How to Harden Firefox Against Malware and Privacy Concerns

Web browser is a completely different entity , as it connects computer with virtual world so as to say in a way it is the communication medium for us to travel to virtual world and due to this very factor it is the most vital aspect of online syndrome , when we are surfing for internet as it can have some of the most negative effects that we can not anticipate .The fact of the matter is that the real cause of worry can have this and with this the most preferred announcements can be how to make it more secure as we know that defense is the best mechanism that we should be adhered to,

The real parameter is how to make it more safer so that when we browse the internet , our web browser should not be the gateway for some of the nasty malware or privacy concerns.As we know with increasing augmentation of paperless office and most of the job has been done online and consumers now seeing their bank account through online portal of banks and also financial transactions being done through this and to add to this , there are also concession of online transactions as compared to manual transaction and that is why most of consumers who are equipped with internet and have the knowledge about this always prefer about online transactions as with it they can gain the appropriate age with it and also concession and with it they have the time and all these can be done online and for this the importance of web browsers and also its online security and privacy is single most important factor.

It is for sure within ours favorite web browser all the factor resides and that is why it is of significant importance to protect it so that your computer does not get itself infected and you will be always assured of its security. In this article I shall envision on these vital aspects browser hardening and security. If you have Adobe flash , then you ought to make some security arrangements so that your computer remains safe as this is the most vital aspect of it as there are instances in the past when the flash infection can rake havoc in your computer and for this you must be careful for it. It is also a true fact that with flash the modern web looks good as you can not forget it and most of times you will always be with it and for this the significant factor is how to save it and let us talk about it for this now. Regardless of which web browser you have been using you should make sure to disable third party cookies in your flash player setting so that third party cookies will not be residing in your computer.

According to techsupportalert “If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 do this by going to the control panel on your computer. Then go to the subsection for “System and Security”. If you are running Windows XP you should go to the control panel and make sure that it is set to “Classic View”. At this point you should see the icon for “Flash Player”. Open it. Under the Storage tab make sure the option to “Block all sites from storing information on this computer” is selected. Also, under the Advanced tab make sure that the option to “Allow Adobe to install updates” is selected.”

This is clear that with it you can prevent the third party cookies to be installed on your computer and also make your computer more secure and subsequently I shall be talking about browser specific Adobe Flash super cookie blocking . The second most important factor is Java and its plug in with browsers and for this you also need to know that Java plug in now-a-days is not needed for the browser to work efficiently and for this if your browser have Java plug in installed then it is advisable to uninstall it as it is not needed and also if it is with your web browser , also keep it in mind that if any other plug in seems to you that you are not using it then it is advisable to uninstall it as these can be the gateway for malware infection and other nasty internet objects.

There are always many article which says that use a privacy focused search engines , but definitely I do not recognize this fear syndrome. Google is the giant in search engine and it is due to Google , you are now making the web more easier and it is for sure that your privacy will be used if so then it is for your for your better search results that will be nearer to your search ambitions so what is bad about it. It is for sure that when you search with Google , it is like opening a new bank account and it is for sure that your know your banker know the details about you, so you should not be sad by it that Google knows about you , it is for sure that due to this your search will be more customized and let us take for an example , one year back you have searched Google extensively and got a good result and find a rare website that is indeed suited for you what you have searched for , but after some time you have lost that website and could not find that one , and you are extremely disappointing with it and also felt like you have lost something and this seems to be a bad to worse for you as you desperately want to find that website , now you are searching with Google , and Google suggests that website and you are surprised , happy and this has been done due to the fact that Google has tracked you and also suggests you and you should be dead sure of the fact that , of all the searches that has been done is tailor made for you and that is why you need not be worry about it.

If you are using Firefox, Comodo IceDragon, Pale Moon, and Waterfox (which is only for 64 bit systems) as Firefox variants , it is for sure you must be reading this so that you will be more and more concern about your computer security and you will soon know how your favorite websites are performing and how they are tracking you for many reasons and this is why you must be concerned about this and you should go about for perfect online security.

One fine aspect of this is for sure is that , after installing all these and performing the perfect security you will able to find and feel that your web browsing is becoming faster day by day. If you have Comodo Ice Dragon then it is for sure to opt for Comodo Secure DNS as it is a good DNS server which can block certain dangerous site to appear on your web browser , and at time it performs better that excellent Google Safe browsing DNS and also it is advisable to use it as while installation of Comodo Ice Dragon , it will ask you to install DNS and you should opt for it . Any of these Firefox variants is good and it does gives more options for secure browsing and it has loads of plug in and by using these you can get more and more security for your web browsing sessions.

You can use these add-ons.

Web of Trust (WOT): With this browser add on of Firefox and its variants , you will be knowing more about website you happens to browse and it will show you green means safe, orange means in between and red means dangerous and even if you click the link it will against warn you about that site not to go there , with a caption and logo and it is for sure best as while browsing we cannot determined which web site is good or bad and to add all to this there are also options for you to rate a web site after logging into WOT and in this way you can participate in the community rating and also there are some apprehensions with it , it can have some sort of individual biases and in some cases and for this though it is not in total but it is for sure it is a community driven rating system. Still , it is reliable and very light on system resources as well as with bandwidth use and you hardly feel any slowly internet connectivity and also your browser is at the similar speed, to many extent.

