Getting Started with Fireware Web Browser — Tips & Tricks

Customize Your Experience: Advanced Settings in Fireware Web BrowserFireware Web Browser offers a rich set of advanced settings that let you tailor browsing behavior, performance, privacy, and appearance to your exact needs. This guide walks through the most useful advanced options, explains what they do, and gives practical recommendations for different user needs — from power users who want fine-grained control to privacy-conscious users and developers.

Table of contents

• Overview: who should tweak advanced settings
• Performance tuning
• Privacy & security controls
• Appearance and UI customization
• Tab and session behavior
• Extensions, developer tools, and debugging
• Network, proxy, and connection settings
• Keyboard, mouse, and accessibility shortcuts
• Backup, sync, and profile management
• Recommended presets and examples
• Troubleshooting and safety tips

Overview: who should tweak advanced settings

Advanced settings are intended for users who want more control than the default options provide. If you need improved speed on older hardware, stronger privacy, automated workflows, or specific developer features, adjusting these settings can help. Proceed carefully — some changes can break websites or reduce security if misconfigured.

Performance tuning

1. Hardware acceleration

   • What it does: offloads rendering and media decoding to the GPU.
   • Recommendation: enable on modern machines with up-to-date drivers; disable if you see rendering glitches or crashes.

2. Process model and site isolation

   • Controls whether each tab, site, or extension runs in separate processes. More isolation improves stability and security at the cost of memory.
   • Recommendation: Use per-site or per-tab process model for maximum stability; choose shared for low-memory systems.

3. Cache and disk usage limits

   • Set maximum disk cache size and in-memory cache thresholds to control resource usage.
   • Recommendation: Increase cache on fast SSDs for quicker reloads; lower on devices with limited storage.

4. Preloading and speculative loading

   • Fireware can preload DNS, preconnect to origins, or even prefetch pages. Boosts perceived speed but may increase data usage and reduce privacy.
   • Recommendation: Enable selectively — turn on preconnect but keep full prefetch off for privacy-conscious users.

Privacy & security controls

1. Tracking protection levels

   • Fireware offers multiple protection tiers (Standard, Strict, Custom). Strict blocks most third-party trackers and cross-site cookies; Custom lets you choose categories.
   • Recommendation: Strict for most privacy-focused users; use Custom to whitelist specific sites.

2. Fingerprinting resistance

   • Adds noise or limits APIs that allow sites to uniquely identify your device (canvas, audio, device memory).
   • Recommendation: Enable to reduce cross-site tracking; be aware some sites (banking, DRM) might break.

3. Cookie and site data management

   • Options to block third-party cookies, partition cookies by site, or clear cookies on exit.
   • Recommendation: Partition cookies for compatibility with enhanced privacy, and clear on exit if you want ephemeral sessions.

4. Secure DNS and TLS controls

   • Configure DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) or DNS-over-TLS (DoT), and set minimum TLS version.
   • Recommendation: Enable DoH/DoT with a trusted resolver; set minimum TLS to 1.2 or 1.3 only.

5. Certificate and mixed-content handling

   • Control warnings and blocking for mixed HTTP/HTTPS content and set strict certificate pinning options.
   • Recommendation: Keep strict handling on; temporarily relax only for trusted internal sites.

6. Permissions manager

   • Granular control over camera, microphone, location, notifications, clipboard, and other APIs.
   • Recommendation: Set global defaults to “Ask”, then create permanent site exceptions as needed.

Appearance and UI customization

1. Themes and color schemes

   • Light, dark, and system-sync themes, plus custom themes and color overrides.
   • Recommendation: Use dark or system theme for eye comfort; customize accent colors for visibility.

2. Toolbar and button layout

   • Rearrange toolbar items, hide rarely used buttons, and add quick-access toggles for privacy features.
   • Recommendation: Place privacy toggle and extensions menu within easy reach.

3. Custom CSS and site-specific styles

   • Apply user styles globally or per-site to fix layout issues or enforce readability.
   • Example: Increase default font-size and line-height for improved legibility.

4. New tab page and homepage controls

   • Configure shortcuts, sponsored content visibility, and curated feeds.
   • Recommendation: Disable sponsored content and add frequently used apps or pinned pages.

