To force your browser to reload an entire page from the online resources instead of any locally stored cache files (do this often to make sure I am viewing the most recent content):
Chrome or Firefox (Linux and Windows): Press Shift+CIRL+ R.
Chrome or Firefox (macOS): Press Shift+ Command+ R.
Most browsers: Hold Shift while clicking the reload icon.
Firefox
Installation
sudo snap remove --purge firefox
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:mozillateam/ppa
echo '
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 1001
' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox
echo 'Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins:: "LP-PPA-mozillateam:${distro_codename}";' | sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/51unattended-upgrades-firefox
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y firefox --allow-downgrades
Configuration
Click on the menu in the upper right and select "Settings", "Options", or "Preferences".
In the "General" options, uncheck both "Recommend extensions as vou browse" and "Recommend features as you browse". This prevents some internet usage information from being sent to Firefox.
In the "Home" options, change "Homepage and new windows" and "New tabs" to "Blank page". This prevents Firefox from loading their services in new pages and tabs.
Disable all Firefox "Home Content" options.
In the "Privacy & Security" options, enable "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed". This cleans things up when you exit the browser.
Uncheck all options under "Logins and Passwords".
Change the History setting to "Firefox will use custom settings for history".
Uncheck the box titled "Remember browsing and download history".
Uncheck the box titled "Remember search and form history".
Check the box titled "Clear history when Firefox closes".
Do NOT check the box titled "Always use private browsing mode", as this will break Firefox Containers.
Uncheck "Browsing history" from the "Address Bar" menu.
Disable "Suggestions from the web" and "Suggestions from sponsors".
In the "Permissions" menu, click "Settings" next to Location, Camera, Microphone, and Notifications. Check the box titled "Block new requests...” for each of these options.
Uncheck all options under "Firefox Data Collection and Use".
Uncheck all options under "Deceptive Content and Dangerous Software Protection". This will prevent Firefox from sharing potential malicious site visits with third-party services. This leaves you more exposed to software attacks, but protects your internet history from being shared with Google.
Separate your various types of browsing without needing to clear your history, log in and out, or use multiple browsers.
Configuration:
Open the Multi-Account Containers menu and click the "Manage Containers" option.
Delete all containers by selecting each and clicking "Delete This Container'
In the "Manage Containers" menu, click the + in the upper left.
Enter the name of your new container, such as "Alias 01"
Choose a desired color and icon.
Repeat this process to create the number of containers desired.
Safety: Whileviewing the target's Twitter profile and see a link to an external website from his page, and you are logged in to a Iwitter account within this container and I do not know what this linked website will try to load. We do not want to jeopardize the investigation. Right-click on the link and choose "Open link in New Container" and then select the desired container tab, such as "Harmful". The new tab will open within this container created for questionable websites. The page we open cannot see any cookies stored within my container associated with my Twitter login.
Dedicated Container: Assign specific websites to a container so they will always open in that container. Use this for Google to not associate search history with other investigation activities. If you ever visit Google as part of an investigation, the site will open in a new container tab which I designated "Google". The following steps configure this option:
Create a Containers tab titled "Google".
Click on the Containers menu and open a new Google tab.
Connect to google.com and click the Containers menu and select "Always open This Site in...
Select the desired container.
Navigate to google.com from a standard tab.
Select "Remember my decision." and then "Open in..." the desired container
Click uBlock Origin icon, select the "Dashboard". On the "Settings” tab, click "I am an advanced user" option. Click on the "Filters" tab and enable "Block access to LAN” under “Privacy".
After enabling the Advanced settings, uBlock Origin icon should now present an expanded menu.
When you arrive at a website that is blocking something you want to see, open the menu and click on the left (grey) section of the top cell in the third column. That will allow everything to load on that page, and that page only. When you are about to navigate to a questionable site that may try to install malicious code on your machine, click on the right (red) section of the top cell in the second column. That will block all scripts on all pages. Conduct your research and reverse the change when you are finished. Remember to click the save button (padlock) after each change and refresh the page.
We can reverse all mistakes, first changing the global (second column) settings back to grey (left section of top cell). Next, teturn to the dashboard settings of the add-on, and click on the "My Rules! tab. In the second column (Temporary Rules), select all of the text and press the delete key on your keyboard. Click the "Save" button in this same column and then the "Commit" button to apply these settings everywhere. This resets our extension and brings us back to default usage.
Example:
Visiting the page allows you to view three articles for free, but you must have a paid subscription in order to continue using the site. If I click on the Block Origin menu while on this page, select the right (red) option on the right (third) column under the setting for "3rd patty scripts”, then the padlock icon, and reload the page, I see a different result. I am now allowed to see the article.
uBlock Origin blocks the malicious scripts, but not all of the annoyances. To block them, click on the Block Origin menu while on the desired page, select the right (red) option on the right (third) column under the setting for "inline scripts", then the padlock icon, and reload the page. The site should load much faster and block all of the inline scripts. Clicking the grey area in this same box reverses the action.
