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Is this safe?

2 min read

This thread's last reply is from . Advice, software, and links below may be out of date — treat specific steps and download links with caution.

Post #1
On another forum someone posted this and said it helps eliminate pop ups through firefox. Is it safe?

Disclaimer: Both files in this topic are not originally made by me.

Ok, so you've got FireFox. It's a great browser in it's own right, but with a few tweaks, it can go a lot faster, and block almost every ad (and I mean non-popups too).

So first, let's go with speed. Type about:config into your address bar, and change the following values.

network.dns.disableIPv6 -> Toggle to "true"
network.http.max-connections -> Change to 128
network.http.max-connections-per-server -> Change to 48
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy -> Change to 24
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server -> Change to 12
network.http.pipelining -> Toggle to "true"
network.http.proxy.pipelining -> Toggle to "true"
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests -> Change to 30

This should give you a noticeable speed boost. Don't worry, it won't break your FireFox, and if in some miraculous event it does, you can either blame me or change it back.

Next, getting rid of ads. You'll specifically need to get 3 extensions if you don't already have them, so go to

https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/

and install CustomizeGoogle, AdBlock, and ChromEdit (look in Developer Tools for this one, the others should be on the main page).

Let's start with the easiest: CustomizeGoogle. Once it's in, go into Tools > CustomizeGoogle Options… and go through the various tabs and select the Remove Ads, and any other feature you want (it's an excellent extension).

Next, AdBlock: Download the following text file:

http://www.angelfire.com/hero/zakusage/adblock.txt

Go into Tools > Adblock > Preferences > Adblock options > Import filters. Select that text file, and say yes if there's a query. That's it! That should take care of a LOT of ads, but this pales in comparison to the next one.

Finally, ChromEdit: Download the following userContent.css file:

http://www.angelfire.com/hero/zakusage/userContent.css

Go to Tools > Edit User Files > userContent.css tab. Delete anything in there now, unless you already have a userContent.css file you want to keep. Open the userContent.css file you downloaded in your favorite plain text editor (notepad, gedit, kwrite, etc.), and copy it's contents to the text box. Then click the save button.

There is an alternative way to install the userContent.css file, but it involves going into the mozilla firefox configuration folder, and it's harder to explain. The ChromEdit does an excellent job at allowing you to edit it, so I recommend using it.

Be sure to restart FireFox once you're done. You should pretty much have no ads, and everything should load faster. Enjoy! If you have any problems, post here, and I can help you. It's very easy and very rewarding thing to do with you FireFox.

Post #2
The stuff should work, though not as it really says. It will do well in removing advertising from the pages, but it won't help those rare popups that sneak past Firefox's guard. You should back up your profile before attempting to do something like this. Your profile is usually located somewhere like C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.Profile Name That would be what you should wish to back up in case of problems with the above. That said, CustomizeGoogle and ChromEdit are items I have not used, but I am a user of Adblock and find it very useful.
Post #3
I'll probably just get Adblock then. Its not too much of problem for me. It's just alot of people on the forum were doing it. Thanks…