Apple Safari 8¶
According to Wikipedia Safari is “a web browser developed by Apple Inc. included with the OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003, on the company’s OS X operating system, it became Apple’s default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 “Panther”. The native browser of iOS is also called Safari, but has a different UI and uses a different WebKit version and API”.
This chapter is dedicated to configuring Apple Safari version 8.x. It comes by default with Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).
- Change default search engine
- Clear history
- Control third party plugins
- Disable AutoFill
- Disable AutoFill username and passwords
- Disable open files after download
- Disable search suggestions
- Disable website tracking
- Open with a private window
- Open with an empty page
- Show website address
- Warn when visiting a fraudulent website
Change default search engine¶
Change default search engine to DuckDuckGo, it is a search engine who takes care of your privacy. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Search
Set “Search engine” to “DuckDuckGo”.
Clear history¶
Used to never leave navigation traces in browser history. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ General
Set “Remove history items” to “After one day”. Set “Remove download list items” to “Upon successful download”.
Control third party plugins¶
Most browsers allow the continuous running of all third party scripts, giving malware an huge surface area of attack to get into your machine. Safari can ask for user permission each time a plugin is run, this is a good practice to control which website is asking your browser to run a plugin. It is suggested to control the run of WebGL plugins, go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Security
Check “Allow WebGL” and click on “Website Settings…”, set “When visiting other websites” to “Ask”.
It is suggested to control the run of WebGL plugins, go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Security
Check “Allow Plug-ins” and click on “Website Settings…”, set “When visiting other websites” to “Ask”.
Disable AutoFill¶
Disables automatic fill of forms. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ AutoFill
Unckeck all boxes.
Disable AutoFill username and passwords¶
Disables automatic fill of forms with usernames and passwords. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Passwords
Uncheck “AutoFill user names and passwords”.
Disable open files after download¶
Disables automatic opening of downloaded file, even if they are safe. It is suggested to never run arbitrary files downloaded. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ General
Uncheck “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading”.
Disable search suggestions¶
Disables suggestions to avoid leaking potential data when typing in the search box. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Search
Uncheck “Include search engine suggestions”. Uncheck “Include Spotlight suggestions”.
Disable website tracking¶
Disables website tracking asking sites to do not track. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Privacy
Check “Ask website not to track me”.
Open with a private window¶
Set Safari to open only in new private window to keep your privacy. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ General
Set “Safari opens with” to “A new private window”.
Open with an empty page¶
Set Safari to open new windows and tabs with an empty page. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ General
Set “New windows open with” to “Empty Page”. Set “New tabs open with” to “Empty Page”.
Show website address¶
By default Safari shows only the domain in the address bar, it is suggested to show the whole website address. Go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Advances
Check “Show full website address”.
Warn when visiting a fraudulent website¶
Safari can check the website you are visiting against a public and free feed on malicious websites. It is suggested to enable fraudulent website detection, go to:
Open Safari ⇒ Preferences ⇒ Security
Check “Warn when visiting a fraudulent website”.