I thought it would be helpful for all the good people of Lemmy World if we shared our browser setups.
I’m mostly a laptop user when it comes to the Internet. I’ve been using Firefox with the Ublock Origin addon and it makes browsing the web so much less ad filled.
For youtube specifically I’ve had the best results with Chrome and an extension called Clear Skies for ad skipping.
Share you own browser setup. What do you use to surf the wild waves of the web to avoid the sharks and the sharp rocks?
Kiwi browser (Brave & Firefox on desktop) with: uBlock Origin, Sponsorblock, DeArrow (fights YouTube clickbait thumbs & titles, same dev team as Sponsorblock), Violentmonkey with a few scripts: Google Shut Up, Search cookie auto reject
I came here to post this same setup. uBlock is a classic and trusted name. The people behind SponsorBlock and DeArrow are doing the Lord’s work. I can’t imagine life without these addins.
Firefox with Ghostery add-on, mostly because its built-in cookie-nag blocker. Also use Bitwarden and Dark Reader. Pretty much the same setup on both desktop and mobile.
Desktop: Firefox + uBlock + SponsorBlock (for youtube) + Consent-O-Matic + Tampermonkey w/ YouTube HD script (force 1080p resolution)
Mobile: Fennec (Firefox fork) + uBlock + Consent-O-Matic, for youtube I’m using NewPipe with Sponsorblock
Android: Fennec Fdroid with ublock origin Works like a charm
Firefox with the Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger add-ons. I also run Adguard Home on my home network, which I think helps a bit.
This, plus Consent-o-matic. I run Diversion instead of AdBlock Home, though
Too bad there’s no Concent-o-matic for Firefox Android. I’ll definitely give it a try on desktop.
Safari with 1Blocker, Adblock Pro, AdGuard, Consent-o-matic, Ghostery, and Vinegar
Ghostery is extremely shady and should not be used. Also piling up adblockers is really bad, use one and that should be enough.
Look at badness enumeration to understand that reasoning.
What is shady about Ghostery?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Criticism
They tracked users by sending every domain to their servers even though using dumb badness enumeration (possible via a quickly updated local blocklist).
Mobile and Laptop: Brave
Just Firefox/Librewolf with uBlock Origin is enough. The more extensions you add, the larger the attack surface and chance of site breakage. A common mistake many do is to add multiple blockers on top of uBO which will decrease uBO’s ability to defuse various anti-adblocks. This also includes addons like Privacy Badger, Ghostery, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, etc. uBO have good enough privacy protection enabled by default. If you want more, enable some other privacy filter lists. And if you know what you’re doing, enable hard mode by blocking all 3rd party requests and JavaScript.
If you want to feel more secure when adding more extensions to your browser, then only use Firefox addons that are recommended by Mozilla. Those extensions have gone through a review process to make sure they don’t contain anything malicious.
If you’re like me and don’t care about recommendations and being able to comment, then use Freetube with sponsorblock enabled.
NoScript is missing a lot here. Ublock doesnt really block much tracking, you need to break every site by default and then allow javascript only from trusted origins. This is the opposite of UBlocks badness enumeration, it is manual work and is waaaay more secure and private.
No Browser without noscript to block everything by default, manually allowing all trusted sites, is private. Ublock may allow this but the UI is too slow to use it generally
There only is a lack of a database or something to share such a config. I use it for years so my noscript list is quite big
FF and uBO have been mentioned many times already, so I’ll say use encrypted DNS with blocking on your browser like Mullvad, Aha Blitz, or ControlD.
Phone: firefox android with ublock origin, darkreader, privacy badger, ruffle, and search by image
Laptop: firefox linux with ublock origin, darkreader, privacy badger, ruffle, search by image, multi-account containers, and flagfoxThis is the way
Firefox mobile works with Jerboa too for web containers
I didn’t think the account containers worked on mobile
I recommend Mull and Librewolf for the respective platforms. They are way more private.
Flagfox should not be used, it sends every site you visit to random servers of theirs, which is basically really invasive tracking.
Daily Driver - Vivaldi with any applicable EFF plugins and custom settings aimed at security and privacy.
2nd Daily Driver (usually on a separate screen) - Firefox configured with any applicable EFF plugins and settings put at the most restrictive and forgetful to facilitate privacy and security.
Mobile - Literally the same as above to the extent i have the ability to ^^
Why would you have 2 daily drivers?
Tracking mostly. If i need to visit a site that i want to know the absolute minimum about me or my accounts, i use Firefox. Vivaldi is secured well, but I’m logged in to various accounts for convenience there. I have a 3 monitor set up so it’s easy to just have it open on a separate screen.
Just switch user agents
How do you mean?
