Extensions are plug-ins that add new functionality to Firefox. I recommend the following extensions:
- FlashBlock - This blocks a Flash files and replaces them with a button that you can click to load the Flash file. Flash animations are usually advertisements and sometimes they can be very nasty (ugly, distracting, or cover up useful information).
- BugMeNot - This plugin connects to the BugMeNot.com servers when you right-click on a log in box and will (hopefully) get a username and password for the site. This is great if you do not want to sign up on a site just to read the news or download a program.
- RetailMeNot - When you visit a site like Amazon.com, it pops up a notification bar that alerts you of current coupons. It downloads a list of coupons about once a week and does not send any information to RetailMeNot.com.
- Google Toolbar - Google’s official GoogleBar for Firefox. Includes some handy features like a spell checker and AutoLink.
- Bookmark Sync and Sort - This lets you synchronize and sort your bookmarks to your website by using FTP or WebDAV. This is a great way to share bookmarks between different systems and keep a backup in case something bad happens.
- Location Navigator - This captures the numeric portion of the URL and increments it or decrements it by clicking a button. It can also created a slide show. Location Navigator used to be called URLnav.
- Web Developer - This handy tool helps you work on your website by doing things like allowing you to edit HTML and CSS on the fly right within Firefox.
- Redirect Remover - This removes redirects from links. This is when one site sends you to another, but does not link to it directly. This is usually only to keep track of how many people click the link, but can be used for evil.
- User Agent Switcher -This extension allows you to change the user agent of Firefox to make it look like it is another browser or running on another operating system. This is handy to have on a Linux system for stubborn, poorly designed websites.
