How to enable enhanced tracking protection in Firefox

Firefox has a new privacy feature to block online trackers from collecting data about you when surfing the internet. Mozilla refers it as “Enhanced Tracking Protection,” and it’s a feature that allows to choose among three different levels of privacy, including standard, strict, and custom to prevent malicious and advertisement companies from collecting your activities and other valuable information using cooking and other storage mechanisms.

While the tracker blocking feature comes enabled by default using the “Standard” level that offers a balance of privacy and performance, the experience of tracking will be different depending on the option you select.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to enable and configure the tracking protection feature in Firefox for Windows 10 as well as for Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Linux, and macOS. (Microsoft Edge also includes a similar feature, which you can configure with these steps.)

• How to enable online tracking protection in Firefox
• How to customize online tracking protection in Firefox
• How to disable online tracking protection in Firefox

How to enable online tracking protection in Firefox

To change the enhanced tracking protection level in Firefox, use these steps:

1. Open Firefox.

2. Click the Settings hamburger button in the top-right corner.

3. Click on Options.

4. Click on Privacy & Security.

5. Under the “Enhanced Tracking Protection” section, select the tracking prevention level:

   

   • Standard — (default) blocks known trackers in private windows and third-party tracking cookies.
   • Strict — blocks trackers in all windows and third-party tracking cookies. However, using this option may result on some websites no to work correctly.
   • Custom — allows you to specify what to block. Also, using this option, you can disable all content blocking, including trackers, cookies, cryptominers, and fingerprints.

6. Click the Reload All Tabs button (if applicable).

7. (Optional) Click the Manage Exceptions button in the top-right corner.

8. Select the website that you allow trackers when privacy prevention is enabled.

9. Click the Save Changes button.

Once you complete the steps, you should be able to browse the web without worrying about malicious online trackers, and you should starting seeing less targeted advertisements and personalized experiences.

How to customize online tracking protection in Firefox 

To disable or customize content blocking in Firefox, use these steps:

1. Open Firefox.

2. Click the Settings hamburger button in the top-right corner.

3. Click on Options.

4. Click on Privacy & Security.

5. Under the “Enhanced Tracking Protection” section, select the Custom option.

6. Check the Cookies options.

7. Use the drop-down menu on the right and select the Cross-site and social media trackers option. However, you can also select to block cookies from unvisited websites, all third-parties, or even all cookies, but these option may break the functionality of some websites. (Advertisers most commonly use these third-party cookies to track you across multiple websites and target you with ads.)

8. Check the Tracking content option.

   

9. Use the drop-down menu on the right and select the In all windows option.

10. Check the Cryptominers option to prevent malicious individuals to invisibly mine cryptocurrency with your computer.

11. Check the Fingerprinters option to prevent websites from collecting information about your browser and device configuration, such as your OS, screen resolution, and other settings. By compiling these pieces of data, companies create a unique profile of you that can be used to track you around the web.

12. Click the Reload All Tabs button.

After you complete the steps, Firefox will start blocking harmful scripts as well as other trackers making sites load faster while protecting your privacy, but these settings can affect the web page functionality.

How to disable online tracking protection in Firefox

Firefox online tracking prevention feature comes enabled by default, but if this isn’t for you, it’s possible to disable “Enhanced Tracking Protection” with these steps:

1. Open Firefox.

2. Click the Settings hamburger button in the top-right corner.

3. Click on Options.

4. Click on Privacy & Security.

5. Under the “Enhanced Tracking Protection” section, select the Custom option.

6. Clear the Cookies option.

   

7. Clear the Tracking content option.

8. Clear the Cryptominers option.

9. Clear the Fingerprinters option.

10. Click the Reload All Tabs button (if applicable).

Once you complete the steps, enhanced tracking protection in Firefox will be disabled entirely allowing websites to track your activities.