I had a wild experience with this link, apparently lifehacker is SUPER focused on ads… had to use my PC to see anything about Firefox, so just in case that’s happening for anyone else, here’s the article:

I’ve been using Firefox as my default browser for over two decades now, and during this time, I’ve learned a thing or two about making the most of its many features. There are some features that are turned on by default that I would recommend turning off, and some simple tweaks you can make that will greatly enhance your privacy and security. Here are all the Firefox hacks I use to make my browsing experience better, so you can try them yourself.

Make the home screen truly yours

Firefox pushes the Firefox Home screen as the default whenever you open a new tab. There’s nothing particularly wrong about that, but it does come with some unnecessary sponsored content, which you can get rid of. To do this, go to the Firefox settings, by clicking the three-lines icon in the top-right corner of an open Firefox window window and selecting Settings. Now, click the Home tab in the left pane and scroll to Firefox Home Content. Disable Support Firefox to remove sponsored content, and toss in remove Shortcuts if you prefer a cleaner look over quick links to commonly visited sites. My home screen just has Web Search enabled, which looks good with a nice wallpaper.

Use the built-in task manager

If your Firefox is being slow or unresponsive, you can use the built-in task manager to identify which tabs or extensions are causing a slowdown. This feature is also great for periodically monitoring the browser’s performance. You can access it by clicking the three-lines icon in the top-right and navigating to More tools > Task Manager. Alternatively, you can open Firefox and press Shift-Esc, or type about:processes in the address bar.

Once the task manager is open, you can use it just as you’d use the task manager on your PC or Mac. It lets you quickly close unresponsive tabs, disable all extensions in one go, and monitor RAM and CPU usage, too.

Firefox has a handy screenshot tool

You can open any webpage in Firefox and use the built-in screenshot tool to take a quick picture of the webpage you’re on. This is the fastest way to take a full-page screenshot without throwing in the rest of your screen, or to capture just a small section of a webpage. Just right-click anywhere on a webpage and select Take Screenshot. You’ll see both options (capture a selected part of the page, or the full page), and you can pick one to take a quick screenshot.

Disable unwanted AI features

Like every other app in the world, Firefox has added AI features I never asked for to the browser. One of these appears in the context menu, so you can easily remove it from there. Right-click any webpage, and in the Ask AI Chatbot section, select Remove AI Chatbot to get rid of this feature. You can also go to Firefox settings > General > Tabs and disable Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups.

Stop Firefox’s data collection (and generally protect your privacy)

Unfortunately, Firefox collects a lot of data about your browsing habits by default, and I highly recommend disabling this to enhance your privacy. Go to Firefox settings > Privacy & Security > Firefox Data Collection, and disable every option under this section.

While you’re at it, let’s keep people who aren’t Firefox from seeing your browsing data, too. Firefox can automatically switch to a more secure HTTPS page if you accidentally open an unencrypted HTTP link (these are mostly being phased out, but you might stumble upon them every once in a while). Under Firefox settings > Privacy & Security > HTTPS-Only Mode, just toggle on Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows. The browser will handle the rest.

You can also encrypt your web traffic further by enabling DNS over HTTPS, which is below the option I just mentioned. On the same page, in the section titled Enable DNS over HTTPS using:, scroll down a bit and choose Increased Protection or Max Protection (Max Protection is a bit stricter, but can break some websites, so I only recommend it for power users). The default DNS provider is Cloudflare, but you can also use NextDNS or a custom DNS if you wish. This feature makes it harder for third-parties to see which sites you’re visiting. For even more privacy, try out advanced about:config tweaks.

Don’t let sites use your location

Whenever I visit a website these days, it feels like I’m being bombarded with permissions pop-ups asking me if they can send me notifications, use my location, and who knows what else. Firefox lets you easily disable most of these. Go to Firefox settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions. Click Location and select Block new requests to access your location. While you’re there, you can click through the available options and turn on other blocks, too. You can use these to block notification requests and autoplaying videos. Some sites may still use special tricks to bypass autoplay blocks, but it doesn’t hurt to make them work for it.

Install a few good extensions (but don’t overdo it)

A Firefox installation just isn’t complete without a few good browser extensions. I keep seeing fun new extensions I want to install, but having too many of these can slow your browser down. So, it’s best to install a few good ones and remove any redundant extensions. To know where to start, check out my list of the best Firefox extensions.

There are many pros and a few cons to using an adblocker, but it’s a recommended tool these days, both to protect your privacy and to stay safe from scams. A good ad blocker will remove unwanted junk from webpages, block trackers, and speed up browsing. I’ve been using uBlock Origin for a decade now, and it’s still the one I recommend most to everyone who asks. Once the extension is installed, you should tweak a few advanced uBlock Origin settings to make the most of it.

