extensions

When Google, Yahoo, or any other major search engine overwhelms you with so many matches it offers more results than dollars in the national debt, ChunkIt might be the plug-in for you. Available for Firefox and Internet Explorer, it "chunks" up your search returns, providing snippets of relevant text.

The add-on splits your browser tab into two vertical sections, the left side with the ChunkIt results and the right with unchunked returns. Clicking on the text of a ChunkIt result loads the text in the right pane, highlights the relevant bit in yellow, and scrolls directly to it. … Read more

Automating repetitive Firefox tasks is one way to save your fingers from undue stress, and iMacros for Firefox is a great way to do it. From a sidebar you can toggle on and off, and you can run, record, and edit macros. Recording is as simple as pressing a button before starting and clicking another to stop. For more advanced tasks you can turn to a set of demos, but the Web site wiki and step-by-step tutorials were easy enough to follow.

While iMacros can theoretically be used to input passwords, best security practices dictate that you shouldn't. Being … Read more

For some people, Web searches are second nature. They're comfortable jumping from a basic text search to using Boolean terminology to navigating a minefield of open-ended results. It's hard not to appreciates the depth of material available on the Internet, but parsing 75,000 results can be daunting to even seasoned searchers.

ChunkIt for Firefox and Internet Explorer aims to streamline your query results into a manageable list by surfacing the relevant blocks of content directly below the appropriate link. This may sound like CoolPreviews, which opens a mini-window to preview a link before you click on it, … Read more

Click&Clean is yet another Firefox extension that requires you to download another program--CCleaner--first. The good news is that both this extension and CCleaner are free and worked perfectly for us.

CCleaner is a program that rids your computers of unwanted files, including temporary files, cookies, and browsing history. Click&Clean is basically an extension that allows you to access CCleaner directly from your Firefox toolbar. It adds only a single button, so it won't clutter your browser window. Clicking it opened the CCleaner interface immediately.

If you're a Firefox user, and a fan of CCleaner, … Read more

One of the very best Firefox extensions, the All-in-One Sidebar add-on creates an active, collapsible sidebar that forces the default add-on window, your history, Web development tools, and what can seem like an endless amount of content to open in it.

By making all this extra content available via the same sidebar window, it takes one click on the sidebar's menu to switch among them, minimizing the clutter multiple Firefox extensions can unfortunately create. By default, the sidebar appears as a narrow panel of icons on the left of the screen, but even that can be set to automatically … Read more

This free IE add-on captures JPEG images of bookmarked sites in the event that the tagged site changes or disappears. We were impressed by its stellar performance and ease of use.

InternetScrap introduces a toolbar to your Internet Explorer window that contains only two buttons. We would have liked to have seen a better use of the remaining space, but you can't have everything. The first button on the toolbar lets you manage scrapped (bookmarked) Web pages. There you can customize a hot-key combination for operating the program. The settings menu lets you opt to scrap the entire Web … Read more

Maxthon and Maxthon Classic are Earth-2, alternate-reality versions of the Internet Explorer engine, topped with customization features that more closely resemble Firefox. Especially popular in China, it's one of the most popular browsers around. It renders pages fast and comes loaded with features--as if Firefox came with 90 percent of its most popular plug-ins.

The differences between the two versions are not readily apparent. Maxthon 2 features loads more customization ability, but sacrifices a bit of stability for the privilege. Its design is stylish compared to the old version, and its new approach to accessing functions makes it more … Read more

There's a bit of chatter about Google Chrome overtaking Firefox in coming months, after it fulfills more than a few wish lists (like this one). Yet, independent Firefox developers have a record for quickly countering features that crop up in rival browsers with a well-placed extension.

Take Fast Dial, for instance, one answer of many to Opera browser's speed dial feature, and another potential challenge to Chrome. Like Opera browser, Fast Dial displays thumbnail clips of your nine favorite Web sites. It runs in any blank window or in the current window if you click the toolbar shortcut, … Read more

Me.dium is a free social networking tool for Firefox and Internet Explorer with a twist. It lets you browse the Internet alongside your friends, and even make new ones.

The interface is modern without being obnoxious. A sidebar and a toolbar appear in your browser window. The top panel of the sidebar is a map that lets you view what sites your friends are visiting. The bottom panel of the sidebar lets you view your friends profiles and send messages. Me.dium will definitely appeal to Facebook users because you can send messages directly to your Facebook friends from … Read more