Video:Firefox Privacy Settings

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Transcript:Firefox Privacy Settings

Today we’ll review how to configure and control your privacy settings for your Mozilla Firefox web browser.

Changing your browser settings for privacy and security is easy to learn and, when properly customized, can greatly improve your browsing experience and further safeguard you from online threats.

Customize Password Settings

To start, open Firefox and click on “Tools” at the top. From here, click on “Options” at the very bottom. First, click on the “Security” tab and direct yourself to the “Passwords” section.

When you login to a website that requires a password, you can set your browser to automatically save that password and simply fill it in for you on your next visit. While convenient, this is obviously not something you want to engage if you’re using a public computer.

You can also create exceptions to your password setting or create a Master Password that can be used to guard the rest of the password-protected sites you’re using.

Customize History Settings

Now click on the middle tab for “Privacy”. You’ll want to change the top tab to “Use Custom Settings for History”, which will open up options for how you will specifically govern your privacy.

The first two boxes concern the records of which websites you’ve visited and the specific downloads you’ve made. If you’re using a public computer, you’ll probably want to uncheck these.

The next box allows you to disable or enable your search and form history. This kind of history refers to inputs you’ve previously made in fields on websites and in your toolbars. By enabling it, you can allow the fields to finish filling themselves in after typing only a few letters.

Cookie Customization

Similarly, the very bottom section entitled “Location Bar” will determine how Firefox will suggest the rest of website names when you type in a URL. Your next couple options here deals with cookies and how long you’d like to hold onto them, an important tool in controlling your internet privacy.

A cookie is actually a text file matched to the website you’re visiting that is created by your browser and saved on your Hard Drive. This text file saves your user information, which the website accesses to customize itself to you every time you return. While you may want to hold onto your normal cookies, third party cookies can be a different story.

Third Party Cookies

Third party cookies belong to the ads and other extraneous elements on the website you’re visiting, and not the domain itself. Blocking them can be helpful since advertisers can track your browsing history and other information using these cookies.

How to Automatically Delete Information

The last option Firefox gives you here is to make certain types of the information we’ve reviewed automatically delete when you close Firefox. Click on the “Settings” button on the right to customize this.

Or you can do this manually by clicking on “Tools” and then “Clear Recent History” at the bottom. Hit details and you’ll receive a similar list allowing you to delete certain types of information. This is probably the easiest way to delete your cache, or the bank of files automatically saved from webpages to your computer.

Your cache is good in that it allows web pages you’ve been to before to open faster by saving some of their information on your Hard Drive. What’s not so good is that your cache can be read by certain websites and programs to catch glimpses of your private information.

To learn more about your browser’s privacy settings and other information visit About.com’s dedicated Web Browser Pages.