Comment by Grant_M@lemmy.ca on Brave browser quietly slips a VPN service onto your Windows PC

I love Firefox, used it for years. However I eventually had to switch because of weird bugs and issues with functioning sites. In my sparing personal usage I didn’t run into many issues, but using it at work I ran into really weird issues all the time.

And LibreWolf is better. It’s Firefox with all of the privacy settings preconfigured and uBlock Origin preinstalled. Also, crap like Sponsored sites and Pocket are removed.

Is LibreWolf still a version or two behind on Gecko?

AFAIK the most recent Firefox version is 118.0.2 and LibreWolf is based on that

Word. Last I had looked, they lagged a version or two behind on the base FF version. Likely just a lack of contributors or something then. Ty.

They used to lag behind, but now they caught up, so I can recommend LibreWolf to anyone without worries from a security perspective.

Waterfox is similar, though it doesn’t install additional extensions but comes with a bit of look and feel customization options instead. It restores those non-floating tabs from quantum by default and is pretty speedy.

Waterfox is more for look and feel, whereas LibreWolf makes significant privacy improvements. You can choose for yourself. Btw: You can also customize the UI on LibreWolf, just enable userChrome.css customization under Settings -> LibreWolf -> ‘Allow userChrome.css customization’. Now, you can customize everything you want.

Well yes, Wolf is a lot more focused on privacy, but it’s also a secondary goal for Waterfox. In 6.0 they enabled DNS over Oblivious HTTP (no idea what that means but you probably do) by default and incorporated yokkoffing’s Betterfox preconfig of user.js. It’s for those who are concerned about privacy but not nearly as much as the privacy community. For me, I’d rather have cookies.

they enabled DNS over Oblivious HTTP (no idea what that means but you probably do)

It’s basically the standard DNS-over-HTTPS functionality that is already present in almost every browser but routed over a special proxy server. Unfortunately though, Firefox uses Cloudflare services for this.

For me, I’d rather have cookies.

I also have LibreWolf configured to store cookies. It blocks 3rd-party cookies though.

How is Librewolf different from Mullvad browser, which is supposed to be Tor browser (hardened FF) without the Tor?

The Mullvad Browser is based on the Tor browser, but it doesn’t use the Tor network, whereas LibreWolf is based on Firefox + arkenfox user.js. LibreWolf is better for normal day-to-day browsing, where as Mullvad is meant to be used for high privacy/security tasks. Mullvad is kinda hard to daily drive, because it can’t be configured to save cookies, you can’t really use extensions and it lacks some other things. These features were removed in the Tor browser, because as I said, it’s meant for high thread model usage. Edit: I like the Mullvad browser and I use it myself, but not as my daily driver.

High threat*

Not trying to correct you at all, only for ppl’s understanding :)

Btw ty for mentioning Mulvad Browser. I liked it honestly but it’s still new, you feel me.

Thanks, just realized that this is not !privacy@lemmy.ml and people here are probably not aware of threat modeling. But in this context just the word ‘thread’ might actually fit better as the threat model pretty much stays the same.

Been very happy with Librewolf. Thought it would be another one of those softwares recommended by linux-losers but which never actually works, but it’s quite the opposite.

And the only thing greater than Firefox is Librewolf.

Or hardened Firefox, which is pretty much the same thing (I use Librewolf myself for convenience).

Firefox with good plugins is even better!

Unless browser fingerprinting is your concern, in which case the most generic, unmodified browser is best (e.g. Tor).

But that is a huge topic for another thread.

Overall you‘re right but in which world is tor generic and unmodified 😂

Simply the OS already makes that difficult, true. Nonetheless, it’s one of your best bets.

For those who truly want to stay private, installing plugins on the Tor browser is obviously a no go. Changing any setting or even the window size should not be done. Seriously.

And I’d venture that Tor on phones might be the most homogenous, though that still isn’t saying a lot, sadly. Plus, smartphones are a privacy nightmare regardless (tip of the iceberg).

In the end, fingerprinting makes true privacy very challenging. Great introduction to the topic.

And an advanced writeup with excellent resources for those who really want to get into the subject matter.

Edit: spelling

The Tor browser is a modified version of Firefox, but you are not meant to modify the Tor Browser, in order for everyone using the Tor Browser to look the same and blend in. This is done for maximum privacy and anonymity.

It’s not possible to identify you if you use the tor browser without changing the window size or any other settings, because the fingerprint is literally the same amongst everyone that uses it this way. So you kind of blend in with the masses, it’s neither generic nor unmodified, I give you that :D

Absolutely! Another really good fork of FF to check out is Floorp I’m thinking of making it my main and going steady :) https://floorp.app/en/

OMG fixed. Thank you :)

he uses this post as the sole way to access the internet. He is forever trapped here with no way out. He weeps for there are no memes to him but his condition, as he slowly falls into the pit of insanity. He is forever condemned to read about Brave browser quietly slippin VPN services, and the occasional comment. But eventually the activity will die, and he will be condemned to a lifetime of loneliness until bit-rot will consume the thread or death will free him of his pain.

Wow man, you should write a short novel

It’s like his personal version of when the sun dies for an immortal.

😆 How did I manage to do that? LMFAO

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