Addons I love - Firefox 3 and others

Today is clean-up day; updating my add-ons, organizing my bookmarks and discovering something new.

I must admit, it ended up being more the third one and less of the first two.

It all started out after we updated my browser of choice, The one and only Fox, to it's latest version.

As it happened, whilst checking my mail, I found that you could not view anything on You Tube until the necessary plug-ins where installed.

I hate it when this happens so early in the morning. But then I should be working and not watching funny and somewhat terrifying videos on YT, should I?

Well, a day that started out wobbly turned into a bit of an adventure.

Somehow I found myself acquiring new add-ons to Firefox 3 - some have been there for previous versions and others are brand new to FF.

Whatever the case, it a journey of discovery for me. I think I shall deem evvry Thursday 'Recon Thr'. Nice!

Okay, so a little bit of what I discovered. And since I am a bit behind in setting up add-ons, I do not think most of these findings will be a surprise for regular net users out there.


Ad Blocker

I have been meaning to get this for a while and I have finally done it.

Moment of pause as I do the Rocky running up stairs to Queen song move.

Reason I was in two minds about this was due to ad-revenue.

I know a lot of sites depend on ads for added revenue and get sponsored by them. And I want to support some of these sites, especially those of good writers who depend on them for moolah.

After all, this is the best way for everyone to have a say in matters.

So here's the plan.

Yes, yes I got the ad blocker. But, it looks like I get a choice in what ads I get chop-chop. Correct me if I am wrong here.

In that case, I will only click the hand of justice for really really irritating ads. Like that damn floating ad on magicmail. Arrgh! I will get you yet.

So for now, Ad blocker is on a trial run.

I am hoping it is as useful as flashkiller. Flashkiller is for net use what penicillin was for the the flu. Zap zap zap - overlapping, annoying flashies are gone.

Mwaaahahahaha. Notice the word annoying.


Fast dial

Come on, this is new right. Ok, fine Opera's had it for a while (there I said it) but it is finally available for the Fox too, right?

Well, I've set up 9 out of the 12 available slots. Basically you get 12 slots where you can store the websites you access regularly. Or your fav sites. Whatever, it's all upto you.

So here's what I stored:

Wiki
IMDB
Flickr
Youtube
Dictionary
GoogleMaps
Technorati
Reddit
Care2

Not sure what to add to the last 3. I fear I am forgetting some sites. But for now, this is gonna be quite helpful when I have to refer to a site. Especially the dictionary.


Undo closed tabs

Oooh another Opera-ish feature.

If you are like me and you have jittery fingers, you will close tabs accidentally. Chances are it will be a site you had to search quite a bit for.

Sure, you can browse through your history toolbar or type in the url (haha, good luck remembering it) and hope it auto completes it.

But now, all you gotta do is click the left hand button and zoop! It's back.

That I readily welcome.


Flagfox

I am seriously not sure of this one.

It's got its merits and is quite interesting to use. Bet it comes in quite handy when you wanna check sources.

But you also wonder about privacy and how it will affect bloggers who wish to remain anonymous while making comments on politics, social trends or other such fields.


That's all for now. I will talk about other add ons, as I explore what I love, hate or apathize about FireFox extensions.