Enhancing Firefox with extensions

Aside from the fact that Firefox is much more secure than Internet Explorer, one of the cooler features are it's extensions. Extensions are small downloadable programs that change how Firefox work. There are several that I always load. For me they change Firefox from something pretty cool and safe to something I can't live without.

Here is a link to the main extensions page at their website.
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/?application={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}

Here is a link to the most popular extensions.
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/showlist.php?application=firefox&numpg=10&category=Popular


Here are some highlights. Extensions I always load on computers I use.


Super DragAndGo.


This extension allows you to just drag a link onto a blank spot of a webpage and the link will open in a new tab. It's very handy when you are looking at a news site to open the articles you want to read. Also very handy in a forum looking for threads you want to read!

Here's a link go grab it:
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&category=Tabbed%20Browsing&numpg=10&id=137

One thing to be aware of though. By default when you drag a picture that is a link it downloads the picture instead of opening the link. You can turn that off in the extension's prefs though. Go to the 'Tools' menu in Firefox and pick 'Extensions'. Click on Super DragAndGo and click the 'Options' button below. Uncheck the 'drag an image to download' box.


Forecast Fox


This extension downloads the local weather report from the Weather Channel's website and displays it at the bottom of your browser window. The information it displays is the current weather and the forecast for the next day or few days. Happily it doesn't download spyware like the popular 'Weatherbug' program.

Download Link is at https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&category=Popular&numpg=10&id=398

You will have to set your location once you get it downloaded. In the Firefox 'Tools' menu select 'Extensions'. Click on 'Forecast Fox' in the list and then click the 'Options' button below. The Forecast Fox preferences window will open. Towards the top right click the 'Find Code' button. Type the name of your city. For example, birmingham alabama. Select your city out of the list below and click 'OK'. You can change the other preferences such as how many days of extended forecast to show. Or just click OK again.


Adblock


If you have a fast internet connection, you really don't have to bother with this one!

Most web browsers today can block pop up ads. At least pop up ads that annoying websites haven't found new ways to pop up! (Lately they've taken to using the Flash plugin to do it!) Adblock takes things a step farther and blocks ads in the middle of web pages. This is incredibly handy for people who have slow connections to the internet. It really does make a slow connection much more usable since you don't download huge flash ads anymore.

Here is a link to the Adblock extension:
https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&category=Popular&numpg=10&id=10

Once you load Adblock you could either manually add things to be blocked or rely on a premade block list. I used to add things on my own, but have found a premade list I use now. Go to http://www.geocities.com/pierceive/adblock/ and find the file with the latest date. Download it and follow the next set of instructions to import it into the Adblock settings.

In the Firefox 'Tools' menu pick 'Extensions'. Click on 'Adblock' in the list and then click the 'Options' button below. The Adblock preferences window will open. On the top right of the window click on 'Adblock Options' and select 'Import Filters' out of the menu. Open the file you downloaded and click done.


There are tons of cool extensions availible. Some others I like are Stumbleupon which helps you find new and interesting sites other users recommend on different topics. (I've found a lot of cool gardening sites this way including Dave's) GooglePreview is nice. It adds thumbnail pictures of the websites found into the results of a google search.

Anyone else have any you just can't live without?