extensions

I'll save us both some time by getting right to the descriptions of three Firefox add-ons that shave minutes off my workday. Hey, they add up!

Navigate Web pages using only your keyboard. When it comes to speed, I'll take a keyboard over a mouse any day of the week. A post from April 2008 explains how to create a keyboard-shortcut list you can access quickly. I also wrote about using your keyboard to move and resize windows and shortcuts for Word and Excel.

Now I can park the mouse when I surf. Instead of clicking, I enter … Read more

Firefox tabs make surfing the Web much easier. But managing them isn't so simple. That's why I've found 12 Firefox extensions to help you do just that.

Duplicate Tab The Duplicate Tab extension lets you copy a tab's history and open that same tab in your browser. You can also merge windows, which combines tabs from multiple instances of Firefox into a single window.

Firefox Showcase Firefox Showcase enables you to view your tabs as thumbnails in a new window, in the sidebar, or in a new tab. If you view them in a separate window or tab, the extension lets you view what's on the site without displaying it in full size. If you have a bunch of tabs open, the tool even lets you filter them to find the desired tab sooner. It works quite well.

FoxTab FoxTab is the coolest Firefox extension in this roundup. Similar to Apple's CoverFlow, FoxTab displays tabs in 3D. You can flip through them, view them in a grid, or sift through them one by one. When you click on a tab, it's brought to the front.

LastTab Firefox allows you to scroll through tabs from left to right with the control and tab keys. But with the help of LastTab, that key combination will switch its operation to move to the most recently accessed tab. LastTab provides a simple change, but it's extremely handy when you want to reference content on just a few of your many open tabs.… Read more

Although plain in design, this handy tool lets you easily store and view your favorite Web sites offline. Instead of supplying a built-in browser, your stored pages can be quickly viewed in your designated browser.

This freeware program's bland interface is all business. A simple Wizard that leads you through the process of copying Web sites is a welcome touch. Users need only enter a project name, insert the URLs to be copied, and adjust settings as desired, including choosing how many layers of a page the program will pick up. HTTrack Website Copier goes to work very quickly … Read more

If you followed the steps in my post from August on merging your Outlook and Gmail contacts, you may have ended up with duplicates in your contact lists. Microsoft's advice for deleting duplicate contacts is to sort them by the date modified, Ctrl-select the ones you want to remove, and press delete.

The problem is, the duplicate entries probably aren't identical, so you're almost certain to delete some data along with the dupe. What you need is a way to merge the information in the duplicate contacts. There's no such feature in Outlook, but if you're willing to spend $30, you can make short work of your extraneous Outlook entries by running 4Team's Duplicate Killer for Outlook.

The program deletes or merges duplicate e-mail messages, calendar entries, tasks, and notes in addition to contacts. I tested the program with Outlook 2007 but, according to the vendor, it works with Outlook 2000, XP, and 2003 as well. The new version, 3, is said to work with "Microsoft Exchange type folders including public folders," according to the vendor's Web site, but I ran it on a standalone Outlook installation.

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Being safe while you surf the Web is extremely important, yet safe surfing sometimes seems like an oxymoron. For users of the Firefox browser, downloading security extensions can help increase your level of protection from worms, hackers, phishers, and the like.

I should note that even with these extensions installed, you won't be perfectly safe. Visit sites only of trusted sources, and don't download unknown files.

BetterPrivacy BetterPrivacy protects against long-term tracking cookies that can't be deleted. The extension makes you aware of those objects and deletes them for you. You can then sift through those cookies and selectively decide which you want to delete. It's a simple but effective tool.

BlockSite BlockSite gives you the option of blocking a Web site that you deem unsafe or unsuitable for the family. The extension even disables all links to the sites you might find in search results. When you access the extension's menu, you need only to add the site's URL to the blacklist. You won't be able to access the site, unless you remove it from that list.

Dr. Web Anti-virus Dr. Web Anti-virus enables you to verify that any file you're downloading, or any page you're browsing, isn't installing malware onto your computer. Once you right click on a link or file path, you'll find the Dr. Web Anti-virus option in the menu. Click it, and the path will be scanned to determine if there is any malware being added to your computer.

FormFox You think you're on a familiar site while filling out an online form, but you're nervous about whether the trusted source will actually receive it. That's where FormFox comes in. The add-on gives you the exact URL destination of information you're submitting to a site. So when you input your name, address, and other information, you can mouse over the Submit button and search boxes to find out exactly to where you're directing the information. You might be surprised to see where your data is going.

Ghostery Ghostery gives you alerts whenever a Web site is "watching" you. When you have the extension on, it constantly analyzes the site to determine if it's running hidden scripts that track your behavior. If it does, it will alert you to it. You can then decide to leave the site or stay.… Read more

A new developer version of Chrome takes some significant strides to adding the top-requested feature--the ability to accommodate extensions that customize what Google's browser can do--but programmers also pushed back support for a collection of significant advanced Web features.

Google Chrome 2.0.180.0 emerged Tuesday night for people willing to try the developer preview version. The new version installs some of the plumbing necessary to support the feature, according to the release notes.

"The extensions posse would like to point out that as of today's dev channel release, extensions are starting to be a bit … Read more

As a Firefox user and blogger, I realized not too long ago that the best way to be more efficient was to find useful add-ons for the Mozilla Web browser.

After trying a variety of Firefox extensions, I've found 15 that do a fine job of making my blogging more productive.

Apture Editor: Apture Editor enables you to easily add contextual images, videos, reference guides, links, and more to a blog post. Whenever a reader moves her mouse over an Apture-linked term, a box is displayed, showing the related media you chose. Whenever a reader clicks on an item, a new window opens, displaying the source of that media. It's a great way to add more value to your blog posts.

Clipmarks: Clipmarks lets you "clip" (copy) sections of a Web page, including text, images, or video, and add them to your Clipmarks profile. You can then send all your saved clips to your blog. You can also send them to Friendfeed, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. It's a useful tool. Check it out.

Fire Analytics: If you want to track how well your blog is doing, the Fire Analytics Firefox extension will help. To use it, you'll need to link your Google Analytics account to Fire Analytics. Once complete, you can see all your Google Analytics reports in Fire Analytics without ever going to Google's page. It's not as pretty as Google's reports, but you'll get the same information in a much shorter amount of time. It's worth trying out.

FireFlix: Finding images for your blog post is made simpler with FireFlix. The sidebar extension lets you quickly search and upload photos from Flickr without leaving the page you're on. If you use Flickr to find photos for your blog, this extension is for you.… Read more

Last August, I described how to delay the messages you send from Microsoft Outlook. In that post, I bemoaned the lack of a similar feature in Gmail. Well, Google engineer Yuzo Fujishima comes to the rescue with a new tool called Undo Send, though unlike Outlook's send-delay feature, in Gmail, you have to act--or unact--fast.

To activate the feature, open Gmail, click Settings in the top-right corner, and choose the Labs tab. If you don't see a Labs tab, click more in the top-left menu, select even more, click the Labs link at the top right, choose Gmail … Read more

The notion of horse legs for humans just seemed strange to me--until I saw longshot Mine That Bird's gorgeously graceful sprint to the finish in Saturday's Run for the Roses. Now I sort of get why a human would want to approximate equine movement. Such strength, such speed, such hooves.

Seattle artist Kim Graham says her Digitigrade Leg Extensions "give a person the uncanny and graceful appearance of an animal." Granted, they don't look all that comfortable, though the artist insists it takes just 10 to 15 minutes of walking to get used to them. … Read more