From the Advanced category, choose the Update tab and make sure all the automatic update boxes are checked. This will make sure the browser, all add-ons and search engines are fully updated. You should check the “automatically download and install the update” option to make sure this is seamless.
From the Advanced category, click on the General tab and make sure your browser defaults are properly set. Some malicious programs change browser start-up defaults without your knowledge so we recommend that you always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup.
You should also submit crash reports to Mozilla to help fix crashes that may lead to securitiy problems.
From the Tools menu, select Clear Recent History. This opens a second window with checkboxes to let you decide what to clear from the browser’s history. You can decide to wipe browsing and download history, cookies, cache, active logins or site preferences. This screen also allows you to set a time range to clear history.
Mozilla Firefox contains a useful privacy feature to Clear Recent History. This option will remove potentially sensitive information from the web browser. (See next screen).
Once you click the Advanced button, a second window opens to allow you to disable specific JavaScript features. We recommend disabling all of the options displayed in this dialog.
The Content category contains an option to block annoying pop-up windows. Be sure to check that box. From this screen, you can disable specific JavaScript features by clicking on the Advanced button. (See next screen)
From the Security tab, you can set up alerts for signs of malicious activity. Check the boxes for a warning when sites try to install add-ons and for blocking phishing and attack sites.
You will then see an Options window that has a Category row at the top and the features for that category below. The first category of interest is the General category. Select the option Always ask me where to save files. This will make it more obvious when a web page attempts to save a file to your computer.
To get started with these configuration changes, open Firefox and select Tools, then Options.
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. Some menu options may vary between versions of Firefox, so you should adapt the steps below as appropriate.
In some cases, these configuration settings may interfere with normal usage of some applications.
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