I’ve been using Firefox since … well i don’t know, probably since i realised that IE sucks big time (and that’s some time ago). Anyway, we all know that with web-browsing comes along a lot of irritating stuff like pop-ups and gazilions of ads. Besides that our every move on the web si being monitored by different services, which makes things more anoying for IT guys. Common internet users don’t even know or care if they are being watched or not.
I made a short list of what add-ons i use and their purposes. I think every internet user should have at least 2 of these add-ons installed, but hey, you can’t force the man if he doesn’t want or care.
No-Script
– blocks any type of script running on the website your are visting (flash, java), allowing only trusted websites of your choice
– it can make some websites to load a bit weird, or lead to unfunctionality of their buttons or slideshows but you can allow the design part to do its thing and block any kind of suspicious script
– it’s a must have for anybody using the internet, but people tend to get annoyined by everything getting blocked and do not bother to allow stuff, they just disable the plugin
AdBlock Plus
– blocks the majority of ads and pop-ups
– faster browsing due to the fact that your browser is not loading all that commercial-crap
– it’s a must have
DoNotTrack Plus
– ad companies and social networks are tracking everything you do on the web
– they know what sites you visit, when you visit them and how often you do…and they know who you are. DNT+ blocks the tracking so you can browse freely and safely.
Cookie Manager +
– you can view, edit or create cookies
– allows back ups and restoring of cookies
– useful for developers or people that like to “play” with cookies
HTTPS everywhere
– it detects if the website supports HTTPS and everything you visit or do on the websites (provided that they support HTTPS) will be encrypted
– useful to avoid people that try to sniff passwords or get cookies on the LAN
Live HTTP Headers
– helps debuggin web applications
– can see cookies sent by the remote site
– can see which kind of web server the remote site is using
– very useful for developers
url-addon-bar
– moves plugins from the lower part of the browser (or wherever is your addon bar) to the URL bar, like in the picture below
