Just a web browser, please

The leading web browsers are getting bogged down. Now there's a solution: The new project “Just the Browser” strips down Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox of ballast. Most AI services, autostart, shopping features, intrusive third-party content like paid icons or daily clickbait, the annoyance of “Make me default” popups, the transmission of usage data, and the introductory semester after the initial installation are deactivated, within seconds, to the best of its ability.

The trick: All of this can be removed using built-in tools. No plugins are added, nor is the source code of the browsers tampered with. This means they will continue to receive automatic updates when available. And updates generally do not reactivate the unwanted add-ons.

Just the Browser simply makes the group policies intended for large organizations accessible to individual users. A command copied to the shell is enough: select the browser, confirm, and the policies are installed in no time. The same shell command then also allows for reversal, i.e., the removal of the installed browser policies.

Edge and Firefox display a message in their settings indicating that the browser is managed by an “organization.” However, these organizations are then the users of Just the Browser themselves.

Windows, macOS, Linux

Behind the project is US journalist and programmer Corbin Davenport. “Call me old-fashioned, but I want my web browser to be just a web browser,” he explains the motivation behind Just the Browser. “I don't want shopping integration, or AI agents occupying my cursor, nor local AI models constantly running in the background to rearrange my browser tabs. I shouldn't have to resort to Safari or half-baked Firefox forks for this.”

Therefore, Davenport has released corresponding group policies for the three major browser brands, along with documentation explaining the installation and, if necessary, customization of the policies to one's own preferences. In addition, there are installation scripts for Windows (x86 32 and 64 bit, ARM 64 bit), macOS, and Linux (for now only Firefox; Debian/Ubuntu x86 and Fedora/openSUSE x86,). Everything is open source (MIT license) and may be redistributed and used commercially.

Caution with parallel instances of the same browser

The most important exception when removing Large Language Models (LLM) is the translation function in Firefox. Support for Google Chrome on Linux is in the works. Support for browsers installed via Flatpak on Linux is also pending. A ready-made solution against mission creep in browsers for Android does not yet exist. iOS is in the GitHub repository, on the list of possible expansions.

In a first attempt with Just the Browser on Linux, the Firefox browser was streamlined in a few seconds. The longest part was entering the password. However, both the “normal” Firefox instance and the parallel installed Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) were affected, even though the script only mentioned “Firefox.” The installed policies could be reversed just as quickly, again for both Firefoxes, but some originally manually made settings were reset.

Normal browser updates should not affect the policies. However, it can happen that browser publishers remove certain setting options or make other fundamental changes that break existing organizational policies. In such cases, users may have to re-execute the Just the Browser script to install the then-latest version.

(ds)