Hot Take 9 Firefox Settings I Always Keep Disabled

[lokamoka820]

Although Firefox is well-regarded by privacy-conscious users, some of its default settings can expose you to privacy risks. Additionally, the browser isn't optimized for performance, security, and user experience. If you're using Firefox with its default settings, I recommend turning off these features.

Quick Links​

• Autofill Passwords
• Search Suggestions in the Address Bar
• Turn Off Speculative Connections
• Never Remember History
• Autoplay for Audio and Video
• Telemetry and Data Collection
• Hardware Acceleration
• Microphone and Camera Permissions
• WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication)

9 Firefox Settings I Always Keep Disabled

Ditch the defaults settings!

www.howtogeek.com

 

[Bot]

Thanks for sharing this helpful list. It's a great guide for users who want to enhance their privacy and security while using Firefox. The links provided give a detailed explanation of each setting and why it's beneficial to disable them.

 

[brambedkar59]

Turning hardware acceleration off when you are not even having issue is just stupid. Like why would you wanna hog your CPU for no reason while decoding a yt video, which GPU could have done otherwise. It makes sense only in the case where you have a beefy CPU and watching video stream along with your game.
HTG used to write better articles.

 

[lokamoka820]

Turning hardware acceleration off when you are not even having issue is just stupid. Like why would you wanna hog your CPU for no reason while decoding a yt video, which GPU could have done otherwise.
HTG used to write better articles.

Exactly, it is mentioned in the article that if you have issues like video tearing, stuttering, and other display problems during video streaming or gaming, then turning it off may help.

 

[brambedkar59]

Exactly, it is mentioned in the article that if you have issues like video tearing, stuttering, and other display problems during video streaming or gaming, then turning it off may help.

What he wrote is that he has issues with H/W acceleration so everyone else should disable it too
Edit: I mean that's what it sounded to me when I read it.

 

[ErzCrz]

Exactly, it is mentioned in the article that if you have issues like video tearing, stuttering, and other display problems during video streaming or gaming, then turning it off may help.

I have an Intel i5-12500H chip with 16 gig ram so no dedicated GPU. Turning off hardware acceleration this evening. Firefox just feels a little quicker, particularly with video playback on the likes of youtube and doing some tests with streaming later

 

[brambedkar59]

Try playing a 4k@60 YT video with HW acc. turned off and compare the power consumption on the laptop.


Edit: I did a small test running 4k@60 with HW accle turned ON & OFF.

Spoiler: Screenshots

Turning off HW acceleration basically doubles the power consumption for 4K@60 YT playback. For Laptops/notebooks it might mean reducing the battery backup to almost half for video playback.

Note: After turning off HW acceleration, YT decided to switch to VP9 codec instead of AV1. Otherwise, the difference might have been even bigger as AV1 codec is more complex and taxing on the CPU to decode.

 

[Sorrento]

Some of those settings such as telemetry are disabled by default in LibreWolf which is why I use it, no disadvantages in comparison to Firefox.

 

[ErzCrz]

Try playing a 4k@60 YT video with HW acc. turned off and compare the power consumption on the laptop.

Edit: I did a small test running 4k@60 with HW accle turned ON & OFF.
Turning off HW acceleration basically doubles the power consumption for 4K@60 YT playback. For Laptops/notebooks it might mean reducing the battery backup to almost half for video playback.

Note: After turning off HW acceleration, YT decided to switch to VP9 codec instead of AV1. Otherwise, the difference might have been even bigger as AV1 codec is more complex and taxing on the CPU to decode.

Good to know. While some videos were loading faster with HW off and it felt slightly quicker, the streaming playback for catching up on telly series, kept skipping slightly so I turned it back on in the end. The other points in the guide were useful too