Browsers For Daily Using

~anhkhoakz

From Wikipedia: Comparison of Browser Engines, there are 4 browser engines that have active status: WebKit, Blink, Gecko, and Goanna. In this blog, I'll delve into the two most popular: Gecko (Firefox-based) and Blink (Chromium-based).

Gecko Engine

Firefox, but hardened

This is my first choice when it comes to a browser for privacy. I love the Firefox browser, but I don't really like the way Mozilla develops it.

You can download Firefox on Mozilla's website. But I don't recommend it because of the download token.

You can download it from Mozilla's FTP website, by this way, you can choose any version of Firefox and download it without the token. You can decide whether the latest, extended support release, or EME-free version.

The default Mozilla Firefox will come with a large amount of telemetry and add-ons, which you don't really love to use.

For better privacy, you can config in about:config or use the user.js file, but it takes knowledge, time, and effort to review and make changes. So you will need a template to configure the browser.

There are three levels of hardening Firefox:

• Easy: Betterfox
• Medium: arkenfox
• Hard: Narsil

It depends on you to select which one is appropriate. Betterfox provides a slight change to Firefox, which doesn't affect the your experience too much.

On the other hand, Narsil provides the maximum privacy and security on Firefox, but it will change the way you use Firefox.

If you want balance, choose arkenfox, it's the gold standard for Firefox.

For comparison, you can use the PowerShell script Compare-UserJS to pick the most appropriate for yourself.

And because they're templates, they are not fit for your use case. So you'll need a user-overrides.js to have your own modifications; you can check out the documentation for this one at the Arkenfox Wiki.

LibreWolf

Home page: LibreWolf

Config file: librewolf.cfg

This project brings a mindless way to use Firefox without worrying about how to configure it. It looks like Ungoogled Chromium to Google Chrome.

But I have had some bad experiences when using it:

• It's not able to use 1Password biometrics because it lacks a code signature. But it can work well with Bitwarden or KeePassXC.
• Lacking of auto-update capacities raises a concern about security and zero-day vulnerability. But it can be fixed by using packet manager or using LibreWolf WinUpdater.

So if you want a mindless way to use Firefox, don't use 1Password, and don't need a built-in updater, LibreWolf will be the best for you.

Mullvad Browser

Home page: Mullvad Browser

Modifications: Hard facts.

Mullvad Browser is a collaboration between Mullvad VPN and the Tor Project.

This is the new one; I have not tried it yet, but it makes 0 connections in the initial. This should be a strong competitor to LibreWolf, comes with strong privacy and anti-fingerprinting features.

It has 3 extensions built-in: uBlock Origin, NoScript, and Mullvad Browser Extension. It includes auto-updates and creating new identity features.

Blink Engine

Ungoogled Chromium

Home page: ungoogled-chromium

Binary download: Latest versions

A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency

This is Chromium, so it will provide you with a bunch of extensions that will make your life easier.

It seems like this is the only browser based on chromiu, and I will recommend my friends use it. You just need to make some modifications, and it will work like Brave.

You'll have to install an extension to be able to install extensions from the Chrome Web Store.

Here are some chrome://flags I use:

• #extension-mime-request-handling: Always prompt for install
• #chrome-labs: Disabled

Brave Browser

This is the most popular browser when you know the word privacy, and choose an alternative to Google Chrome.

But it has a lot of issues and features that make me don't want to use it anymore:

• It has 7 connections when you first install it.
• They have sponsored ads on browsers.
• Brave Rewards needs a KYC account to use it.

I used the Brave browser, but I'm not happy with it anymore. Anything it provides is just a cut-off of some extensions. And if you have an extension, it will do better.

However, anything is better than Chrome, and you can have some configurations to make Brave more private.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is absolutely no such thing as the best browser for anything. It depends on you; it will only have a less bad browser. You can base your decision on my article; it is just something I gathered from the Internet. In my case, I'll recommend using Firefox hardened and Ungoogled chromium because they fit my needs. However, the ideal choice varies for each user, and the goal is to find a browser that meets their unique criteria.

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