a search engine by clicking the magnifying glass with green plus icon from the address bar or search bar
Search Bookmarks, Open Tabs and History from the address bar	✅	❌	❌	In Firefox, type the *, % or ^ symbols in the address bar to search your bookmarks, tabs and history
Themes: easily build your own	✅	❌	❌	Build themes online or with the Firefox Color extension
Themes: utilise backgrounds/images	✅	✅	❌	While Edge supports themes from the Chrome store, it only displays theme colours, no images
Themes: preview a theme without installing it	✅	❌	❌
Themes: higher coverage/more customisable	✅	❌	❌	Firefox themes the main menu, and has many elements that can be themed
Themes: gallery/store is non-political	✅	❌	❌	The Chrome web store is pushing political themes, instead of good themes (Edge shares Chrome's theme store)
Themes: override OS theme (eg dark/light)	✅	❌	✅	I can't find any way to manually set dark mode for Chrome, even with addons. Edge has this feature
Show/hide bookmark bar easily	✅	❌	✅	Firefox and Edge let you use Ctrl+Shift+B or right click to toggle the bookmark bar. Chrome has no easy way to disable the bar (on a new tab, for example)
Doesn't start/run in background	✅	✅	❌	Startup boost keeps Edge running in the background with minimal processes, so it will start more quickly when launched.
Highest number of extensions/add-ons	✅	❌	❌	Firefox has over half a million add-ons available!
Doesn't link browsing history, usage data and locations to users	✅	❌	✅	"Unlike Safari, Edge and Firefox, Chrome says it links all harvested data to devices and individuals."
Easy toolbar customisation	✅	❌	✅	Chrome doesn't allow you to customise the toolbar (at least not easily, like FF/Edge)
Extensive toolbar options	✅	❌	❌	Firefox lets you add more stuff to the toolbar, eg Zoom, Full Screen and Email Link. Zoom is very handy to have
Easily deploy settings	✅	❌	❌	You can drop/edit a user.js file to set most Firefox settings. I can't find a good way to export/import Chrome/Edge settings (except GPO), as they use an indecipherable file for their settings
Doesn't try to log you into the browser by default	✅	❌	❌	I don't remember actively logging into Edge, but it's logged me in anyways
Browser account that's not tied to your digital identity	✅	❌	❌	Edge and Chrome tie your browser to your google/microsoft account and can be/is used for tracking/advertising. Kinda creepy. Firefox account is purely for syncing your data.
Built independently of Google's Chromium browser engine	✅	❌	❌
Highlight text without any popup menus	✅	?	❌
Addons - keyboard shortcut to access	✅	?	❌
Facebook container addon	✅	❌	❌
Dedicated search field	✅	❌	❌
Autoscroll - option to disable	✅	?	❌	This prevents middle clicks (to open link in new tab) from accidentally scrolling the page wildly if you're not 100% accurate on clicking a link
Native Eyedropper/color picker	✅	❌	?
Add-ons: Install extension in private mode	✅	?	❌
Add-ons: Install extension using keyboard	✅	?	❌	Firefox allows you to use Alt+A
Add-ons: Easily allow addon to run in private mode	✅	?	❌	Firefox asks you during install. Edge doesn't ask at all, you have to manually enable after the fact
Mute tabs easily	✅	?	❌
Visit a site directly instead of searching for it	✅	❌	❌	When typing a local FQDN (eg on a domain), Edge and Chrome require you to add the HTTPS:// or HTTP:// prefix otherwise they search the web. Firefox goes straight to the site
Mute individual tabs in one click	✅	❌	?	Chrome can mute entire sites, but not tabs
Saved Logins: Monitor and notify of breached logins	✅	⚠	❌	Firefox alerts you if one of your saved logins had their site breached. Chrome has this feature, but it's manual and you have to sign in with your google account
Saved Logins: Shows icons of sites	✅	?	❌	Firefox makes it a bit easier to identify entries
Sync: use any email address	✅	❌	❌	Chrome and Edge require google and Microsoft accounts exclusively to sync your data
Extensions: more lenient towards addons	✅	❌	❌	Addons like removeddit violates Chrome's web store policy, but not Firefox's addon store
Address bar: match history for partial words	✅	❌	❌	Eg when typing a partial URL like "tube" instead of "youtube", Edge/Chrome does not return any matches from history and treats it like a new search. Firefox's address bar does wildcard searches and matches ANY part of a word
Welcome screen that's not hostile	✅	✅	❌	I've seen Edge's welcome screen where you have no way to close or even Alt+F4 it!
Notification Permissions - better UI	✅	?	❌	Firefox allows you to search sites and remove all sites from sending notifications easily
Dark about:blank page	✅	?	❌
Add private/incognito browsing shortcut to taskbar	✅	?	?
Block cookie banners*	✅	?	❌	Firefox now clears these annoying cookie banners on your behalf. We’ll always hit "Reject all" if we have that option though in absence of a "Reject all" we’ll do what you’d do otherwise and hit "Accept all"
Find-as-you-type	✅	❌	?	Hit / to enter quick find. Useful for quick searches will disappear after a few moments.
Quickly search for (and navigate) links	✅	❌	?	Hit ' to search for links, and Tab or Enter to follow them
Better "Find" functionality	✅	❌	❌	Firefox provides options like Highlight All, Match Case, Match Diactritics, Whole Words when using Find Ctrl+F
Open APIs	✅	❌	❌	https://0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-17/why-we-forked-firefox-and-not-chromium.html
Against the use of idle detection API	✅	❌	❌	"We are concerned about the user-surveillance, user-manipulation, and abuse of user resources potential of this API, despite the required 60 second mitigation. Additionally it seems to be an unnecessarily powerful approach for the motivating use-cases, which themselves are not even clear they are worth solving" https://mozilla.github.io/standards-positions/#idle-detection-api
Address bar - * indicator for suggested favourites in drop-down	✅	❌	❌	Pretty sure Edge used to have this... When you start typing a URL, Edge/Chrome show suggestions (including from your favourites) but without the * indicator. Therefore you can't distinguish between your history/favourites from the address bar dropdown.
Context menu: "Bookmark link" option	✅	❌	❌	Weird one not to have. Vivaldi has it. Even IE has it!
Still supported on Windows 7/8/8.1/2012/2012R2	✅	❌	🟡	Note that Edge will still get security patches (only) on these OSes til October 2023. IE is still supported as long as the OS is in support 😂
PDF reader on Android*	✅	❌	?	*Exists in Firefox Nightly, coming soon to mainstream Firefox
Total Cookie Protection (Android)*	✅	❌	?	Roll out has begun and will be completed mid April. Google has delayed its move from deprecating third-party cookies on Chrome — now set to roll out sometime in 2024.
Android app: more robust*	✅	❌	❌	*In my testing on Android virtual machines (VMs) - both Android 7 and Android 9 . Chrome crashes often, and Edge won't even launch on either VM. Firefox runs normally
Bookmarks/History	Show last visit time/date, date added, visit count fields (which are also sortable!)		✅	?

