FF Portable 90.0.2 Security Differences

Discussion of features in Mozilla Firefox
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BretMan
Posts: 252
Joined: November 20th, 2006, 9:44 am
Location: USA

FF Portable 90.0.2 Security Differences

Post by BretMan »

I've been using FF Portable when I travel and occasionally when I'm home, when for some reason a web site seems to become "buggy" and I get caught in a Captcha loop. For some reason FF Portable gets through.

Recently I used it for the first time to buy something on Ebay and Paypal checkout. That worked fine. However, I got a security heads-up alert from Ebay asking if it was me who just logged in and that too is normal. However, that message not only specified the Device (Firefox 90.0) but also my home state and city. It doesn't seem my VPN works with it as those types of messages identify the alternate locations I've set the VPN to.

My concern here is that I use a VPN to surf the web more securely as being from another location when using my system browsers. But FF Portable seems to have allowed my actual location, at least pretty close, to be read. I understood FF Portable to be very secure and would also be guided by my VPN but I don't think it is now. Or, is there a setting in it I need to apply for VPN use?

Please advise.

Thank you.
mgagnonlv
Posts: 848
Joined: February 12th, 2005, 8:33 pm

Re: FF Portable 90.0.2 Security Differences

Post by mgagnonlv »

I don't use a VPN and don't travel much these days, but I suspect that you might have different network configurations in your regular Firefox and in Firefox Portable. I suspect that when you installed your VPN using the installer, it configured properly installed applications but didn't touch any of the portable ones.

In Firefox Portable, check the following:

– Open : about:preferences.
– Go at the very bottom of that page, where you see "Network Parameters" and click on the button "Parameters" (bottom right).
– I think you should be using "Use System Proxy Settings" (3rd option – my menus are in French) or maybe "Manual Proxy configuration" (4th option) and not "No Proxy"

In a nutshell, if you are using "No Proxy", you shortcircuit any kind of system setting, VPN, etc. that you might have configured. It might be good for cases when you want to go around your VPN for whatever reason, but otherwise, it is not what you want.

What I recommend is that you compare the Network Settings you have in your regular (installed) Firefox and set them in your Portable Firefox Network Settings. But then, Firefox Portable won't go through where the regular one fails.
Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)
BretMan
Posts: 252
Joined: November 20th, 2006, 9:44 am
Location: USA

Re: FF Portable 90.0.2 Security Differences

Post by BretMan »

Thanks for the reply.

I got different paths that you, possibly lost in translation, so let me clarify what I got first for others who may need this.

In FF Portable, Tools>Settings (about:preferences then shows in browser toolbar)>Network Settings (at bottom) with Settings button.
That showed I had it set to "Use system proxy settings".

To compare with FF Desktop, as you suggested, I then sought network settings and it's the same as with FF Portable except it shows Network and Proxy Settings button. That then leads to Windows 10 proxy server settings which are off. The Windows VPN is off but my separate VPN service is on. So all that above seems to be as it should.

What I did then was to open and close FF Portable a couple times, then as an experiment, changed the VPN location, then bought something on Ebay. The heads-up alert showed the new location. Success! I then changed the VPN back to my preferred location. I don't know what happened but it seems to be working now.

This brings up a new question. When travelling and using FF Portable on a an unknown PC, I won't have my usual VPN. Is it possible to install a VPN into the thumbdrive containing FF Portable to work with it?
mgagnonlv
Posts: 848
Joined: February 12th, 2005, 8:33 pm

Re: FF Portable 90.0.2 Security Differences

Post by mgagnonlv »

Check the particulars of your VPN service to see if you can simply configure Firefox (and Thunderbird) to use your VPN by entering a manual proxy configuration. One thing to remember, however, is that when you click on links outside of Firefox (and Thunderbird), your VPN won't be active. This includes dedicated applications, PDF files with embedded links, etc.

BTW, Thunderbird has exactly the same Network Configuration options, so if it works in Firefox Portable, it works in Thunderbird Portable too.
Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)
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