Inside the brain of a Geek: Customizing your web experience in Firefox
/
As geek there are things we do that we just assume everyone does. Remember that old saying about assuming? I’m making it my goal to stop assuming and start educating. Today we are starting with our must have web browser add-ons for Firefox. What are add-ons? They are aftermarket additions that allow you to customize Firefox to fit your needs and preferences. Here are a few things add-ons can do for you: Customize appearance; translate content; block ads; display the weather; price comparison; visualize bookmarks; and increase security.
Our top Firefox add-ons:
1. AdBlock Plus. Carlos and I both agree that our number one add-on for Firefox is AdBlock Plus. With 14 million users it is the number one add-on for removing online advertising. See the before and after screenshots in the attachment pdf. http://adblockplus.org/en/
2. NoScript. Their website states that NoScript is “The best security you can get in a web browser” and we agree. This is a preemptive approach to security on the web. NoScript only allows executable content to run from websites that you choice. Run this add-on for a few days and you will be shocked by all the content executing without your knowledge. Vulnerabilities in executable are exactly what malware exploits to infect your computer.http://noscript.net/
3. Certificate Patrol. “Your browser trusts many certification authorities and intermediate sub-authorities quietly, every time you enter an HTTPS web site. This add-on reveals when certificates are updated, so you can ensure it was a legitimate change.” https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/certificate-patrol/
4. HTTPS Everywhere. “On supported parts of supported sites, HTTPS Everywhere enables the sites' HTTPS protection which can protect you against eavesdropping and tampering with the contents of the site or with the information you send to the site. Ideally, this provides some protection against an attacker learning the content of the information flowing in each direction — for instance, the text of e-mail messages you send or receive through a webmail site, the products you browse or purchase on an e-commerce site, or the particular articles you read on a reference site.” https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The attachment (PFD 3.3Mb) contains detailed instructions for finding and installed add-ons in Firefox.
Next week: I will cover add-ons in Chrome.