👍 Recommended Add-Ons / Extensions

Because googling for extensions is a minefield of useless, outdated and inaccurate recommendations.

Essential?	Icon	Name/Link	What	Why	Tips
		Imagus-Mod	(Imagus replacement) Enlarge thumbnails, and show images/videos from links with a mouse hover.		Set to enabled when holding Ctrl (otherwise it gets annoying by enlarging everything you hover over)
✅		uBlock Origin	Best ad-blocker, see below for additional recommended filter lists
✅		LocalCDN	Emulates remote frameworks (e.g. jQuery, Bootstrap, AngularJS) and delivers them as local resource. Prevents unnecessary 3rd party requests to Google, StackPath, MaxCDN and more.	Faster browsing, less reliance on having to download 3rd party (eg Google) resources
		FeedBro	Advanced Feed Reader - Read news & blogs or any RSS/Atom/RDF source.		Handy for reading twitter feeds, and even can be setup to alert on keywords/new posts
		Tab Count Icon	Shows number of open tabs on the toolbar		Tried a few of these, this one seems best. Easy to read and it can be set to any colour.
		QR	Generates a QR code for the current page
✅		Everything Metric	Converts yankee/imperial units to metric!
		Dark Reader		There's so many dark mode add-ons and they all have pros and cons. This one's a good all-rounder
		SponsorBlock for YouTube	Easily skip YouTube video sponsors. When you visit a YouTube video, the extension will check the database for reported sponsors and automatically skip known sponsors. You can also report sponsors in videos.
		Tree Style Tab	Show tabs like a tree.	I disable animation effects and turn off Tree Behaviour > "When a new tree appears, collapse others automatically" and "When a tab gets focus, expand its tree and collapse others automatically"
		WebMail Ad blocker	Remove advertising clutter from web-based email. Expand viewable area by blocking and removing ads on the right-hand side of the screen when using Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo Mail.
		Link Status Redux	Shows an indicator on a popup panel next to the link address when the mouse cursor is over a link to a page you have bookmarked or visited before, or if the link is currently open in a browser tab.
		Linkificator	Converts text links into clickable hyperlinks	Handy for forums that don't allow proper links	Recommend setting this to On Demand, as it can slow down browsing and isn't often required.
		Reddit Enhancement Suite
		Custom Top Sort for Reddit	Allow Reddit's top sort to use other time durations than the default ones.
		Redirector	Automatically redirects to user-defined urls on certain pages
✅		Old Reddit Redirect	Redirects all reddit links to the old Reddit
✅		Don't track me Google	Google Search results are converted to an ugly link upon click. This link enables tracking for Google. This addon removes Google's link-conversion/tracking feature. This speeds up loading search results and allows you to normally copy links.
		LibRedirect	Redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and more to privacy friendly alternatives.	This is a bit hit and miss for me, but if you're hardcore about privacy it's worth trying
		Auto Tab Discard	Increase browser speed and reduce memory load and when you have numerous open tabs.
		Jump Cutter	Skips silent parts in videos, in real time.
		Multi-Account Containers	Allows you to assign sites to always open in specific containers. Why is this not built-in!?

