Firefox is undoubtedly known for its flexibility, but at the same time, some users may consider its default settings as too relaxed in terms of privacy. While it is possible to control this aspect through the classic about:config and other parameters in its main menu, the HTTP Useragent Cleaner extension seeks to concentrate all the options in one place. The tool is powerful… assuming it can fix its interface chaos.
Every time we visit a site, the browser delivers certain information about its capabilities, including support for certain protocols, operating system data, the site we came from, and other similar details. For some users, this is part of the normal operation of any browser, but then there are those who see such behavior as a privacy flaw. A browser does not have to announce itself as Mozilla Firefox, or report screen resolution to a third party. Several extensions aim to prevent this kind of leaks, and one that was recently updated is HTTP Useragent Cleaner.
According to official information, the extension was developed in Russia, and its English translation is not the best, to say the least. The extension's main menu gives the user access to multiple parameters that can activate, deactivate or filter elements and functions in the browser. The column labeled "Current" applies changes only to the current session, while the "Hold" column makes them permanent in Firefox. The "Firefox" section presents information about configuration levels that several encryption methods have, and the last two sections of the menu are responsible for logging.
The good news is that HTTP Useragent Cleaner works. The bad news is that its interface is upside down. The first thing we must understand about the extension is that the idea of red = bad and green = good is incorrect. In one part of the menu, the relationship is red = enabled green = disabled, and in others it works the opposite way. For example: To activate the Do Not Track function, its section in "Hold" must be red, while if "Fonts" is red, it means it allows web pages to change fonts. In short: Some are filters, others are not. Everyone is invited to experiment with HTTP Useragent Cleaner, although I recommend that they first train on a virtualized version of Firefox.
