cinemaclubs.com

First  of all, if you dont know, Firefox is a free cross-platform, feature rich, bug free(almost), customizable browser. It replaced Internet Explorer(IE, the big blue ‘e’ icon on every windows OS) completely on my desktop. It has pretty good tabbed feature, popup blocker, & minimal javascript support. Using IE, a potential script can damage your PC, but that damage is minimal in firefox.

These are the plugins/skins which I use on firefox, which you may also find making your browsing experience more enjoyable, safe & pleasing. There are other tons of addons as well, but on weighing the usage (how useful it is) & resourcage (how much resources it consumes), I found these to be the best.

1. Adblock plus 

Use this along with Filterset updater and they would make 90% of the web ads disappear. Still, if you find any new ad on some page, simply click on right corner of firefox, where it says ‘Adblock’ & add the filter yourself. Filterset updater updates the ad structure for you, but sometimes the update maybe late.

Heres the ad-ridden page from TOI as viewed in IE…. & btw, you will also get a flash popup covering quarter of the screen when you load the page. Also the screenshot doest not include the ads when you scroll down.

Heres the ad-free page from same site, same time as viewed in Firefox.

(Ironically, the adblock will block ads on this page also… ;-)  )

2. Flashblock 

This (as you would guess) blocks all the pesky flash animations on web, & activates a flash only if you wish.

IE Preview of a flash page:  PLus if your have your speakers turned, the audio associated with the game/animation will start pumping out…

FF Preview of same page. Notice the f instead of animation? (thats a big F for the animation)…when you click on it, only then the animation will kick in.

3. Fireftp

This is not much of a daily use addon, if you deal with ftp sites/web development, you may find this useful…but not necessary for usual day-day browsing.

4.  Silver skin

Outlook Silver skin makes the UI for firefox pleasing. Click on any of the above screenshots for my FF skin. You may find others convenient as well. Go to FF themes section to explore more.

5. Tab Mix Plus

Did you ever wish you could undo, when you accidentally closed a webpage? Tabmix plus can restore that for you. Additionally, it includes more feautures on tabs. I like the ‘restore session’ feature the most.

6. NoScript

A webpage may look normal, but some ads placed on the site, may contain dangerous scripts & the site owner may not know this. Noscript blocks all javascripts, you can enable only the ones you want….

If you find any additional interesting addons, please drop in the comments, I will take a look…