👍 Recommended uBlock filters

View your uBlock filters here

Filter (click to subscribe directly)	Description	Raw URL
© uBlock Origin Dev Filter	Filters to block and remove copycat-websites from DuckDuckGo, Google and other search engines. Used to be specific to dev websites like StackOverflow or GitHub, but it currently supports others like Wikipedia.	https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quenhus/uBlock-Origin-dev-filter/main/dist/all_search_engines/all.txt
🍪EasyList Cookie	gets rid of cookie alerts/popups. Also saves having to install other addons (like "I don't care about cookies")	https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-cookiemonster.txt
📚Bypass Paywalls Clean	Replaces the BPC addon that has been taken down	https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-clean-filters/-/raw/main/bpc-paywall-filter.txt
[➗Legitimate URL Shortener](https://subscribe.adblockplus.org/?location=https://gitlab.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/-/raw/master/LegitimateURLShortener.txt	Removes junk and tracking parameters from URLs. Gets rid of Google AMP links, UTM parameters etc.	https://gitlab.com/DandelionSprout/adfilt/-/raw/master/LegitimateURLShortener.txt
📱 Fanboy's Mobile Notifications list	Gets rid of "Open in App" annoyances	https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-mobile-notifications.txt

🚮 Unnecessary Add-ons / Extensions

⚠ These extensions are either superseded, outdated, redundant, obsolete or even malicious - yet they're still being recommended online (even by Mozilla themselves!). Fake news! ⚠

