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Useful browser addons


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I thought it might be interesting to have somewhere to share and discuss useful browser addons people are using. I'll kick things off with my personal "standard" set of Firefox extensions;

 

 

Ghostery

Blocks cross site tracking cookies and some other forms of privacy invasion. Very easy to use configuration panel for deciding which things you'd like to block / allow (I personally default to blocking everything and specifically allow the few things I want to use)

 

NoScript

Prevent websites running Javascript code unless you explicily authorise them to do so. Quite useful from a security perspective (malicious javascript code won't even execute, helping to protect from viruses) and also tends to mop up some of the more annoying forms of adverisement ('floating' advert boxes etc).

 

Note: It can be a bit of a pain having to manually whitelist sites you actually want to use (since a lot of sites just stop working entirely without JavaScript) so this isn't necessaraily for the casual web surfer. If you're serious about your web privacy and security though it's well worth the effort and one time inconvenience per website.

 

AdBlock Plus

Blocks a lot of advertisements using a blacklist which you can extend yourself. Updates constantly with new advert definitions.

 

Note: By default this comes with a whitelist of "good" adverts enabled by default. If you want to eliminate as many adverts as possible I'd suggest disabling the whitelist (which is easy to do).

 

Self Destructing Cookies

A simple addon that erases all cookies from a website once you've closed the tab or navigated to a different website. You can whitelist specific websites to keep their cookies for the duration of your browser session or forever for those websites you want to stay logged into. Very useful for the privacy concious web surfer.

 

Lazarus

Simple addon that (securely) saves what you type into web-forums as you're typing it. Extremely useful for those times when you write a huge forum post and firefox / your ISP / the forum itself decide to have a hissy fit and your post vanishes into the ether. Simply right click -> Recover Form and you can resubmit your post.

 

 

 

 

And some tools that are more useful to web developers;

 

Firebug

Extremely powerful tool for inspecting and editing live web pages and debugging javascript code. No web developer targetting Firefox should be without Firebug in my opinion.

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Please keep in mind that some sites survive off Ad revenue (sometimes it has to be clicked other times its just number of users displayed to) I'm a member of a few sites that were once free, but have had to start charging for memberships due to the growing user base and decrease in ad revenue. Just have to say that because I feel its a double edged sword.

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Please keep in mind that some sites survive off Ad revenue (sometimes it has to be clicked other times its just number of users displayed to) I'm a member of a few sites that were once free, but have had to start charging for memberships due to the growing user base and decrease in ad revenue. Just have to say that because I feel its a double edged sword.

This is indeed true and I'd recommend whitelisting websites you use regularly in AdBlock to allow them to make their money. Sadly far too many sites push intrusive adverts that gobble up lots of bandwidth and get in your way when browsing.

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In addition:

 

Clear Cache

Easily clear your browser cache by pressing F9.

 

Source Tab Viewer

Opens "view page source" in a new tab instead of a new window.

 

Open Profile Folder

Simply opens the current user's browser profile folder.

 

Session Manager

As the name suggests, it allows you to manage your browsing sessions. You can save individual windows or whole multi-window sessions or just a tab or two or five and save it and name it whatever fits. Especially useful in crashes because it saves several sessions back. So if you have a 9999 tab session open and then it crashes and you forget and open and close firefox without restoring, fear not! It can resurrect it all in about 2 clicks!

 

Session Manager Export Tool

An add-on for the add-on. Lets you easily export saved sessions.

 

And for android enthusiasts users: APK Downloader

Follow the instructions and this allows you to download .apk files directly from the play store on your desktop browser!

 

Enjoy!

Edited by Einstein
Consolidated my multiple posts
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