Useful Firefox extensions

Mozilla is the irreplaceable browser for many of us. There are always some Firefox extensions we can not do without.

A selection of in our opinion the 12 most useful extensions, linked to open directly the official download page.

• limited to general use. Not the ones for web developers or Facebook users.
• the minimum necessary. Too many extensions make your browser crash and slow it down. Many seem useful at first, but only few you really use.

Toolbar Buttons
A button pack where every button offers a functionality. Pick the buttons you like best by right-clicking your toolbar, go to customize and drag-drop the desired buttons where you want them.

Webmail Notifier
WebMail Notifier checks your webmail accounts and notifies the number of unread emails. It automatically logs in and makes switching between different accounts as simple as a click.

Delicious Bookmarks
The official add-on for the world's leading online bookmarking service. The advantages:

• Your bookmarks are automatically synchronized between your computers, stored safe online and locally.
• Accessible from any PC.
• Notify your friends or get notified by them of interesting websites directly in your browser.

Download Sort
Automatically save downloads to different directories based on extension. All jpg in one folder, all pdf in another, and so on. Keep your downloads organized automatically.

FlashGot
Instant download from the computers cache memory of fully or partially watched videos with a single click. It doesn't start the download from scratch. Works also while watching. Saves time and bandwidth.

Brief
Makes reading RSS feeds as easy and intuitive as it gets. Has exactly the right set of features. Powerful and simple at the same time.

Update Scanner
Monitors web pages for updates. Useful for wiki pages you want to patrol or websites that don't provide RSS feeds. You can set "sensibility", scan period and how to be notified. Changes get highlighted.

Read it Later
Save pages of one-time interest to read later. With Offline Reading Mode you read the items you’ve saved for later on the plane, train, or anywhere. Creates automatically your own RSS feed to view your list from anywhere.

Adblock Plus
Get rid of ads and banners that often take longer to download than everything else on the page.

Sidebar Autohide
Show / hide the sidebar area with the mouse pointer. You still lock the sidebar. Remembers the content shown last (e.g. bookmarks, history...).

Undo Closed Tabs Button
Undo closed tabs via a toolbar and/or tab bar button.

Fast Dial
Visual bookmarks.


If you use a small screen, like on a netbook, read our wikiHow article How to Optimize Your Netbook. Make the text better readable and more screen space available.