Extension/Addon	Reason
Absolute Enable Right Click & Copy	You can bypass right-clicking restrictions by using Shift+Right Click
Adblocker Ultimate / adblock / adblock plus / AdGuard AdBlocker / AdNauseum / AdBlocker for Youtube (or any non-uBlock Origin ad blocker)	uBlock Origin is king.
Allow Right-Click	You can bypass right-clicking restrictions by using Shift+Right Click
au-revoir-utm	Use uBlock Origin with Legitimate URL Shortener filter list
Behind The Overlay / Behind The Overlay Revival	uBlock Origin's annoyances filter list sorts out most sites, otherwise you can use the uBlock Origin zapper
Bypass Paywalls Clean	This has been recently removed from the Addons store. You can use uBlock with the BPC filter above to replicate most functionality
DontBugMe	No longer works
Bypass Twitter login	Deprecated by author
Cookie AutoDelete	This functionality is built-in to Firefox
CanvasBlocker / Smart Referrer	Obsolete due to privacy.resistFingerprinting being enabled and hardening XOriginPolicy (among other such changes)
Clear Cache	You can do this manually or even use Ctrl+F5 (or developer tools) to disable cache when loading a page
Clear Browsing Data	Only useful if you need a button instead of going through about:preferences#privacy
ClearURLs	uBlock Origin can do this especially when you enable Adguard URL tracking protection filter in ublock Origin and subscribe to DandelionSprout's Legitimate URL Shortener
Consent-O-Matic	For most situations, using uBlock Origin with the EasyList Cookies filter will do the same thing
Clear Browsing Data	Only useful if you need to constantly and easily delete your browsing data. Otherwise, just do this within Firefox
Cycle Last Used Tabs	Enable Firefox's native Ctrl+Tab MRU option instead
Custom Titlebar Text	No longer actively developed. Intended functionality has been superseded by KeePassXC-Browser add-on and KeePassXC software.
Decentraleyes	Discontinued, superseded by LocalCDN
Disable JavaScript	uBlock Origin can do this
Disconnect	use uBlock Origin instead
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials	uBlock Origin covers most of its feature set
Enhancer for YouTube	Firefox can block autoplay, and uBlock blocks YouTube ads
FastForward	uBlock Origin can do this using the uBlock Filters - Annoyances and AdGuard Annoyances lists
Firefox Translations	Feature has been integrated into Firefox
FoxClocks	On Windows at least, you can natively add 2 additional clocks/timezones
Emoji addons	Most OSes can insert emojis natively, eg Win + . opens the emoji panel on Win10 and newer
Facebook Container	"The containers feature was introduced before ETP started isolating third-party cookies and site data by default. You only need to use containers now if you want to do things like logging in to multiple accounts on the same site at the same time."
Full Web Page Screenshots (FireShot)	The built-in screenshot tool should cover this
GIPHY for Firefox	Most web platforms (or keyboard apps on mobile) have ways to insert GIFs. For example, Facebook Messenger and Outlook/Hotmail can do this
Ghostery	uBlock Origin is more powerful and is open source unlike Ghostery. More reasons here
History Cleaner	You can likely achieve the same functionality using Ctrl+Shift+H (Show all history) and going from there
Honey	Use at your own discretion. Note the warnings about privacy "Beware: Honey invites users to install its custom filter list in uBO without warning how it broadly disables privacy-protecting filters in uBO; i.e. google-analytics, taboola, pixel trackers, and so on. Mind this broad undermining of privacy protection if you import Honey's list."
HTTPS Everywhere/Smart HTTPS	Firefox has a HTTPS-Only mode built-in
I don't care about cookies	This has been acquired by Avast . For most situations, using uBlock Origin with the EasyList Cookies filter will do the same thing
I Still Don't Care About Cookies	For most situations, using uBlock Origin with the EasyList Cookies filter will do the same thing
LastTab	Appears to be completely redundant
NanoDefender	Discontinued, and can conflict with uBlock Origin
Neat URL	Use uBlock Origin with Legitimate URL Shortener filter list
NoScript Security Suite	Use uBlock Origin instead
PDF print/save/edit addons/Adobe	Most OSes can save as (aka Print to) PDF. Firefox also supports basic PDF editing nowadays
PopUpOFF	uBlock Origin can do this stuff, although you may need to enable the right filters
Privacy Badger	Use uBlock Origin instead. Firefox also blocks many trackers
Remove FBclid and UTM	Use uBlock Origin with Legitimate URL Shortener filter list
Remove Link Tracking	Use uBlock Origin with Legitimate URL Shortener filter list
Tranquility Reader	Use Firefox's Reader Mode instead
YouTube downloaders	youtube-dlp is better (although it's a separate application and requires some tinkering)
Undo Close Tab	You can use Ctrl+Shift+T (or History, Recently Closed Tabs) instead
Sort Bookmarks	Appears to be redundant
Tab Session Manager	Firefox should be able to do most or all of what this does natively
Unhook: Remove YouTube Recommended Videos Comments	With minimal skills, you can achieve the same results with uBlock Origin
Simple Translate	Try Firefox Translations first
uMatrix	Archived by developer
Universal Bypass	Discontinued. Use FastForward instead
UTM Eraser	Use uBlock Origin with Legitimate URL Shortener filter list
UTM Remover	Use uBlock Origin with Legitimate URL Shortener filter list
Zoom Page WE	Probably/unlikely needed anymore

🆕 Firefox Feature Requests

Vote for and suggest new features here: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/idb-p/ideas

