kill9/guides/firefox/spyware.md

Remove Firefox spyware

Firefox is a great browser (Not to say the best), nevertheless it has some spyware feature. But they can be removed:

I assume you are using GNU/Linux BTW.

By doing this guide you'll lose everything you've installed on firefox (Bookmarks, extensions, history...)

Go to ~/.mozilla/firefox You'll find some .default folders. One contains a "times.json" file and the other is full of shit. Delete every content on the folder full of shit

create a file called user.js and put this:

user_pref("network.connectivity-service.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "about:blank");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.newtab.preload", false);
user_pref("browser.search.geoip.url", "");
user_pref("app.update.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.update.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.update.auto", false);
user_pref("extensions.update.autoUpdateDefault", false);
user_pref("app.update.service.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.update.staging.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.update.silent", false);
user_pref("extensions.getAddons.cache.enabled", false);
user_pref("lightweightThemes.update.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.search.update", false);
user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.flash.subprocess.crashreporter.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.reportCrashURL", false);
user_pref("extensions.getAddons.showPane", false);
user_pref("extensions.webservice.discoverURL", "");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.unified", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.server", "data:,");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.cachedClientID", "");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.firstShutdownPing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.hybridContent.enabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled", false);
user_pref("breakpad.reportURL", "");
user_pref("browser.tabs.crashReporting.sendReport", false);
user_pref("browser.crashReports.unsubmittedCheck.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.crashReports.unsubmittedCheck.autoSubmit", false);
user_pref("browser.crashReports.unsubmittedCheck.autoSubmit2", false);
user_pref("browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl", "data:,");
user_pref("browser.chrome.errorReporter.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.chrome.errorReporter.submitUrl", "");
user_pref("extensions.blocklist.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.blocklist.url", "");
user_pref("services.blocklist.update_enabled", false);
user_pref("services.blocklist.onecrl.collection", "");
user_pref("services.blocklist.addons.collection", "");
user_pref("services.blocklist.plugins.collection", "");
user_pref("services.blocklist.gfx.collection", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_potentially_unwanted", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_uncommon", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_dangerous", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_dangerous_host", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.updateURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.gethashURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.updateURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.gethashURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.url", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.reportPhishURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportMalwareMistakeURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportPhishMistakeURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportMalwareMistakeURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.reportPhishMistakeURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.allowOverride", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.dataSharing.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.google4.dataSharingURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.blockedURIs.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.mozilla.gethashURL", "");
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.provider.mozilla.updateURL", "");
user_pref("network.allow-experiments", false);
user_pref("app.normandy.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.normandy.api_url", "");
user_pref("app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled", false);
user_pref("shield.savant.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.systemAddon.update.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.systemAddon.update.url", "");
user_pref("browser.ping-centre.telemetry", false);
user_pref("extensions.pocket.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.library.activity-stream.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.screenshots.disabled", true);
user_pref("extensions.screenshots.upload-disabled", true);
user_pref("browser.onboarding.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.formautofill.addresses.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.formautofill.available", "off");
user_pref("extensions.formautofill.creditCards.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.formautofill.heuristics.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.webcompat-reporter.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false);
user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetch", true);
user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetchFromHTTPS", true);
user_pref("network.predictor.enabled", false);
user_pref("captivedetect.canonicalURL", "");
user_pref("network.captive-portal-service.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.send_pings", false);
user_pref("browser.send_pings.require_same_host", true);
user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.ms-windows-store", false);
user_pref("network.predictor.enable-prefetch", false);
user_pref("network.trr.mode", 0);
user_pref("network.trr.bootstrapAddress", "");
user_pref("network.trr.uri", "");
user_pref("network.file.disable_unc_paths", true);
user_pref("browser.search.suggest.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.suggest.searches", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.userMadeSearchSuggestionsChoice", true);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.usepreloadedtopurls.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.speculativeConnect.enabled", false);
user_pref("security.ssl.errorReporting.automatic", false);
user_pref("security.ssl.errorReporting.enabled", false);
user_pref("security.ssl.errorReporting.url", "");
user_pref("dom.push.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.push.connection.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.push.serverURL", "");
user_pref("dom.push.userAgentID", "");
user_pref("beacon.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.uitour.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.uitour.url", "");
user_pref("permissions.manager.defaultsUrl", "");
user_pref("webchannel.allowObject.urlWhitelist", "");
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "ignore");
user_pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url", "");
user_pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url.additional", "");
user_pref("startup.homepage_override_url", "");
user_pref("media.gmp-gmpopenh264.autoupdate", false);
user_pref("browser.shell.shortcutFavicons", false);
user_pref("media.gmp-eme-adobe.autoupdate", false);
user_pref("media.gmp-manager.url", "data:text/plain,");
user_pref("media.gmp-manager.url.override", "data:text/plain,");
user_pref("media.gmp-manager.updateEnabled", false);
user_pref("media.gmp-widevinecdm.autoupdate", false);
user_pref("devtools.webide.autoinstallADBHelper", false);

Save the file and oper firefox. There you go.