Locking down Firefox in a corporate environment

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MurrayM

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#175543 3-Jul-2015 08:59

Firefox 38. Can anyone tell me if settings in a user.js file in a users profile directory should override settings in a mozilla.cfg file in Firefox's program directory?

There are some settings in the mozilla.cfg file that I'm trying to override (I don't have write permission to update mozilla.cfg) by overriding them in a user.js file but it's not working and I'm wondering if Firefox is honoring the lockPref commands in mozilla.cfg and ignoring my user_pref commands in my user.js file.

gzt

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#1336402 3-Jul-2015 13:12

No experience but i think it depends on how the settings are specified in the cfg. In general if the purpose of the cfg is to lock a setting then it cannot be changed.

But as an experiment try changing the desired setting in preferences and see if it persists.

More info: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locking_preferences

Running a portable version on the desktop may be an option if your policy allows it.

MurrayM

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#1336407 3-Jul-2015 13:15

Thanks for your reply. I think they've locked things down quite tight, and for some strange reason they've turned off automatic spell checking and saving passwords, two things that they previously allowed.

gzt

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#1336413 3-Jul-2015 13:31

The reason for turning off spell check may be a misconception that it sends data over the network.

99.99% sure it is local dictionary based checking only.

Mozilla support could confirm that.

But is it actually off? Ooth maybe just forgot to distribute the dictionary for the selected language.

MurrayM

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#1336431 3-Jul-2015 13:42

The "Check my spelling as I type" option is greyed out and Layout.spellcheckDefault in about:config is set to 0 and lockeds so I'm guessing its been disabled. Probably as you suggested, the IT people think it's sending data back and have disabled it.

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#1336465 3-Jul-2015 14:35

Yeah unless it's a side effect of something else or unintentional. Use mail to let the help desk know and ask why the change was made.