When you use a proxy or other tools for anonymous browsing you get a certain level of protection against the detection of your IP address, but the browser stores a lot of information about the sites you visit. Learn how to configure Firefox to increase your privacy.
Firefox has a built-in feature to clear temporary files and internet history, but this might not be enough. The problem is that this info is not actually deleted from your hard disk. There are specialized tools that are able to recover this kind of info even after drive format.
Solution?
Set your browser not to store any private data (history, passwords, etc.) at all. Since no data is stored you don’t need to delete it and no one will be able to ever see it.
For Firefox, the following components need reconfiguration: Privacy Settings and Saved Passwords. Let’s see how to configure Firefox to increase your privacy.
Privacy Settings
Browsing History
In order to make the proper settings for browsing history go to Tools menu, then Options and Privacy tab in the open window. There, you need to uncheck all boxes that enable logging of browsing history and user entered strings. Take a look below to see how the settings should look like.
The danger of the storing browsing history is that the address of every web page you visit is recorded and stored/written on your hard drive.
Cookies
Cookies are used by websites to store little data snippets in your browser. A lot of sites (almost all) leave such cookies in your browser. This a sign you have visited a certain site.
Firefox has an option to remove cookies when it’s exited. There is another option as well, to not accept cookies at all, but this is not really an option as many sites need these cookies to work properly.
In order to set up Firefox to delete your cookies when you exit you have to choose to Keep until: I close Firefox option.
Private Data
Firefox can clean up any remaining traces of data. The best option is to enable it to clear data whenever you close the browser. The only problem is that if you crash or power down without proper shutdown this procedure won’t be executed, so keep that in mind.
To set up this, check the “Always clear my private data when I close Firefox” and click on Settings.
Then, check that all the options in the window are enabled.
Saved Passwords
You have to be extra careful with saved passwords. Imagine what could happen if someone steals your PayPal password.
Only recently Firefox started use of encrypted saved passwords. The ramifications for the stolen saved passwords are immense. The best way to protect your passwords is not to save them in the browser.
To make sure no password is stored in by Firefox, go to Security tab and uncheck Remember passwords for sites.
How do you configure Firefox to increase your privacy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.