10 Life Hacks Every Firefox User Should Know
I’ve been using Firefox as my default browser for over two decades, and during that time, I’ve learned a few things to get the most out of its many features. I’d recommend disabling some of the features enabled by default, and there are also a few simple tweaks that will significantly improve your privacy and security. Here are all the Firefox hacks I use to improve my browsing experience, so you can try them for yourself.
Make your home screen truly yours.
Firefox automatically sets your home screen as your primary screen when you open a new tab. While there’s nothing wrong with this, it does contain unnecessary advertising content that you can remove. To do this, go to Firefox’s settings by clicking the three-line icon in the upper-right corner of an open Firefox window and selecting “Preferences.” Then, click the “Home” tab in the left pane and scroll to “Firefox Home Screen Content .” Disable “Firefox Support” to remove advertising content, and remove “Shortcuts” if you prefer a cleaner look over quick links to frequently visited sites. My home screen only has Web Search enabled, which looks great with a nice wallpaper.
Use the built-in task manager.
If your Firefox is running slowly or unresponsive, you can use the built-in Task Manager to identify which tabs or extensions are causing the slowdown. This feature is also great for periodically monitoring browser performance. You can access it by clicking the three-line icon in the upper-right corner and going to More Tools > Task Manager . Alternatively, you can open Firefox and press Shift-Esc or enter about:processes in the address bar.
Once you open the Task Manager, you can use it just like the task manager on your PC or Mac. It allows you to quickly close frozen tabs, disable all extensions at once, and monitor RAM and CPU usage.
Firefox has a handy tool for taking screenshots.
In Firefox, you can open any webpage and use the built-in screenshot tool to quickly capture the current page. This is the fastest way to take a screenshot of the entire page without affecting the rest of the screen, or to capture just a small section of the webpage. Simply right-click anywhere on the webpage and select “Take Screenshot.” You’ll see both options (capture a selected portion of the page or the entire page), and you can choose one to quickly take a screenshot.
Disable unwanted AI features.
Like every other app in the world, Firefox has added AI features to the browser that I never asked for. One of them appears in the context menu, so you can easily remove it from there. Right-click any webpage and under “Request AI chatbot,” select “Remove AI chatbot” to get rid of this feature. You can also go to Firefox Preferences > General > Tabs and disable “Use AI to suggest tabs and tab group names.”
Stop Firefox from collecting data (and protect your privacy overall).
Unfortunately, Firefox collects a lot of data about your browsing habits by default, and I strongly recommend disabling this feature to improve your privacy. Go to Firefox Settings > Privacy & Security > Firefox Data Collection and disable all options in this section.
While we’re at it, let’s not leak your browsing activity online if you’re not using it. Firefox can automatically switch to a more secure HTTPS page if you accidentally open an unencrypted HTTP link (these links are mostly being phased out, but you may still stumble across them occasionally). In Firefox Preferences > Privacy & Security > HTTPS Only Mode , simply enable “Enable HTTPS-only mode in all windows.” The browser will take care of the rest.
You can also further encrypt your web traffic by enabling DNS over HTTPS , which is located below the option mentioned above. On the same page, under ” Enable DNS over HTTPS using:,” scroll down a bit and select “Enhanced Security” or “Maximum Security.” (Maximum Security is slightly stricter, but may break some websites, so I only recommend it for advanced users.) By default, Cloudflare’s DNS provider is used, but you can also use NextDNS or your own DNS server if you prefer. This feature makes it more difficult for third parties to track the websites you visit.
For even more privacy, try the advanced settings in about:config .
Don’t let websites use your location.
Lately, when I visit websites, I’m constantly bombarded with pop-ups asking for permission to send notifications, use my location, and who knows what else. Firefox makes it easy to disable most of them. Go to Firefox Preferences > Privacy & Security > Permissions . Click “Location” and select “Block new requests to access your location.” There, you can also review the available settings and enable other blockers. You can use these to block notification requests and autoplay videos. Some sites may use special tricks to bypass autoplay blockers, but it doesn’t hurt to make them work.
Install some useful extensions (but don’t overdo it).
A Firefox installation wouldn’t be complete without a few good extensions. I constantly see new, interesting extensions I want to install, but too many can slow down the browser. Therefore, it’s best to install a few good extensions and remove any unnecessary ones. To find out where to start, check out my list of the best extensions for Firefox .
Use a good ad blocker.
Using an ad blocker has many pros and cons, but these days, it’s a recommended tool for both protecting your privacy and preventing fraud. A good ad blocker will remove unwanted junk from webpages, block trackers, and speed up your browsing. I’ve been using uBlock Origin for ten years, and it’s still the one I recommend most to anyone who asks. After installing the extension, you should configure a few additional settings to get the most out of uBlock Origin .
It is recommended to use vertical tabs.
This is a somewhat controversial opinion, but it’s one I agree with, so here it is: vertical tabs are better than horizontal ones. I really like my browser window to take up as much space as possible, and using horizontal tabs goes against that idea. After switching to vertical tabs, my browser window looks much cleaner. On a Mac, I still use horizontal tabs, but that’s because I keep the dock on the left side of the screen. However, on my Windows PC, vertical tabs look much better. If you want to try switching to vertical tabs, go to Firefox Preferences > General > Browser Layout . Select “Vertical Tabs” and enjoy.
Try Firefox Labs to see what the future holds.
No, this isn’t time-travel advice. Firefox Labs is where the browser releases experimental new features before making them generally available (or canceling them). If you don’t mind being a guinea pig, Firefox Labs is your chance to try out these experimental features without downloading the full beta version of the browser. You can enable these features by going to Firefox Settings > Firefox Labs .