👀💻 Desktop Firefox feature requests/bugs worth watching

• Automatic Picture in Picture (PiP
• Prevent sites from detecting use of Dev Tools
• Make Find results easier to see
• Esc key should stop pages loading properly
• 🆕 Bookmarks: Include DAY in date column
• 🆕 Auto PiP when changing tabs/scrolling
• 🆕 Return focus to webpage from address bar after hitting Esc
• ✅ Allow Find function on addons page Due to land in v112
• Enable right click and Alt+D on Android
• 🆕 Publish a Firefox feature roadmap
• 🆕 Split-screen/view two webpages at once
• Bring back progressive web apps (PWAs)
• Native vertical tabs
• Full controls for picture in picture (PiP) windows
• Built-in dark mode for websites
• Form autofill
• Private browsing in tab instead of having to open a window
• Bring back menu icons
• Task manager
• ✅ Improved PDF Editing: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/improve-pdf-editing-functionality/idi-p/250
• Dark mode for PDF viewer: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/dark-mode-for-embedded-pdf-viewer/idi-p/4932
• ✅ "Reveal password" option like every other browser / https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1779279
• ✅ Native Windows Notifications Note: You can also set alerts.useSystemBackend to True in about:config to enable this before it goes live
• Wokwi.com performance issues compared to Chrome/Edge/Safari
• MS Teams support
• Suspend inactive tabs automatically (like Edge does)
• Make GIFs click to play
• Native QR code generator: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/include-a-qr-code-generator/idc-p/9378
• Make the library tab-based (instead of a window): https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/make-the-library-tab-based/idi-p/1162
• Print preview - scaling broken: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1711659
• JPEG-XL support
• WebRTC: tab audio sharing and facetime
• WebRTC E2EE
• WebGPU
• Site specific extensions
• Built-in translator
• Multi profiles support
• Built-in ad blocker privacy features
• Support CTAP2 (FIDO2)
• Speech Recognition API and bug
• Service Workers
• Global Media Control(s) like Chrome:

📱 Firefox for Android feature requests

• Elastic overscroll
• View page source
• In-browser printing
• Dark mode for web contents
• Enable about:config
• Pull to refresh ⬇🔄 (currently available in Firefox Nightly)
• Allow users to backup Firefox settings/data
• Allow more addons in Firefox Android
• Fission
• Multi-Account Containers
• Show protections stats (eg trackers blocked) like Brave

Tips / Tricks

The address bar/awesome bar

• Use Alt+D or Ctrl+L to focus the address bar Type '*' in the address bar to limit results to your bookmarks Type '^' in the address bar to limit results to your history Type '%' in the address bar to limit results to your open tabs

Others

• Disable sites from hijacking the right click menu (WIP)
• Force a crash using this tool:
• If you bookmark and tag a page you want to get back to, all you have to do is type * in the address (URL bar), followed by a tag, and it'll 'suggest' the sites that share that tag.
• How to highlight/select linked text or part of a table

⚙ Recommended settings

Settings that I configure from the get go

Setting	about:config	Comment
Disable suggesting well-known domains in address bar	browser.urlbar.autoFill.adaptiveHistory.enabled
Ctrl+Tab cycles through tabs in recently used order	browser.ctrlTab.sortByRecentlyUsed=true
Disable autoscrolling	general.autoScroll = false	This prevents mis-middle clicks that start scrolling the page instead of opening a tab in a new window
Open previous windows and tabs at startup
Disable "Recommend extensions as you browse"	browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.userprefs.cfr.addons = false
Disable "Recommend features as you browse"	browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.userprefs.cfr.features = false
Use your operating system settings for <your locale> to format dates, times, numbers and measurements	intl.regional_prefs.use_os_locales = true
Remove the "Inspect Accessibility Properties" context menu item	devtools.accessibility.enabled = false	Does anyone actually use this??
Prevent the Downloads panel opening every time a download finishes	browser.download.alwaysOpenPanel = false
Enable elastic overscroll effect for touchpad/touchscreen	apz.overscroll.enabled = true
Disable Pocket	extensions.pocket.enabled=false
Confirm before closing multiple tabs	browser.tabs.warnOnClose = true	Ctrl+Q and Ctrl+Shift+W close the browser without any warning or prompts. This setting re-enables the prompt that Mozilla recently turned off: https://www.ghacks.net/2021/10/28/firefox-wont-prompt-anymore-when-you-are-closing-multiple-tabs-but-there-is-an-option-to-enable-it/
Disable "Shortcuts" from address bar drop-down	browser.urlbar.suggest.topsites=false	These are the stock suggested sites https://www.userchrome.org/megabar-styling-firefox-address-bar.html
Disable Sponsored Sites from address bar	browser.urlbar.sponsoredTopSites=false
New Tab page: remove sponsored sites	browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsoredTopSites = false
Show more than 10 suggestions in address bar drop-down	browser.urlbar.maxRichResults= <a number greater than 10>
Prioritise history and bookmarks over search results in the address bar	browser.urlbar.showSearchSuggestionsFirst=false
Reject cookie banners	cookiebanners.service.mode=2	https://www.ghacks.net/2022/12/24/configure-firefox-to-reject-cookie-banners-automatically/
Reject cookie banners (private windows)	cookiebanners.service.mode.privateBrowsing=2	https://www.ghacks.net/2022/12/24/configure-firefox-to-reject-cookie-banners-automatically/
Always open previous windows and tabs	???
Disable the "Refresh Firefox" prompt	???
Disable Pocket recommendations on new tab pages	browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.section.highlights.includePocket=false```