Tab and session behavior

1. Tab discarding and memory saver

   • Automatically unload background tabs when system memory is low; optionally freeze scripts.
   • Recommendation: Enable on low-memory systems; whitelist critical tabs.

2. Tab groups and containers

   • Group tabs visually and by context; containers isolate cookies/storage between groups.
   • Recommendation: Use containers to separate work, personal, and project browsing.

3. Auto-save and session restore

   • Control frequency of session backups and whether to restore on startup.
   • Recommendation: Enable regular session backup; disable automatic restore if you need clean starts.

4. Middle-click and gesture behaviors

   • Customize what middle-click and gestures do (open background tab, close tab, reopen closed, etc.).
   • Recommendation: Map middle-click to open background tab for faster browsing.

Extensions, developer tools, and debugging

1. Extension policies and per-extension permissions

   • Grant or restrict access to tabs, history, sites, and native messaging.
   • Recommendation: Audit extensions regularly; enable only required permissions.

2. Developer tools customization

   • Configure default panels, network throttling presets, and custom snippets.
   • Tip: Create snippets for common debugging tasks (e.g., clearing localStorage, emulating devices).

3. Remote debugging and USB targets

   • Enable remote debugging ports for device testing (use with caution).
   • Recommendation: Only enable when needed and restrict by IP.

4. Experimental flags and features

   • Access cutting-edge features via an internal flags page. These can improve functionality but may be unstable.
   • Recommendation: Test flags in a separate profile before using daily.

Network, proxy, and connection settings

1. Proxy configuration and PAC scripts

   • Support for manual proxies, system proxy, and PAC scripts for routing.
   • Recommendation: Use PAC scripts for dynamic routing in corporate environments.

2. Connection timeouts and retry policies

   • Tune DNS, TCP, and HTTP timeouts for unreliable networks.
   • Recommendation: Increase timeouts on high-latency connections.

3. Bandwidth shaping and data-saver mode

   • Compress images, block autoplay media, and defer large resources.
   • Recommendation: Enable data-saver on metered or mobile connections.

4. QUIC and HTTP/3 toggles

   • Enable or disable QUIC/HTTP/3 for experimental performance improvements.
   • Recommendation: Keep enabled for faster connections unless encountering server issues.

Keyboard, mouse, and accessibility shortcuts

1. Custom keybindings

   • Reassign shortcuts for tabs, navigation, developer tools, and extensions.
   • Recommendation: Create ergonomic shortcuts for frequent actions.

2. Gesture recognition

   • Mouse and touch gestures for back/forward, tab switching, and closing tabs.
   • Recommendation: Enable a minimal set to avoid accidental triggers.

3. Accessibility options

   • High-contrast mode, screen reader improvements, focus indicators, and adjustable animations.
   • Recommendation: Use system accessibility settings where possible to keep consistent behavior.

Backup, sync, and profile management

1. Profile separation

   • Multiple profiles keep bookmarks, cookies, extensions, and settings isolated.
   • Recommendation: Use separate profiles for work, personal, and testing.

2. Encrypted sync

   • Sync bookmarks, history, passwords, and open tabs across devices with end-to-end encryption.
   • Recommendation: Use a strong passphrase and enable recovery options.

3. Export/import and manual backups

   • Regularly export bookmarks, passwords, and settings to local encrypted files.
   • Recommendation: Keep periodic backups, especially before testing experimental flags.

Recommended presets and examples

• Power user / developer: Hardware acceleration enabled, per-tab process isolation, DoH enabled, developer tools pinned, aggressive caching, experimental flags for HTTP/3 and debugging.
• Privacy-first: Strict tracker protection, fingerprinting resistance on, cookie partitioning, DoH with a privacy-respecting resolver, prefetching off, containerized tabs.
• Low-memory device: Shared process model, tab discarding enabled, small disk cache, minimal extensions, data-saver on.

Troubleshooting and safety tips

• If sites break after changes: revert the specific setting you changed, or create a fresh profile to compare defaults.
• Keep backups before changing experimental flags.
• Use separate profiles for risky testing to avoid data loss.
• Regularly audit extensions and permissions to reduce attack surface.

Customize Fireware gradually: change one setting at a time, observe effects for a few days, then adjust again. This measured approach helps you find the right balance between speed, privacy, and convenience without unexpected surprises.