Create Custom Installations of Firefox with Firefox Profilemaker

Firefox Profilemaker is a new online tool that helps you create custom Firefox installations. To be precise, it can be used to customize Firefox profiles, for example to block telemetry, enable business policies, or configure browser functions.

All that is needed is to visit the Firefox Profilemaker website and press the Home button once the page has loaded to start the process.

The first page, Hassles, lists a good dozen settings, from disabling Pocket and Sponsored Top Sites to clipping URLs, setting up video autoplay, and new tab page content.

Press the Save Next button each time to cycle through each of the configuration pages. The next page lists the browser features, including telemetry and bug reporting, protection studies, DRM, Firefox Suggest, or Google Safebrowsing.

The Privacy page lists many options. It gives you options to configure cookie blocking behavior, disable link pre-search or features such as WebRTC or speculative loading of websites.

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The fourth page, Website Tracking, configures some of Firefox’s anti-tracking features. You can use it to disable browser pings, enable Firefox’s built-in fingerprint protection or other APIs, and features that websites can abuse.

Security lists options to disable automatic updates and checking for updates, or to disable Mozilla’s extension block list.

The add-ons page lists various add-ons that users can install in the profile. CanvasBlocker, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, and uBlock Origin are selected. Various others can be verified as well, including multiple account containers from Firefox or ClearURL.

Business Policies finally lists some policies to configure Firefox further. It can be used to disable Firefox accounts or the PDF viewer, among other things.

Firefox Profilemaker creates multiple files based on the selection.

profile.zip should be extracted to a new Firefox profile folder.
enterprise_policy.zip must be unzipped in the Firefox installation folder.
prefs.js should be placed in the Firefox profile folder.
addons.zip contains the extensions.

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Detailed instructions are provided on the Firefox Profilemaker website.

Closing words

Firefox Profilemaker is an easy-to-use web service for creating custom Firefox profiles. All options include explanations and the most difficult part of the process is copying the created files to the correct directories on your system.

The service lists fewer options than Firefox user.js projects like Arkenfox.

Firefox users should be aware that some settings may disable certain features in Firefox or on the Internet, and that some of them are checked automatically. You can’t use form autocomplete, offline cache, WebGL, WebRTC, or DNS over HTTPS, unless you uncheck them as they are all selected by default.

Inexperienced users will have a hard time undoing some of the changes after copying the files to the Firefox installation and profile folders.

Still, Firefox Profilemaker is a handy online tool for quickly customizing Firefox profiles.

Now you: Have you customized your Firefox profile? How did you do it?

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