A user agent is a string it sends the website you’re connecting to so it can know what rendering engine you have and which browser you use and so on. But, the dark side of user agents is that websites can use this to track you. So, if you don’t want them to do so you can change it either manually or by using a browser extension. I recommend you to make your user agent look like chrome’s, as this is the most popular browser and you will not be tracked as easily.
I don’t know… Sounds like I’d have to trust another extension to do the user agent stuff in the background… I’m sure that’s a solid solution for a lot of use cases, but i might just keep my method for now.
If the extension is FOSS then you can trust it.
Instead of forget everything I recommend to keep session and create cookie exceptions for selected sites. So you will stay logged in there and have a normally working browser, that is just as private
Good advice, but for how i have my workflow set up, it makes more sense for me to have it set on full amnesia. Vivaldi is what i use if i need persistence.
You can use profiles if you want different use cases. I dont think “increased attack surface” is the biggest problem, but you have 2 browsers that are both updated, take up RAM etc.
You could just use different Firefox profiles, using a custom desktop entry with actions and one action for every profile, example:
desktop entry
[Desktop Entry] Name=Firefox Comment=Web Browser GenericName=Web Browser Exec=firefox %u Type=Application Icon=firefox Categories=Network;WebBrowser; MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https; Actions=Private;Work;PrivateWindow;Insecure [Desktop Action Private] Name=Open Private Profile Exec=firefox -p private %u [Desktop Action Work] Name=Open Work Profile Exec=firefox -p work %u [Desktop Action PrivateWindow] Name=Open Private Window Exec=firefox -p private --private-window %u [Desktop Action Insecure] Name=Open Insecure Profile Exec=mullvad-exclude firefox -p insecure %uThis was so cool to find out, and in KDE (and likely other desktops) you can access those actions using right click.
You can also change such a workflow to do
launch app && rm -rf ~/appdirectorywhich will enforce to always delete everything without needing to trust that app. I do that for the flatpak app “Decoder” which is great but wants to save a history without an opt-out, and as I use it for password sharing (generate a QR code locally on my phone)That’s pretty neat… I’ll look in to it. Than you for the info.
Edge. I simply disable what I don’t use.
And if a site has ads that I can’t ignore, I just close that browser tab.
You really cant rely on GUI settings at all. Edge cannot be made private very likely.
Using Christitus WinUtil you can remove edge entirely, reinstall the webview afterwards its needed, replace it with Librewolf, Brave, thats basically it.
Odd that you trust Brave but not Edge.
I dont, but Brave at least has no Google and MS tracking and their own stuff seem to be possible to disable entirely via bravs:flags or a policy.
They only have Windows docs though and I use firefox with hardening, compiled myself to work with hardened_malloc
What about privacy?
Some people don’t care. This was posted in technology and the post didn’t specify privacy settings.
Librewolf with Ublock + privacy redirect
Libredirect is the updated version of privacy redirect
On mobile, I may actually be using libredirect and just misremembered the name, or I might be due for an update. Thanks
Browser: LibreWolf
Important Settings:
DoH enabled with Quad9 (Max Protection)
Container Tabs are enabled
ResistFingerprinting disabled
Search Engine: searx.be
Extensions:
Bitwarden
Dark Reader
LocalCDN
NoScript
Search by Image
uBlock Origin
Temporary ContainersDesktop (Personal):
- Browser: Brave
- Extensions used: uBlock Origin, uBlock Origin Lite, AutoplayStopper, Dark Reader, LeechBlock NG, Cookie AutoDelete, Incognito or Not, Off the Record History, Stylus, Terms of Service; Didn’t Read, Unhook, Dictionary Anywhere, Content Blocker, Highlight or Hide Search Engine Results, Indie Wiki Buddy, Uber Simple Bookmark Count, BlockTube, Enhancer for YouTube, ClearURLs, Bypass Paywalls Clean, No Opener, No Phishers, Recipe Filter, Redirect AMP to HTML, Smart HTTPS, Text Area Word-Wrap Fixer, Charcoal: Dark Mode for Messenger, Control Panel for Twitter, Office - Enable Copy and Paste, Return YouTube Dislike, SponsorBlock, and YT Playlist Length - Duration Display
Desktop (Work/School):
- Browser: Microsoft Edge
- Extensions used: Cookie AutoDelete, Dark Reader, uBlock Origin, Bypass Paywalls Clean, AutoplayStopper, Grammarly, Incognito or Not, LeechBlock NG, Off the Record History, Return YouTube Dislike, Twemoji for Chrome, Unhook, YT Playlist Length - Duration Display, uBlock Origin Lite, and Uber Simple Bookmark Count
Mobile:
- Browser: Firefox
- Extensions used: uBlock Origin and Dark Reader
