Essential Firefox extensions
If you use Firefox (which you really should!) you would know about the plethora of extensions available for it. Here’s a list of extensions I use with Firefox, and why:
Web Developer
That’s what I am, so this is an obvious extension for me! It add loads of useful web developer tools to Firefox. Every time I see something on the web that makes me think “hmm… wonder how that’s done?”, this toolbar gets me the answer much faster that looking through the source code!
FoxyTunes
Control your music player straight from the browser. Especially useful on slower PCs, when switching from the browser to maximize iTunes or Windows Media Player takes a good few seconds more than you can stand. Also has an alarm clock for your favourite morning song!
IE Tab
Some older websites (and newer ones designed by strange web developers) are designed only for Internet Explorer (Air Deccan, for instance). This lets you quickly switch a web page to use IE’s rendering engine.
ForeCastFox
Displays the local weather forecast in the status bar. Not very useful for me, but I like the pretty satellite images. 
DownThemAll!
Download manager. If you’ve got the bandwidth, this can increase the speed of a download by upto 400%. Supports resuming.
Google Toolbar for FireFox
Pop-up blocker, and all-in-one search tool. If you use Google extensively, this is a must-have.
Wizz RSS News Reader
Self-explanatory. Read my earlier post on why I prefer this over other news readers.
Gmail space
This lets you use your 2.5GB (and counting) Gmail space to store large files, without having to attach them and send them to yourself. It has a nice FTP-style interface.
SiteAdvisor
This one from Mcafee helps to keep your PC spyware free by warning you about dangerous websites. Integrates with Google search results.
FoxyMeter
Tells you how many pages you have surfed so far, and other information. Mine tells me that I’ve surfed 58414 pages since September 22nd 2006, at 768 pages per day. I really do need to get out more.
This list is by no means exhaustive - they are only the extensions I have come to find useful. You can download hundreds of extensions from the Firefox Add-ons site. Also see what Download.com and PC Magazine have to say about it. Remember that installing too many extensions can slow your system down, depending on it’s configuration. This dude installed 100 firefox extensions at the same time just to see what would happen. Wonder what he was tripping on!
What’s the extension you cannot do without?
