Firefox extensions and settings for 2025

Kaushik Gopal has a good post on How to Firefox. Basically on Firefox you can still get real uBlock Origin, not the Lite extension. More on how uBlock Origin works best on Firefox by Raymond Hill. That post also has some good info on extensions to change the appearance.

I have a few more Firefox extensions and settings that I also use. This list has gone through some churn since I last did a post like this, so here’s a new version.

• ClearURLs For me, this one is mainly useful as part of fixing Google Search, but it strips out tracking codes and tracking redirects from links without breaking anything legit that I use. (A Firefox recommended extension)

• Copy Selection as Markdown. A time saver for blogging. Adds two options to the context menu: copy title and URL as Markdown if you don’t have anything selected, and copy selection as Markdown if you do.

• udm14 is another key part of fixing Google Search. Makes searches run without AI and growth hacking crap at the top of the results page by default.

• LeechBlock NG is a full-featured extension to limit the time spent on time-suck sites, but I mainly use it to make sure I’m not opening certain sites in my normal browser profile at all.

• NJS. Minimal JavaScript disable/enable button that remembers the setting by site and defaults to “on”. (This often shows how the PHP giveth, and the JavaScript taketh away. Often the useful content or functionality of the site is provided server-side, while the JS handles growth hacking and distraction.

• Personal Blocklist is surprisingly handy for removing domains that are heavy on SEO but weak on actual information from search results. (also part of fixing Google Search)

• Privacy Badger (Updated 7 Sep 2025) Simpler than a full-service ad blocker like uBlock Origin, but doesn’t cover the biggest mainstream problem, which is the malvertising in Google Search. I use this along with some other configuration to protect myself from any accidental search ad clicks: Search malvertising protection using enterprise policies

• RECAP automatically copies any legal documents I buy on PACER to CourtListener’s RECAP Archive. The best part is that PACER fees under a certain amount (currenly $30) are waived, so I can help populate the archive with documents on cases of public interest without actually getting a PACER bill.

• RSS Preview. Restores the missing RSS button to the browser address bar, and provides an in-browser preview. Many sites just leave the full-text RSS feeds, that came with their CMS, turned on.

• SingleFile turns a complicated page into one HTML file (with data: URLs for the images). Useful for quickly archiving a certain page as it appeared on a certain date.

• Snooze Tabs will make a browser tab go away for a while (a day, a week, or a month) and then come back. (Maybe I just have my privacy settings blocking the retargeted ads so I need a different way to remind myself if I was in the middle of shopping for something.)

• Unpaywall adds a link to journal article pages if a free download is available. (Article authors are generally happy to send out PDF preprints by email if you ask nicely, too.)

Extensions I’m currently not using but want to

• Firefox Multi-Account Containers is promising, but for now I’m using separate browser profiles.

Extensions that are no longer needed

• Cookie AutoDelete. Similar to the old “Self-Destructing Cookies”. Cleans up cookies after leaving a site. Was useful, but Firefox Total Cookie Protection already handles this. (via 4.1 Extensions · arkenfox/user.js Wiki) More info: What is Total Cookie Protection?

Must-do settings

Currently Mozilla management is on another ads in the browser kick, and it’s important to turn all that stuff off. Yes, they do ads in the browser every so often, but this time they’re (1) working with Meta and (2) this version of in-browser ads is particularly risky. The good news is that every time they try ad features in the browser they eventually get over it, so hopefully by the next time I do a Firefox extensions list I won’t have to cover this.

Bonus links

Nobody clicks past Google’s AI Overviews by David Gerard. Pew Research tracked browser usage for 600 people during March 2025. Pew didn’t just ask questions, they measured on the test subjects’ devices. When a search result has an AI overview, only 1% of searchers click on any of the supposed links to the original sources next to the overview. 99% just go right on past. (Related: Google’s AI Is Destroying Search, the Internet, and Your Brain by Emanuel Maiberg)

What Does a Post-Google Internet Look Like In March 2024 Google moved to embed LLM answers in their search results….As expected, websites across the internet saw a drop in traffic from Google. You started to see a flood of smaller websites launch panic membership programs, sell off their sites, etc. It became clear that Google has decided to abandon the previous concept of how internet search worked, likely in the face of what it considers to be an existential threat from OpenAI. Maybe the plan was always to bring the entire search process in-house, maybe not, but OpenAI and its rise to fame seems to have forced Google’s hand in this space.

The New Troll Diet We should understand that applying consequences to a harasser (bans, warnings, condemnation) is likely to cause an outburst of the unwanted behavior. This is unavoidable. However, it is a fatal mistake to cede to a behavioral outburst. If consequences are taken back, then the outburst becomes the new default level of harassment.