FireFox Setup:
You will learn how to install and start using the extension, to protect your web browsing with Firefox!
Step 1: Install
First, click on the link here to access the Firefox Add-ons page and click “Add to Firefox.”
Step 2: Allow Install
A pop-up box will appear near the browser click “Add.”
Step 3: Allow Extension to Run
Next, a third pop-up box will appear in the top-right corner: Check the option “Allow this extension to run in Private Windows” Then click “Okay.”
Step 4: Extension Appearance
Once the PIA Extension is added, it will appear in the top-right corner.
Step 5: Login
Next, left-click on the red PIA icon and enter your credentials and login.
Step 6: Connect
Once logged in click on the power button to enable the connection.
To confirm your protected, you can visit the PIA website and ensure the top bar says, “Protected. You are connected to PIA.”
You can access the extra features by clicking the 3 dots in the top right corner of the extension menu:
If you make any changes to the extension settings, be sure to disconnect and reconnect to save the changes.
Security:
- Block WebRTC IP Detection: Block Chrome revealing your public and private IP addresses when WebRTC is being used. We do not recommend disabling this.
- Browse websites using HTTPS – Automatically converts supported websites or links using an unencrypted connection (HTTP) to a more secure HTTPS connection before leaving your browser. Made possible because of HTTPS Everywhere and the EFF.
Privacy:
- Disable network prediction: Disable Chrome from using a network prediction service that pre-resolves DNS queries and pre-fetches webpages from the content found on a page you visit
Tracking:
- Tracking Protection: Protect against browser fingerprinting by providing information about your computer and preventing access to certain browser APIs.
- Fingerprint protection: Blocks requests made to domains that are known to engage in cross-site tracking of users. (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Fingerprinting)
- Disable website referrer: Disable Chrome from sending the address of the current webpage to another webpage when following a link.
- Disable hyperlink auditing: Disable hyperlink auditing, a recent HTML feature designed for notifying tracks and analytic services when you click on a link.
- Remove UTM parameters: Remove Urchin Tracking Model (UTM) parameters from URLs you click on. UTM parameters are used to track information about your visit to a website.
- Remove FBCLID parameters: Remove Facebook FBCLID parameters from outgoing links in Facebook. FBCLID parameters are used to track information about your visit to a website.
- PIA MACE: PIA MACE helps protect your privacy and security by blocking malicious content, trackers and ads (more about MACE here).
You can access the extension features by clicking the 3 dots in the top right corner of the extension menu:
Extension:
- Always active settings: Cause settings to always remain active, regardless of whether proxy is connected or not.
- Dark Theme: Enable a darker theme for the extension to use in low light conditions
- Debug mode: Write messages to the debug log. Press the 'ctrl' key followed by the 'd' key to show the debug log.
- UI Language: The language used by the extension when displaying text.
Bypass List:
With this feature, you can add websites to be excluded from the PIA extension connection if you are experiencing issues with a website blocking the extension. Do be aware that requests made to websites found on the Bypass List use a direct connection that is not protected by PIA.
Smart Location:
With this feature, you can set any URL, that when visited, to connect to the server you have selected for its smart location, despite the current server you are connected to.
For example. You can be connected to Chicago but whenever you visit privateinternetaccess.com, the extension will automatically switch connections to Las Vegas. If you are on privateinternetaccess.com, that tab will be connected to Las Vegas. All other tabs will be connected to Chicago.
If you run into any issues or have any questions, please feel free to submit a ticket to our support team via the Contact Us tab above.