August 20, 2026 AD
Modern browsers ship with an insane amount of bloatware.
You can point and click in the browser settings to disable most of it. Or, you can de-slop the browser by force using a policy file.
To get started, create a JSON file at the appropriate path for your distribution. Here’s a few that I’m aware of:
| Distribution | Browser | Path |
|---|---|---|
| FreeBSD | Chromium | /usr/local/etc/chromium/policies/managed/policies.json |
| FreeBSD | Firefox | /usr/local/lib/firefox/distribution/policies.json |
| Ubuntu | Chrome | /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/policies.json |
| Ubuntu | Chromium | /etc/chromium-browser/policies/managed/policies.json |
| Ubuntu | Firefox | /etc/firefox/policies/policies.json |
| RedHat | Chromium | /etc/chromium/policies/managed/policies.json |
| RedHat | Firefox | /etc/firefox/policies/policies.json |
Allegedly, these policies are also supported on Windows via Group Policy and MacOS using plist files.
I wouldn’t know, since I use a real operating system.
You should read the docs for each option to understand what it does. My configuration here does a few things:
{
"policies": {
"ExtensionSettings": {
"uBlock0@raymondhill.net": {
"install_url": "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest/ublock-origin/latest.xpi",
"installation_mode": "force_installed"
}
},
"3rdparty": {
"Extensions": {
"uBlock0@raymondhill.net": {
"toOverwrite": {
"filterLists": [
"user-filters",
"ublock-filters",
"ublock-badware",
"ublock-privacy",
"ublock-quick-fixes",
"ublock-unbreak",
"easylist",
"easyprivacy",
"adguard-spyware-url",
"urlhaus-1",
"plowe-0",
"fanboy-cookiemonster",
"ublock-cookies-easylist",
"fanboy-thirdparty_social",
"ublock-annoyances"
]
},
"toAdd": {
"trustedSiteDirectives": [
"intranet.example.com"
]
}
}
}
},
"UserMessaging": {
"WhatsNew": false,
"ExtensionRecommendations": false,
"UrlbarInterventions": false,
"SkipOnboarding": true
},
"OverridePostUpdatePage": "",
"OverrideFirstRunPage": "",
"EnableTrackingProtection": {
"Value": false,
"Cryptomining": false,
"Fingerprinting": false,
"Locked": false
},
"Cookies": {
"Behavior": "reject-tracker-and-partition-foreign",
"BehaviorPrivateBrowsing": "reject-tracker-and-partition-foreign"
},
"NoDefaultBookmarks": true,
"DisablePocket": true,
"DisableAppUpdate": true,
"CaptivePortal": false,
"Certificates": {
"Install": [
"/usr/local/share/certs/trusted/your-custom-root-ca.crt"
]
},
"DisableFeedbackCommands": true,
"DisableFirefoxAccounts": true,
"DisableFirefoxStudies": true,
"DisableTelemetry": true,
"DontCheckDefaultBrowser": true,
"OfferToSaveLoginsDefault": false,
"DNSOverHTTPS": {
"Enabled": false
},
"SearchSuggestEnabled": false,
"Homepage": {
"URL": "about:home",
"StartPage": "homepage"
},
"SearchEngines": {
"Add": [
{
"Name": "ddg",
"URLTemplate": "https://duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms}",
"Method": "GET",
"IconURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/favicon.ico",
"Alias": "ddg",
"Description": "DuckDuckGo",
"SuggestURLTemplate": "https://duckduckgo.com/ac/?q={searchTerms}&type=list"
}
],
"Default": "ddg"
},
"FirefoxHome": {
"Search": true,
"TopSites": false,
"SponsoredTopSites": false,
"Highlights": false,
"Pocket": false,
"SponsoredPocket": false,
"Snippets": false
},
"AIControls": {
"Default": {
"Value": "blocked",
"Locked": true
}
},
"ExtensionUpdate": true,
"Preferences": {
"dom.security.https_only_mode": {
"Value": true,
"Status": "locked"
},
"dom.push.connection.enabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "default"
},
"browser.urlbar.suggest.quicksuggest.nonsponsored": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.urlbar.suggest.quicksuggest.sponsored": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.toolbars.bookmarks.visibility": {
"Value": "newtab",
"Status": "default"
},
"browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.section.topstories": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsoredCheckboxes": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.widgets.system.weather.enabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "default"
},
"browser.urlbar.suggest.quicksuggest.all": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "default"
},
"signon.management.page.breach-alerts.enabled": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "locked"
},
"privacy.fingerprintingProtection.pbmode": {
"Value": false,
"Status": "default"
},
"signon.firefoxRelay.feature": {
"Value": "disabled",
"Status": "locked"
}
}
}
}You should read the docs for these settings to make sure they’re right for you. My configuration here does a few things:
Unfortunately, Chrome does not support adding custom certificate authorities via the policy file anymore
(I resorted to some hacky automation
that adds the certificate to the user’s ~/.pki/nssdb on first login).
{
"AdvancedProtectionAllowed": false,
"AlternateErrorPagesEnabled": false,
"AutofillCreditCardEnabled": false,
"BackgroundModeEnabled": false,
"BlockThirdPartyCookies": true,
"BrowserGuestModeEnabled": false,
"BrowserLabsEnabled": false,
"BrowserNetworkTimeQueriesEnabled": false,
"BrowserSignin": 0,
"CloudPrintProxyEnabled": false,
"CloudReportingEnabled": false,
"DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled": false,
"DefaultCookiesSetting": 1,
"DnsOverHttpsMode": "off",
"EnableAuthNegotiatePort": true,
"EnableMediaRouter": false,
"MetricsReportingEnabled": false,
"NetworkPredictionOptions": 2,
"PasswordManagerEnabled": false,
"PaymentMethodQueryEnabled": false,
"PrivacySandboxAdMeasurementEnabled": false,
"PrivacySandboxAdTopicsEnabled": false,
"PrivacySandboxPromptEnabled": false,
"PrivacySandboxSiteEnabledAdsEnabled": false,
"PromotionalTabsEnabled": false,
"SafeBrowsingProtectionLevel": 0,
"SearchSuggestEnabled": false,
"SyncDisabled": true,
"TranslateEnabled": false,
"UrlKeyedAnonymizedDataCollectionEnabled": false,
"DefaultSearchProviderEnabled": true,
"DefaultSearchProviderName": "DuckDuckGo",
"DefaultSearchProviderImageURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/favicon.ico",
"DefaultSearchProviderEncodings": ["UTF-8"],
"DefaultSearchProviderSearchURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms}",
"DefaultSearchProviderSuggestURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/ac/?q={searchTerms}&type=list",
"DefaultSearchProviderNewTabURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/chrome_newtab",
"ExtensionSettings": {
"ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh": {
"installation_mode": "force_installed",
"update_url": "https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx"
}
},
"3rdparty": {
"extensions": {
"ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh": {
"disableFirstRunPage": true,
"defaultFiltering": "complete",
"noFiltering": [
"intranet.example.com"
],
"rulesets": [
"+default",
"+annoyances-cookies",
"+annoyances-notifications",
"+annoyances-others",
"+annoyances-overlays",
"+annoyances-social",
"+annoyances-widgets",
"+adguard-spyware-url"
]
}
}
}
}