Category Archives: Software

The other day I echoed recommendations on Hardening Firefox that I got from an article by Keith Axline. Since then, however, I’ve learned two things.

First, Axline has changed his recommendations from HTTPS Everywhere to Smart HTTPS for the reasons given in this thread.

Second, I discovered that when I had Smart Referer on, I wasn’t able to use Google two-factor authentication.  Instead,  when google asked me to authenticate via my phone, I got timeouts instantly.

Disabling the Smart Referer extension temporarily (which is easy as it creates a button on the toolbar) allowed me to log in, and things seem to work fine if I re-enable Smart Referer immediately after I log in to my Gmail.  But that may be more annoyance than most people want, especially given that Google two factor authentication is more annoyance than most people want.

Make sure all of the following extensions are installed on all my computers

• Privacy Badger
• HTTPS Everywhere Smart HTTPS (for details on reason for change see this thread)
• uBlock Origin
• Decentraleyes
• CanvasBlocker
• Smart Referrer (but see this warning first)

Also use 1.1.1.1 for DNS and change default search engine to Duck Duck Go or to Startpage. Full manual DNS settings are:

 1.1.1.1
 1.0.0.1 
 2606:4700:4700::1111 
 2606:4700:4700::1001

As per A Few Simple Steps to Vastly Increase Your Privacy Online.

Note that I already have a VPN, or I’d be suggesting that too.