💾 Archived View for chirale.org › 2019-05-19_5618.gmi captured on 2024-05-12 at 15:06:58. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The default configuration of Firefox can cause a search to be performed when an url is wrong using the main bar, or auto-suggestion to be performed silently. This setting may disclose to third parties local path when mistyped.
At the end of this howto, Firefox will be back to a status where the user take back more control of searches, reducing disclosed data to external services. You can also disable the suggestions when typing.
To disable search on url bar of Firefox, first re-enable the double search bar:
Go to Settings Go to Search settings On Search Bar, select the 2 bar option
Now disable the search on the url bar:
Visit on the main bar about:config Accept to continue Search “keyword” Change the status from true to false (double click on it)
Now if you try to type a keyword, you will be redirected to the keyword.com website, e.g. boh will redirect to boh.com.
Data aren’t sent anymore to other search engines except for autocompletes, but you can disable it following next steps.
Go to about:config Search browser.urlbar.suggest.searches Set value from true to false (double click on it)
Now if you type a search on the url bar, the search will be performed on the history alone, but if you use the search bar autocomplete will works normally.
To completely disallow search suggestion on the new right searchbar:
Look for browser.search.suggest.enabled on **about:config
Note: if you wrongly type a search in the url bar, it will be autocompleted as YOUR-SEARCH.com (YOUR SEARCH + “.com”).
To disable the “.com” suffix or the “www” prefix:
Look for browser.fixup.alternate.enabled on about:config Double click on it to set false
With all these changes applied:
The url bar will look for a URL exactly as you’ve typed (except for the https / http that will be autocompleted) The search bar will perform the search on the search engine you’ve specified No silent request will be forwarded to search engines on url bar or search bar (as far as I know)