Its icon appears in the major search results , G mail and thus warn you of potential dangerous risk websites and make you sure to be not to click by chance to any of such fraud website. WOT has the information of 17 million websites and it is pretty large for sure, it gives you the proper gear to stay control of website you surf . After installation , it only adds a small round icon in Firefox Address bar and showing and warning you of potentially dangerous websites. The green icon means the website is completely safe to use , the yellow color notifies that you need to be cautious , the red color means that you are about to access a dangerous site and you must not enter that site . After getting some false positives , WOT team has created an online community that are sending and checking user recommendation and with this preparation WOT is fast becoming more and more reliable to greater extent .WOT has also its own white lists , phishing site lists and black lists and they are constantly updating it for user conveniences.
Simple Adblock 1.0.8 : I would suggest to use this ad blocker instead of renowned Adblock plus ofr Firefox.

It is based on Adblock plus but it is more simple to use and easier to disable and then enable by only one click. It works seamlessly , it is light , there is no white listing or block lists, it only stops ads and make your browsing session more simple . It supports many filters and automatically configured to use for user conveniences. It has context menu to block ads of your choice by right clicking and also it has options to block flash and java. It is very effective and it works silently . It will block unwanted banner ads and flash ads.It is effective and very easy to use.

NoScript: According to No Script website “NoScript also provides the most powerful anti-XSS and anti-Clickjacking protection ever available in a browser. ” It allows Firefox to give the maximum performance and stability with higher security. It protects you from harmful scripts and dangerous website , with No Script Firefox is more safer and faster. At first you will not feel at home with it but subsequently you will like it and it can be customized and it makes your web more faster and safer and also your data costs remains low with it. It cuts out the crap comment systems like Facebook comments in some websites which takes time to load and can make your website heavier and at first while using it you will feel it that it is tricky but with due course of time the settings will be per-configured for sites you visit it regularly and for this you do not have to worry about it.It is one of the best security tool for Firefox and it is recommend for all Firefox users to use it and stay secure. This add on helps for performance improvements in slower computers and internet connectivity.It is little annoying at times and sometimes you have to do a great labor of your mind to make some specific sites into white listing but security is most important and with NoScript it just get better.

Ghostery: It is free to down load as in the case of other prescribed add ons that have been written above , it is easy to use , set it and forget and it will work for you relentlessly. According to Ghostery dot com “Ghostery™ sees the invisible web – tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons. Ghostery tracks the trackers and gives you a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in your activity. ” What it does more it gives you option to know more about companies that are trying to track you so that you can enhance your knowledge base by going through their privacy settings and other related pages and you can know how these companies are getting at you by simply clicking the links. With Ghostery you will have with your hand the entire web privacy and you can choose from the comprehensive lists which one to block and which one to spare. It is highly recommended not to use Ghost rank as it can send anonymous statistics to Ghostery about the information of trackers, scripts and ads which you are blocking as it can know your web browsing behaviors and for this it is being recommended to disable Ghost rank.

Ghostery routinely updates its library of third-party elements (advertisements, tracking pixels, widgets, etc.) Enable library auto update to stay up to date with privacy settings blocking It has white list option , cookies blocking option and apart from that ad , analytic, privacy , trackers and widgets By going through the advance option and then performance option you have the option to to delete flash and silver light cookies on exit and activate it for more security. Redirection is related to click jacking and also auto redirection can make any link to direct you to any sort of malicious website and in order to prevent all these you can go for . performance option and then activate look for and prevent redirection. Many a times Ghostery used to scan pages and this may take some seconds more to load web pages but in terms of longer web browsing it does hardened your web browser against malwares and it does load website subsequently faster. It is a privacy assurance partner for you so use it and remain worry free.

After all these precautions , it is always preferable to alert as user so that you will not ever feel the brunt of any thing that can have some sort of impact on your computer.From time to time you should clear your browsing data, the dangerous flash cookies and periodically clean your computer with a good cleaner program , I use CCleaner for this as it is always updated and constantly supported. Then with CCleaner you make sure that you clean from time to all the flash cookies, normal cookies , cache files and other related information so that your browsing session always stays worry free with it. Use virtual private network such as Hotspot shield with Adfender to hide your computer and web browsing activities.

Use Peerblock to block any unwanted IP connections and it does it effectively and it even work with your VPN connectivity with ease. If you want to learn and augment your knowledge about online privacy and also about the secure online web browsing then there is a good site that you can learn from known as Priveazy , the account creation is free as you only have to take some quizzes while opening an account with it and then you can have lot of information on online security which you as personal will gain most of it.

You can go for priveazy class room , to maximize your online privacy and safety. You can protect your account with priveazy by locking down all your account information with it and thus makes you worry free in difficult world of online world. Priveazy has the options from where you can make sure your online social and also various accounts be perfectly secure so that they will not be getting into any such prying eyes so go here to make your Facebook , Twitter , Linked in and other social accounts more and more secure to its fullest potential