Consider using vertical tabs

This is a bit of a controversial take, but it works for me, so here it goes: Vertical tabs are better than horizontal ones. I really like my browser window to occupy as much space as possible, and using horizontal tabs goes against that idea. Once I made the switch to vertical tabs, my browser’s window just started looking a lot cleaner. On my Mac, I still use horizontal tabs, but that’s because I keep the dock on the left side of the screen. On my Windows PC, however, vertical tabs just look so much nicer. If you want to try making the switch, go to Firefox settings > General > Browser Layout. Pick Vertical Tabs and enjoy.

Try Firefox Labs to see what the future looks like

No, this is not a time travel tip. Firefox Labs is where the browser releases experimental new features before making them public (or canning them). If you’re fine with being a guinea pig, Firefox Labs is your chance to try these experimental features without downloading the browser’s full beta release. You can enable these features by going to Firefox settings > Firefox Labs.

Checking out readability formulas, like the Flesch‑Kincaid grade level formula, should help to clear things up a bit. But in general, a 6th grade reading level is where concrete language, moderate sentence length, and single step reasoning all align. Adding abstract vocab, multiple embedded clauses, or deep cultural references push text above a 6th grade level.

That’s just for adults, for children the data ranks the States against one another rather than giving an average illiteracy percentage like with adults. Here’s a top tier link on the topic: https://www.thinkimpact.com/literacy-statistics

Original source: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/do-adults-have-the-skills-they-need-to-thrive-in-a-changing-world_b263dc5d-en/full-report.html

Another review of the source material for good measure: https://www.crossrivertherapy.com/research/literacy-statistics

21% of the U.S. is illiterate, with 54% topping out at a 6th grade reading level. Meaning 75% of the U.S. reads at a middle school level, at best… So this clown trying to convince people he’s in the 25% of folks able to read above a 6th grade level is legitimately hilarious!

You can also establish a user block though too, so if their comments in unblocked communities are making your experience less than ideal, just block that user.

Really? Huh, I have a decent amount of communities blocked and I’ve never seen a single post from anyone of them after implementing the block

I hear that, but the thing is anyone can block whatever/whoever they feel the need to in the fediverse. I truly believe server admins should federate across the board, as it’s a disservice to end users only allowing federation with certain servers based on admin preference.

As far as UI and UX go, Lemmy’s devs are some of the biggest players in the overall fediverse functionality. So while the UI/UX could use some more attention in select areas, being able to interact with the other platforms is a much bigger aspect to the appeal of the fediverse! The Lemmy devs really do deserve a lot more credit for their work, regardless on their opinions or how the they approach discussing them.

FTFY

Piefed provides sections or slices of the fediverse and often is incorporated with mastodon, whereas Lemmy is a much bigger aspect of the overall fediverse. While everyone is entitled to their option how they approach certain topics, Lemmy’s devs have a huge impact on federation protocols, moderation norms, and general user experience across the fediverse!

It definitely has an F-Droid repo, here it is: https://fdroid.ironfoxoss.org/fdroid/repo/index.html

As someone who loves OChem and Molecular/Cellular Bio, this is right up my alley! But without knowing the specific substance being taken along with the alcohol, this can only be discussed in general terms. Alcohol, particularly ethanol, is known to have unique properties that can influence the permeability of biological membranes. When a polar substance is combined with a small amount of alcohol, it tends to enhance the solubility of that substance, potentially facilitating its absorption. Ethanol can also disrupt the lipid bilayer of cell membranes, which may allow for better penetration of polar molecules. Additionally, the absorption is typically better when these substances are submerged in a liquid rather than being dry, as hydration and solubility play crucial roles in sublingual absorption. Yet, it’s important to approach this with cautiously considering the potential impact of alcohol on the mucous membranes and overall health, especially over time.

Good call, I should have worded that better. While the government and scientists were instrumental in creating the foundation for the internet, I was thinking more along the lines of the early PC era. When the internet was more or less a tool for openly sharing and discussing information as well as ideas.

But a lot of tech stems from governmental need and/or government funding. I mean, the modern refrigerator was a result of NASA problem solving for the environmental conditions found in space! GPS, LASIK, MRI’s, LED’s, barcodes, closed captioning, and the human genome project were all also thanks to government research too!

Without Google’s grubby paws across most the web, it’d be much more like the initial intent of what the internet was supposed to be, a welcoming place with open and accessible info!

If you don’t want to pay to access a web search service, just use docker and run your own SearXNG instance! This will also allow you to host our own AI model that searches the web through SearXNG. While it may sound like a lot of work, it truly takes an afternoon and some unused RAM on your PC to make happen, then you’re set up!

Pretty sure the illustration here is just being used to demonstrate what’s taking place visually for the reader!