I feel like there is no web browser with a sane default configuration that I can recommend to other people. All browsers are preconfigured in a way that harms the privacy of their users or include services that no one wants such as Pocket and BAT.

Here are my problems with some popular browsers.

  • Mozilla Firefox: Pocket integration, no ad-blocking without extensions.

  • Brave: Everything related to crypto. Also its start page is horrible.

  • Chromium: No ad-blocking without extensions and soon Manifest v3 will cripple all content blockers.

Now, these suboptimal defaults wouldn’t be such a big problem if the configuration files were easy to backup and restore and respected the XDG base directory specification.

  • @[email protected]
    40•1 year ago

    Just use Librewolf. It’s a fork of Firefox, with Pocket disabled, Ublock Origin preinstalled, and privacy settings enabled by default.

    • @kylian0087
      12•1 year ago

      I still like firefox. I configure it using a json file. Just load that file and the browser is configured for all users on the system.

      • @kylian0087
        2•1 year ago

        No problem. My comment was more to add some info. Perhaps i formulated it a bit odd.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•1 year ago

        I like Firefox too and I use it. But OP talks about adblocking and disabled pocket by default, so this is why I commented this.

        (Actually I don’t even use Librewolf, I have just heard of it) EDIT: I saw that OP says that configuration files are an issue, so your comment is okay.

    • Alex
      8•1 year ago

      How many people maintain LibreWolf? How closely does it track the upstream?