⌨ Keyboard shortcuts

Function	Key
Re-open closed tab	Ctrl+Shift+T
Move tab along tab strip	Ctrl+Shift+PgUp/PgDn
Focus address bar	Alt+D
Focus search bar	Ctrl+K
Close tab	Ctrl+W
Dev Tools: Network Tab	Ctrl+Shift+E
Remove an address from the address bar	Shift + Delete	If an address still appears after this, go to about:support, Places database, Verify Integrity, then restart Firefox
Switch to next/previous tab	Ctr+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Go to Addons	Ctrl+Shift+A

📄 Internal pages

Page	Info	Comment
about:crashes
about:cache
about:memory
about:telemetry
about:protections		See how many social media trackers, cross-site tracking cookies, fingerprinters and cryptominers Firefox has blocked
about:performance		Useful for seeing which tabs are misbehaving and chewing up too much RAM/CPU
about:networking		I use this to view/clear the DNS cache, do a basic DNS lookup and see DNS server config

Themes

Create themes here: https://color.firefox.com/

Theme elements

How Tos

How to load a temporary extension

about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox Click Load Temporary Addon

How to record a performance issue

• TBA

How to backup/restore Firefox profile

• TBA

user.js

Use this file to set/modify preferences and about:config settings outside of the browser

Example of user.js file contents

// Dark Theme
user_pref("browser.theme.toolbar-theme", 0);

// Ctrl + Tab MRU
user_pref("browser.ctrlTab.sortByRecentlyUsed",true);

// Disable Pocket extension
user_pref("extensions.pocket.enabled", false);

// Submit crash reports
user_pref("browser.crashReports.unsubmittedCheck.autoSubmit2", true);

// F12 tools - Set Network tab first
user_pref("devtools.toolbox.selectedTool", netmonitor);
user_pref("devtools.toolbox.tabsOrder", netmonitor,inspector,webconsole,jsdebugger,styleeditor,performance,memory,storage,accessibility,application);

// Dark Theme
user_pref("extensions.activeThemeID", firefox-compact-dark@mozilla.org);

user_pref("extensions.pictureinpicture.enable_picture_in_picture_overrides", true);

// Disable Web Search Suggestions
user_pref("browser.search.suggest.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.search.suggest.enabled.private", false);

// Search region
user_pref("browser.search.region", AU); //Australia

// Stop sites preventing access to right click menu (seems to interfere with right-clicking on Google Maps etc. Use Shift+Right Click instead
// user_pref("dom.event.contextmenu.enabled", false);

// set DDG as search engine
// Not possible via user.js....

// dark mode for dev tools (f12)
user_pref("devtools.theme", dark);

// add zoom buttons to toolbar

// override the ugly Courier New monospaced font to something nicer
user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-western", Consolas);

// restore previous session

// Use OS settings for dates etc
user_pref("intl.regional_prefs.use_os_locales", true);

// allow firefox to send backlogged crash reports

// *** TBD: allow addons to run on protected/internal pages
// extensions.webextensions.restrictedDomains

// Disable accessibility services (faster)
user_pref("accessibility.force_disabled", true); 

// Enable SSO for Microsoft services
  user_pref("network.http.windows-sso.enabled", true); 

// Allow all addons to run in private mode

// Remove Inspect Accessibility Properties from right click menu
user_pref("devtools.accessibility.enabled", false);

Create a user.js file using PowerShell

# Create a user.js file and open it in Notepad
IF (test-path $env:USERPROFILE\appdata\roaming\mozilla\firefox\profiles){
$profilefolder = (ls $env:USERPROFILE\appdata\roaming\mozilla\firefox\profiles | sort lastwritetime -Descending | select -first 1 ).fullname
$configfile = new-item -Path $profilefolder -Name user.js -Type File
notepad $configfile
}