How to make firefox more secure

Firefox is one of the best browsers currently available for windows ( and also for linux).

It's agreed that its a lot safer than Internet Explorer where vulnerabilities are concerned, but as it's popularity has increased in recent years, so have its vulnerablilties. Although critical patches are often available through automatic updates, theres also some things you can do to increase its security.

One of the best things about firefox is the availability of add-ons ( prevously known as extensions) to add features to the browser. Along with some very useful ones, theres also some that increase the security of your web browsing experience and make FireFox more secure.

- NoScript

NoScript is an add-on which automatically blocks Javascript and Java from running on sites you visit. As its possible for someone to use hidden Javascript or Java on web sites that you surf to as a way of infecting your computer with adware, spyware,trojans or attempt to phish your password or other details. Therefore NoScript is a very good thing indeed!

You can approve known "safe" sites that you regularly use by adding them to a whitelist, this means they'll remain fully functional as before. This whitelist "guilty until proven innocent" approach dramatically increases your security online as it rules out a lot of potential vulnerabilities. It also can block Flash and other plugins, allowing them to be executed only by trusted web sites of your choice (e.g. your online bank), and provides the most powerful Anti-XSS protection available in a browser.

- Firekeeper

Firekeeper is an add-on for the Firefox browser and it aims to protect your from malicious websites which may exploit browser and code security flaws. It keeps your Internet-browsing session safe by performing as an Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP) system at the browser level.

It does so by using rules found in the open-source IDP tool Snort. Snort is an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system which, according to the snort website, “has become the de facto standard for the industry.”Features of Firekeeper include the ability to scan, detect and deny malicious webpages that you may unwittingly try to connect to. It also supports a blacklist and whitelist.

- Keyscrambler

Keyscrambler is a FireFox Add-on that protects your passwords from being detected by keyloggers (malicious programs,usually "trojans" which attempt to steal your passwords by logging keystrokes)

If you're unfortunate enough to have a keylogger on your computer, it won't see the real keystrokes you type into webpages when you're logging into email sites, etc. Instead it will only see randomly generated keystrokes.

To guard against the installation of spyware/adware, I recommend using Spywareblaster. This also blocks a lot of spyware in Internet Explorer.