The company has turned on Enhanced Tracking Protection, which blocks cookies from third-party trackers in Firefox, by default. Mozilla has also improved its Facebook Container extension, released a Firefox desktop extension for its rebranded Lockwise password keeper, and updated Firefox Monitor with a dashboard for multiple email addresses.

In August 2018, Mozilla announced Firefox would block trackers by default. But getting there was slow. Firefox 63 arrived in October with Enhanced Tracking Protection, blocking cookies and storage access from third-party trackers. Firefox 65, released in January, added Content Blocking controls, giving users three ways to control the blocking feature:

• Standard: The default, where Firefox blocks known trackers and third-party tracking cookies in general.
• Strict: For people who want a bit more protection and don’t mind if some sites break. This setting means Firefox blocks known trackers in all windows.
• Custom: For those who want complete control to pick and choose what trackers and cookies they want to block.

If you download a fresh copy of Firefox, Enhanced Tracking Protection will be on by default as part of the Standard setting. That means third-party tracking cookies are blocked without users having to change a thing. You will notice Enhanced Tracking Protection working if there is a shield icon in the address bar. If you click on the shield icon and open the Content Blocking section and then Cookies, you’ll see a Blocking Tracking Cookies section. There you can see the companies listed as third-party cookies and trackers that Firefox has blocked. You can also turn off blocking for a specific site.

Mozilla will be rolling out Enhanced Tracking Protection by default “in the coming months.” You can turn it on yourself sooner by clicking on the small “i” icon in the address bar and clicking on the gear on the right side under Content Blocking. Or you can go to Preferences, Privacy & Security, and then Content Blocking. Choose Custom, mark the Cookies check box, and select “Third-party trackers.”

Meanwhile, you can ponder the important question as to why a browser with six tabs open needs 2.2 GB of memory.