Step-by-Step Security Tutorial – Firefox
How to Configure Firefox to Stay (More) Secure Online: Step-by-Step
If you are interested in Tech, and visit Websites such as this one, it will not be very long before you read about Firefox. And, it won’t be long before you see NoScript mentioned. Odds are, you already have (loyal T4E readers surely have!). Safer surfing is a popular topic here.
Today, instead of simply telling you “be safer”, I have a link to a step-by-step slideshow tutorial: How to Configure Mozilla Firefox for Secure Surfing
“With assistance from the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), we’ve created this slideshow to help you configure Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser to stay secure and safeguard your privacy while surfing.”
click for slideshow
(Internet Explorer users, click here for your slideshow tutorial) 
“In this digital age, we are all connected, and each of us plays an important role in securing cyberspace.”
It Is National Cyber Security Awareness Month
So do your part. Make sure your web browser is “hardened” against online attacks.
Related: Block IFRAME For Added Protection
Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
| Share this post : |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2 Comments »
Post your Comment/Question
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
-
Say "thank you!" Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).
-
-
McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
-
Subscribe to Tech--for Everyone by EmailRecent Comments
-
-
-
-
Also:
-
-
Tech - for Everyone 
Personally, I prefer to be asked if I want to install an update to Firefox. I agree that it is important to keep all of your software updated to the latest version available, but I have had issues with specific versions of FF in the past. I like to read up on the update that is about to be installed before I make the decision to install it myself.
On the other side of that coin is the fact that I had a Trojan hidden and buried deeply on a computer recently, perhaps because I didn’t allow FF to auto-update? That may have saved me several hours of work… I can’t say one way or another how I was infected, except that I go to extraordinary lengths to protect my PC’s. I use SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, Norton AV, and ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite. I update all of those daily, and yet I allow Firefox to slide a few days unitil I am satisfied that the update is OK. I think maybe it’s time to set Firefox to TechPaul’s recommended state.
LikeLike
KsTinMan,
Actually, I had nothing to do with that slideshow (it is a joint effort of Kasperski Labs [an antivirus vendor] and the US-CERT). I merely pointed it out for my readers as a good general guide, and beginner’s how-to.
Advanced users and other Über Geeks may prefer slightly different settings and/or tactics to harden their defenses – such as your “prompt” instead of “auto” (and I can tell from your list of excellent defenses that you are an advanced user). I have to consider, though, that if you stopped 10 people in the street and asked them “what is a web browser?”, only 2 will answer you correctly.
Also, I am not at all certain having the latest version of Firefox would have prevented your Trojan, as (by definition) a Trojan is something we ourselves download (see, Download Danger – the “Trojan”). I believe it is more likely that you stumbled across one that was so new (or recently polymorphed), your antivirus did not (yet) have a ‘signature’ for, and so it did not detect it.
The Internet has become such a dangerous place, that I recommend – whenever possible – surfing with your browser (or computer) “sandboxed”, and my tool for that is Sandboxie. To read more about this great tool, please click here.
LikeLike