Not long ago i’ve already mentioned about privacy-hardened [Mull browser]
. Very nice Android browser, but have one serious downside: limited amount of supported addons. Yes, i like desktop convenience on the go!
To enable additional addons in mobile Firefox browser you’ll need to sideload custom addon collection tied to mozilla account. It’s astonishing fact how they like to implement overcomplicated stuff!
To create your own collection you’ll need Firefox account, but i’ll not bother to spent time on such dumb efforts.
It looks like that i found replacement for [Fenec F-Droid]
browser, for real. I’m not completely satisfied with not fully removed telemetry, shady stubs and other fishy things presented by Fennec. That is why i begin to investigate the problem and discovered [Mull browser]
. Main features of it:
DOESN’T DIAL BACK NEITHER TO GOOGLE NOR TO MOZILLA [and that’s a complete steal] based around hardened version of user.js [main FireFox configuration file] frequently updated [keeps up with original Firefox releases] mascot of Mull is rather awful [but who cares?
I think that any sane person would like to break free from dependencies of big corps and … No-no-no, no political rant will happen here today, so stay cool. It’s just a small guide on how to make your Hugo-based site to load faster and do as little external queries as possible.
Here is a classic situation when you load badly designed site. Output of [uMatrix]
plugin just for better representation.
UPDATED ON: 2023-02-21 [Fennec]
replaced by [Mull]
: no telemetry at all.
No chitter here, just plain breakdown of the most important stuff.
► WINDOWS 7 FIREWALL▼
[Outpost Firewall Pro]
◄ very advanced and lightweight firewall with host-based intrusion-prevention and anti-leak systems. Review is [here]
. BROWSERS▼
[IceWeasel]
◄ my personal choice to surf web [mozilla crap ripped off] [LibreWolf]
◄ debloated in terms of privacy Firefox with pre-installed uBlock Origin [PaleMoon]
◄ the most mozilla-independent fork of Firefox [but slowly degrading] [Tor Browser]
◄ handy to overcome geo restrictions and other artificial limitations of obsolescent governments Warning: some telemetry is present!
Right after [Windows 7 reached end of life]
in regards to non-pos esu updates i asked myself: “How can i improve security of ageing operating system?” Replacement of basic internal firewall comes back to mind in the very first place.
After some comprehensive research i ended up with [Outpost Firewall Pro]
, developed by [Agnitum]
a small Russian company, which was acquired by crappy yandex later on. Software was dismissed after purchase immediately.
Beyond time, lightweight, private, Japanese, mail client.
[DOWNLOAD]
For Android i can recommend [K-9 mail]
client. Note that everything above v5.916 contains mozilla telemetry.
Imagery by spacedrone808
BBS is acronym which stands for [Bulletin board system]
. It was a distant ancestor of modern internet. In our days of totally non-private web cultivated by google, facebook and apple and other rotten companies BBS could be a neat solution to people who value their privacy and who don’t want to feed greedy corporations with telemery data of their own. Also tech will be useful for people who would like to hide themselves from modern shitty trends and stupid brainwashing or so-called government propaganda.
Some nostalgy rant about convinience of older websites and absense of uneeded crap. Don’t you remember?
Here is some fine examples of modern sites, which try to match older web in terms of ergonomics and overall perception.
[HACKER NEWS]
[COMMAND LINE RADIO]
[PLAIN TEXT SPORTS]
[RANDOM TEXT WEBSITES]
Imagery by spacedrone808
I suppose that many of you will be interested in looking at the most important operating systems of the past. Today it is possible even withour virtual machine. You can observe vintage operating systems right in your browser. [ATARI ST]
[MACOS 7]
||| [ver II]
[MACOS 8]
[AMIGA OS]
[WINDOWS 98]
BONUS PART
[CHIPTUNE.COM]
chiptune tracker music site heavily inspired by Amiga OS Workbench v1.3. Imagery by spacedrone808
Back in a day when torrents were in a non-existing state there was amazing p2p software called Emule. Some vintage computer geeks prefer Emule over torrents even today. Most of users are located in European countries like France, Italy, Spain.
Rather unusual software for 2022, but i concur that application can be helpful in retrievement of rare and obsure stuff, which can’t be found anywhere else.
Note that official download page is not updated anymore and latest 2021 version can be acquired from [community forum]
or Githhub page
only.
UPDATED ON: 2022-04-19
Due to [heavy blockade of anonymizer services like VPN and TOR in Russia]
check out following sites, which still can be reached within Russia region.
▒ VPN SERVICES [ZOOGVPN]
[Greece] [LANTERN]
[USA] [HIGHLOAD]
[Russia] [down?] [AMNEZIA]
[Russia?] [PSIPHON]
[Canada] ◄ Site is blocked in Russia.
For you convenience i’ll provide download links of Psiphon software on [Mega.nz]
hosting: [Windows client]
[Android client]
▒ TOR RELATED STUFF Also make sure not to skip following stuff:
Take a note that ugly g 3-4 times a year changing YT API to make artificial difficulties to third-party clients like NewPipe, [FreeTube]
, FireTube. So don’t forget to update programs regularly.
I’m almost sure that you already know about excellent Android YT client [NewPipe]
. It is praised for it’s lightness, speed and freedom from YT closed source API. As you may know that in recent pursuit for profit google increased ads quantities and methods of it’s delivery.
[Previously]
i already wrote about Tor blockage in Russia and suggested to use alternative Tor relays. Continuing this topic here are some useful tools to undo most of ISP restrictions.
[GoodbyeDPI]
► passive Deep Packet Inspection blocker and active DPI circumvent utility To activate software run it in command line with administrative privileges:
goodbyeDPI.exe -1 -a If blocked sites are still don’t open or working as not intended try the following line:
UPDATED ON: 2022-03-16
Degenerative totalitarian regime in Russia just made [another pathetic attempt]
to block TOR network. In previous try they’ve blocked only TCP datagrams. And now, it looks like that they have added UDP and ICMP to banned list also.
If you experience difficulties in connecting to TOR network using bundled bridges like meek-azure, snowflake and obfs4 try these one:
159.69.156.131:9001
84.117.255.228:9001
37.120.182.1:12443
188.68.62.244:11443
50.7.178.34:443
87.174.114.28:9001
83.97.20.80:9001
80.241.214.102:443
80.
UPDATED ON: 2023-02-20
IMPROVING FIREFOX PRIVACY & SECURITY FIREFOX ADDONS [Part I]
Finally I’ve managed to finish this part of the FAQ. Note is a loooong-read, so mistakes can occur » please [report them to me]
.
One of the most distinctive features of FireFox was customization. With each new version it becomes less customizable, thanks to marketing people at mozilla corp. They do everything to make Firefox look like google chrome.
For the last 10 years Russian government [and not only Russian] had taken vector to oppress any free speech, which was so generic for internet communities of 90s. Many sites were blocked. Information portals, torrent trackers and even some news microstock sites, like [Alamy]
were banned.
In current situation i can only suggest to use [Tor Browser]
or free VPN services.
In case of TOR you trust your traffic to American special services, but doing so you can avoid contact with your local regulators.
UPDATED ON: 2023-03-14
Addons, addons, addons!! So many of them! How to choice the right one? Whom to trust to? I will help you with your findings and share my personal experience.
Rule of thumb: do not install too much addons, they will slow down your browser noticeably!
░ SECURITY ADDONS [Ublock Origin]
► an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory. Far better than famous ADblock Plus with acceptable ads.
Since Firefox v3.x the browser is capable of managing color profiles like sRGB & AdobeRGB.
When a browser doesn’t support color management or it has been badly implemented, images won’t show up right.