If Firefox is your main Internet browser and you want to further increase your privacy protection you can now enable automatic URL tracker protection. URL tracker protection in Firefox is disabled by default but can easily be enabled to help prevent certain trackers from following you around the Internet and collecting your data.
Related: How to make the Firefox tab bar smaller. Change the Firefox Proton tab bar size.
Firefox is pretty much the only Internet browser, with the exception of TOR Browser that puts user privacy and security above everything else. While there are certainly still plenty of areas in which they can improve none of the other browsers on the market (even Brave) can’t attest to Firefox's independence and privacy standards.
Although Firefox is pretty good by default, there are still some things you can do to improve privacy protection even further. By default, these features are disabled as they occasionally cause issues with some websites but if you don’t mind doing a little experimenting and aren’t afraid of some websites displaying differently it’s worth making some changes.
As websites get more and more data-hungry, trying to learn more and more about users it's worth enabling “Privacy query stripping”. This feature helps remove any sneakily added content that allows websites to track where and what you are doing online. By default, this only works when you are using Strict Privacy mode and doesn't have an effect when using the default tracking protection setup. It also automatically becomes active in Private Browsing windows.
How to remove trackers from URLs in Firefox.
To start using tracking removal in Firefox you will need to do the following.
- First, open Firefox on your computer and make sure you have version 102 or newer. If want to check for updates just press Alt on your keyboard then click Help > About Firefox. Firefox will then check for and install any updates that are available.
- Now that you are using the right version of Firefox, open a New Tab and type about:config into the address bar and press Enter.
- Accept the warning prompt, the use the search box to search
privacy.query_stripping.enabled
- When you see the option appear, double-click on false (off) to change the value to true (on)
Remember! You need to enable Strict Privacy Mode as well.
If you haven’t already changed from Standard privacy settings to Strict, you’ll also need to do that.
- Open Firefox, copy and paste about:preferences#privacy into the address bar and press Enter.
- Now change the setting from Standard to Strict. Once you have made the change Restart Firefox and the change will take effect.
Just remember that this option may cause some websites to have issues. As always there is a trade-off between privacy and usability. Some websites are designed to break when privacy protections are enabled. This makes it more likely that you will visit them without any protections enabled. I personally just stop using websites that employ these kinds of practices. However, you can just switch back to standard protection if you encounter a ton of problems on important websites. If you’re looking for more Firefox guides you can check them out here.