- Down ThemAll (addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/downthemall)
Simplifies the process of extracting bulk data from a web page. It attempts to identify linked video, audio, images, documents, or any other type of media within a site. It then allows you to easily download everything at once.
- Bulk Media Downloader (addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon / bulk-media-downloader/)
It should serve as a backup in the event you find a page which Down ThemAll will not function properly.
- Video DownloadHelper(addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/)
Works well with videos such as those found on Vimeo and other hosts. It does not work well with YouTube.
Click on the icon placed in your menu bar and select the Settings icon.
Click the "Behavior" tab and change the "Max concurrent downloads" to 20.
Change the "Max Variants" to 99.
Select the "Hide ADP Variants" option and click "Save"
If you have a target's Facebook page that has a lot of activity present, this may create a screen capture too large for FireShot. When this happens, use Nimbus as first backup.
Configurations:
Click on the Nimbus icon and choose the "gear" icon in the lower-right.
In the "File name pattern" field, insert {url}-{title}-{date}-{time}. This will name every capture with the URL and title of the target website along with date and time of capture.
Check "Enable Quick Screenshot" and select the "Entire Page" option in the first tow and "Download" option in the second row.
When both fail, consider Firefox's own solution, displayed next.
- Firefox Screenshot
Right-click within the page and select "Take Screenshot".
Right-click on any full size image located on a web page. The menu option is "View Image Exif Data" and a new window will open when selected. This window will identify any available metadata about the image.
- User-Agent Switcher and Manager (addons-mozilla.org/firefox/addon/user-agent-string-switcher/)
The menu allows you to choose a mobile operating system, such as iOS or Android, or a desktop browser such as Internet Explorer or Chrome. It will also allow you to specify your operating system such as Mac or Windows.
Click on the menu bar icon; select the desired browser to emulate (such as Edge), select the desired operating system (such as Windows); choose exact offering (such as Edge 92.0.1 Windows 10); and click "Apply (container on window). Click the "T'est UA" button to visit a page which will confirm your new active user-agent. To return to the default Firefox option in your native operating system, click on the "Restart" button and refresh the page.
This extension automates the reverse seatch when an image is right clicked
- Search By Image (addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/search_by_image)
Alternative to the previous one.
Search By Image has one huge advantage. It allows you to capture an image from a page without knowing the source URL or being able to right-click an image file.
Assume you are on a website which has either restricted right-click access or has embedded images in a way which makes them inaccessible. Search By Image allows you to crop any visible part of a page and then conduct a reverse image search analysis across multiple services. The following steps walk through the process:
Left-click the Search By Image icon in the upper-right of the browser.
Change the "Select URL" drop-down menu to "Capture"
Select the desired service, such as Google.
Use your cursor to draw a rectangle around the target image.
This extension provides a link to archived versions of websites whenever a page has been modified, is unavailable, or has been deleted. Right-clicking on any site will offer a new menu option of "Resutreet this page".
- Web Archives (addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/view-page-archive)
This option is redundant to the previous technique, but is much mote robust
This simple add-on will identify any hyperlinks within the selected text of an individual web page. It will store the links within your operating system's clipboard, which allows you to paste them into any application of your choice.
A combination of screen captures and link collection with this add-on provides a much more comprehensive report. I always press "ctrl-a" to select all of the content; right-click within the page; and choose "Copy selected links". I can then paste all hyperlinks from that page within any text editor.
Whether pre-recorded or live, many websites now deliver video via embedded streams rather than traditional files. Video stream protocols: playlists (M3U8) and transport stream (TS).
Right-clicking the video provide an option to play but not to download it, in this case click on the Stream Detector extension. The bottom "master" option is a link to the M3U8 stream which is responsible for the video playback. Clicking this link copies it to the clipboard.
Downloading and opening this link within VLC media player, plays the entire video within the software.
If you find some sites which do not function, consider adding another Firefox extension titled The m3u8 Stream Detector (addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/the—m3u8-stream-detector)
Bookmarklets
- FacebookID
javascript:(function()%7Bvar html %3D document.documentElement.innerHTML%3Bvar subhtml %3D html.split('%22userID%22%3A')%5B1%5D%3Bvar output %3D subhtml.split('%2C%22')%5B0%5D%3Balert(output)%7D)()
Open your CONFIGURED version of Firefox and click the menu button (three horizontal lines), then click "Help" and select "Troubleshooting Information". The Troubleshooting tab will open.
Under the "Application Basics" section, click on Open (or Show) Folder (or Directory). A window with your profile files will open. Close Firefox, but leave this window open.
Copy these files into a new folder on a removable drive.
Importing configuration
Open your NEW version of Firefox and click the menu button (three horizontal lines), click "Help", and then select "Troubleshooting Information". The Troubleshooting Information tab will open.
Under the "Application Basics" section, click on Open (or Show) Folder (or Directory). A window with your profile files will open. Close Firefox, but leave this window open.
Paste the content of the new folder on your removable drive into this folder. Overwrite any files when prompted. Restart Firefox.