Browser identification

Chase bank does not like PureBrowser and won’t let me login. It says I must use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Microsoft Explorer. I don’t want to install Firefox, and I certainly don’t want to install Chrome. The other two won’t run on a Linux system., and even if they did, I wouldn’t want to install them. Is there a way to configure PureBrowser to identify itself as Firefox?

Maybe you should try Seamonkey? If it’s just for one website that won’t harm your privacy.

Thanks, but Seamonkey is not one of the four browsers that the Chase website says to use.

Seamonkey is kind of a striped version of Firefox so it should be alright.

PureBrowser is a variant of Firefox, so i guess it is possible to change what UserAgent header it sends to the servers the same way as it is done in Firefox. There are multitudes of instructions on the net how to do it. Here is the first searched link:


And here is the example user agent string for you to set (as author of the above intructions did not forsee that one might need to change firefox to present itself as regular firefox :slight_smile:)

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:65.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/65.0

Good luck!

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That did not work for me. I set general.useragent.overridepreference to “Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:65.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/65.0” but https://www.whoishostingthis.com/tools/user-agent/ says that it identifies as “Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/60.0 PureBrowser/60.1.0”.

The Preference Name in that link is almost correct. Use “general.useragent.override” instead. The Chase website does not complain about PureBrowser now. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Hrmpf. Should have tested it on my firefox at least :frowning: before venturing the info.
For me, setting general.useragent.overridepreference does nothing as well. But setting general.useragent.override works.

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I am sure that Seamonkey is great, but PureBrowser is basically a stripped-down version of Firefox, too. All three are based on the Mozilla Gecko browser engine. PureBrowser works with the Chase website after I changed the useragent string in about:config, as described in other posts in this thread. I suspect the same thing would need to be done to Seamonkey’s about:config to get it to work with chase.com.

Anyway, the problem is solved without installing a different browser.

Good, I just proposed the Seamonkey thing because it’s what works for me, when a website is made by people that doesn’t respect standards (pretty much every time I have to disable any privacy extension) I paste the URL in Seamonkey and it works.

This was the Chase website looking at the user agent string. When I tried the one that Dwaff suggested, it worked, but Chase decided that I must be on a phone and gave me the lame mobile form of the website. I copied at the useragent string in Firefox running on Ubuntu, and Chase gave me the full website with no complaints.

I suspect that Chase does this to limit what sort of support problems they’ll handle. If someone calls their support line and says that they’re having a problem with, say, Seamonkey, Chase support can say, “You must use Safari, Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. Have a nice day. Goodbye.”

In Mladen’s instructions on these problems, he also mentions a useragent.compat flag for PureBrowser that should be set to ‘true.’

His suggested useragent string uses different versions, but that may not make a difference to Chase. Also, I am not certain his instructions are kept current for the Firefox ESR version PureBrowser is using. PureBrowser is not based on Firefox Quantum, so v 65.0 mentioned above is probably wrong. Last I checked, Firefox ESR is only at 60.

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You can try LibreFox. It’s just Firefox without unnecessary functionality and services. It portable, and don’t need install.

I changed the useragent.override string to show v60.0 instead of 65.0 and added a “true” boolean for useragent.compat. The Chase website does not complain, but only after I added “Ubuntu”, otherwise it gives me the mobile website and tells me my browser is out of date. This is the useragent.override string I am using:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/60.1.0

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Setting general.useragent.override was best solution for me because I don’t need to install a different browser and can continue using PureBrowser.

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I know I’m a little late to the party, but I’m a pretty big fan of the Brave browser. It is built on top of chromium, so you will easily forget you aren’t using Chrome. It has all sorts of ad/tracker blocking built in, and features a private browsing mode that incorporates Tor for real privacy. Plus they have this neat crypto currency idea to try and replace ads to fund websites.

I know there are advocates of Brave, but I have not used it. Nevertheless–and you may agree–built-in mechanisms may not be sufficient.

You may want to look at this article to see why. I think I would be a bit irritated if I learned this after the fact. I do look at code sometimes, but I do not make a habit of reading it for everything I use.

According to one of the comments, Firefox has a problem too with the FB SDK login. I prefer having granular control to stop scenarios like this myself. I too block all scripting and enable only what I need when I need it. Some things on websites break, but I do not care.

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You’re rejecting Firefox? On what grounds? That’s a first I’ve heard anyone not use the goto. :open_mouth:

I am not sure if you are asking me because I was the last to post. If so, no, I am not rejecting Firefox. I use Firefox Quantum daily, though I use security add-ons, and I have sanitized it a lot. I am sorry if I was unclear.

My point was that I prefer making changes rather than relying on whitelists that others have created and think I need. (And finding out after the fact that someone allowed something I would not have wanted!) When I used PureBrowser, I made a number of changes to its settings too.

I mentioned Firefox only because one of the comments in the link I provided did.

Nope, not asking you. Was asking OP. Could’ve sworn this system links replies somehow but I guess it’s different per site. :sweat:

I also prefer making changes to my browser as I feel it gives me the choice to use what I feel is necessary.

I only use security/privacy-centric add-ons, but I just so happen to use specific ones.

I also modify my UI via CSS. :grin:

On the grounds that I prefer to use PureBrowser which is shipped with PureOS instead of installing a different browser because of one website. On the grounds that it annoys me when websites insist that I use a certain browser. On the grounds that there is a simple way to configure PureBrowser so that the Chase website will grant access. On the grounds that I have configured and customized PureBrowser to my personal taste, and I don’t want to redo that process for no good reason.

I’m not “rejecting” Firefox; after all, PureBrowser is built on Firefox Quantum, and I use “real” Firefox on other platforms.

Why are you rejecting my choice of which browser to use? Do you think I should ditch PureOS and use Windows instead? After all, Windows is the “goto” OS with by far the largest user base and the most apps. ; -)

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