Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

12 Commits

Folders and files

NameName
Last commit message
Last commit date
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Repository files navigation

PrivFox

A simple privacy helper for Firefox profiles.

PrivFox is not a browser. It is a small script that applies privacy-focused Firefox preferences to your local Firefox profiles by creating or updating Firefox's user.js configuration file.

PrivFox currently includes:

  • privfox.ps1 for Windows
  • privfox.sh for Linux

What PrivFox does

PrivFox helps disable or reduce:

  • Mozilla telemetry and data reporting
  • Firefox studies and experiments
  • Crash report auto-submission
  • Firefox Suggest / QuickSuggest sponsored suggestions
  • Trending/search suggestions in the address bar
  • Sponsored content on the new tab page
  • Extension recommendations

Before changing anything, PrivFox creates a backup of an existing user.js file if one is already present.

Requirements

Windows

  • Windows 10 or Windows 11
  • Mozilla Firefox installed
  • Firefox must have been opened at least once so a profile folder exists

Linux

  • A Linux distribution with Bash
  • Mozilla Firefox installed
  • Firefox must have been opened at least once so a profile folder exists

The Linux script checks these common Firefox profile locations:

  • ~/.mozilla/firefox
  • ~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox
  • ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.firefox/.mozilla/firefox

How to use

  1. Download or clone this repository.
  2. Close Firefox completely.

Windows

  1. Right-click privfox.ps1.
  2. Choose Run with PowerShell.

If Windows blocks scripts, open PowerShell in the repository folder and run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\privfox.ps1

Then start Firefox again.

Linux

  1. Open a terminal in the repository folder.
  2. Make the script executable:
chmod +x ./privfox.sh
  1. Run the script:
./privfox.sh

Then start Firefox again.

What files does it change?

Windows

PrivFox looks for Firefox profiles here:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Linux

PrivFox looks for Firefox profiles in these common locations:

~/.mozilla/firefox
~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox
~/.var/app/org.mozilla.firefox/.mozilla/firefox

For each profile, it writes:

user.js

If user.js already exists, PrivFox creates a backup first:

user.js.backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS

How to undo

Open your Firefox profile folder and either:

  • delete user.js, or
  • restore the backup file created by PrivFox.

After that, restart Firefox.

Important note

Some Firefox preferences may change, disappear, or behave differently in future Firefox versions. PrivFox is intentionally simple and transparent, so you can inspect every preference before running it.

Contact

For project-related contact:

byaldon@proton.me

Disclaimer

PrivFox is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mozilla or Firefox.

Firefox is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation.

License

This project is released under the MIT License.

About

A simple privacy helper for Firefox profiles.

Resources

Stars

0 stars

Watchers

0 watching

Forks

Releases

Contributors

Languages