Mozilla Firefox has an amazing ability that no browser can match. Extensions allow you to extend Firefox to meet your needs that the default browser out of the box cannot do for you. With a few quick clicks, you can instantly install an extension and expand Firefox’s features.

Internet Explorer supports add-ons, but there is no real one-stop shop for them and most of them are spyware. As far as I know, Opera has nothing like extensions, although it has a lot of features out of the box.

So I thought I would share what extensions I have installed on my copy of Firefox. I could live without them, but it would make my time online vastly less productive and more dangerous. I make a general rule to try to keep an extension as simple as possible in order to avoid any bugs or major issues. For the most part, I have been able to avoid big extensions.

• del.icio.us 1.1 – Haven’t used this much, but it makes adding sites to your del.icio.us account a snap.
• Disable Targets for Downloads 1.0.1 – Ever get an annoying blank tab or window when you click on a download link? That window is forever gone after installing this extension.
• ForecastFox 0.8.5.2 – Quickly keep tabs on what the weather is.
• FoxyTunes 1.1.5.4 – Control your audio player from the browser.
• Google Safe Browsing 1.1 – The best way to prevent being a victim of a phishing attack.
• LiveLines 0.4.4.2 – The easiest way to add a RSS feed to your aggregator (in my case, Bloglines). Simple and just works.
• New Tab Button on Tab Bar 1.0 – Simple and self-explanitory.
• SearchPluginHacks 0.1.3 – Right-click and delete any search plugin.
• Tabbrowser Preferences 1.2.8.8 – Added options for tabbed browsing, including single-window mode (the best feature of Firefox I think).
• Tab X 0.9.2 – Close buttons on each tab.
• Update Notifier 1.1 – Keep your themes and extensions up-to-date.

A nice article by Ben Goodger (one of the original Firefox developers) on where Firefox came from.

Google Safe Browsing is a cool new extension for Mozilla Firefox 1.5 that helps prevent you from falling to a phishing scam on the web.

It is extremely cool how it works. Here is a screenshot of a test page Google has setup:

As you can clearly see, Google puts up a very noticable ballon-style tooltip pointing to the address bar, while darkening the rest of the web page. The tooltip clearly and noticably states that this page is most likely a illegal attempt to get personal/financial information from you.

I hope this becomes an integrated feature in not just Firefox, but other major browsers. What a noticable, simple, and effective way to protect users from phishing attacks.

I plan on installing this on my family/relatives computers to protect them. It should be a must use extension for all Firefox users. Check that, ALL internet users.

I want it! That is a little video of how the upcoming iPod Sync extension for Thunderbird should work.

Looks simple and effective. Exactly what extensions should be.

Looks like we will have an iPod Sync extension to Thunderbird soon. Nice!!!