Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Most Useful Browser Extensions?
An anonymous reader writes: One of the most powerful features of modern browsers is the ability to install third-party extensions. They allow third-party developers to work on really useful niche functionality, and let users customize their browser with the tools they need. Unfortunately, this environment has the same discover-ability and security problems as standalone software. Thus, my question: what are your most useful (and safe) browser extensions? I can't live without some privacy basics like NoScript, AdBlock, and Ghostery. I also find FoxyProxy helpful for getting around geolocation requirements for media streaming. OneTab works pretty well for saving groups of browser tabs, and Pushbullet keeps getting better at managing my phone while I'm at my PC.
It's not the browsers fault, it's the web designers. when I have my add-ons on full privacy mode, I cannot use any of my financial sites. Web designers are under the impression that input checking always has to be done on the client side.
And Yahoo!'s web pages are so crappy they don't even render correctly when I have all my add-ons running.
Google does it right - their pages don't require all the bells and whistles to be turned on in order to view the page.
But anyway, non of these add-ons would be required if web designers weren't so inept.
Adblock, Flashblock, uBlock, Ghostery all pick up slightly different items to block which combined do a pretty good job of breaking things like Facebook (whitelisted) and news sites with embedded non-youtube videos. I just don't watch embedded videos anymore, the article is typically better anyways.
Now that Youtube is HTML5 by default for 99.99% of their videos you can safely enable flashblock for 100% of all sites, the only one I have whitelisted anymore is Pandora because they're stuck in 2007.
moox. for a new generation.
Adblock and Ghostery work on an opt-out basis, which is semi-adequate for ads and totally inadequate for tracking. Request Policy is my #1 mandatory extension.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I can't understand why "focus last selected tab" isn't default on all browsers. Essentially, I need ctrl-tab to work as well as alt-tab does with applications. I have to have Tab Mix Plus in order to get this as well as other features that let me control how/where tabs pop up.
Adblock and uBlock use the same rules and subscriptions. They pick up exactly the same stuff, you don't need both. Ghostery is worth having, or Privacy Badger. Flashblock seems kind of redundant, since you can just enable click-to-play on plug-ins.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Is there an extension that blocks these "We'd like your feedback" messages that seem to be popping up on every single site lately? Or a way to block them easily with AdBlock?
As well, why not have a neutral platform you can build on to your needs instead of introducing bloat that only some people will like/use.
Firefox:
- AdBlock Plus + Element Hiding Helper
- Chatzilla (IRC Chat)
- FireFTP
- SnapLinks Plus (right click multi-link select/copy/open)
- Firebug
- HTTPS Everywhere
- Quickdrag (drag drop links into white space to open in new tab, drag drop images to download them)
- SQLite Manager (manually browse and fix Mozilla's privacy blunders)
- TableTools2 (manage table data when site options don't offer it)
- YouTube HD (forces specific sizes when possible)
- Live HTTP Headers (see what's really being sent)
uBlock and AdBlock do indeed block the same stuff, but if you're going to pick one, go with uBlock, since it's significantly more efficient.
Add:
FlashControl (To disable automatic running of applets is a must with the constant 0-day exploits and the widespread use of tracking applets.)
Vanilla Cookie Manager (automatic clean up after gorging on cookies.)
Request Policy is my #1 mandatory extension.
For those who are unfamiliar with it, Request Policy works a lot like NoScript... it lists the domains that the page is trying to load *any* content from (not just scripts), and you whitelist which cross-domain loads you want to allow. On slashdot, for instance, I'm allowing requests to fsdn.com, but disallowing them to gstatic.com and scorecardreasearch.com.
I use it myself, but I can't recommend it. Too much of the web breaks. Credit card payments that bounce to a payment processor's website are especially problematic (I've gotten double-billed at least once). And using it in front of other people is especially awkward when I have to fiddle with a new site for a few minutes to get it to work. Also, I don't know that this provides that much better privacy than AdBlock+EasyPrivacy or some of the host-file blacklists.
Maybe with some extra development Request Policy could be a lot easier. Integration with (or incorporation into) NoScript and/or a community of well-maintained whitelists would make a big difference.
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
Firefox is extraordinarily important to all of humanity. Without the open-source Firefox, our communication with each other with web pages would be severely limited by abusive managers of huge companies. For example, Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 6 had an enormous number of quirks; web designers wasted huge amounts of time dealing with that.
Mozilla Foundation has exhibited a combination of excellent and poor management, in my opinion.
Add-ons are very useful. One of the most important aspects of Firefox is the huge number of Add-ons available. Here are some I've found necessary:
Adblock Edge, ads were yesterday! Attacks sometimes pose as ads. Stop tracking. Advertisers of run annoying ads.
BetterPrivacy, "Super-Cookie Safeguard", eliminate sneaky tracking.
Classic Theme Restorer, required because of Mozilla Foundation's bad management of GUIs.
Close tabs to the left, title says it all. What? Why is that necessary? Why does Firefox have only "Close tabs to the right"?
Cookies Manager+, needed because of poor management of Slashdot by the parent company, Dice Holdings.
FEBE, backup your Firefox data. Restores only to the same profile. Use MozBackup to restore to a different profile, such as when you move to the Pale Moon 64-bit version of Firefox to get away from Mozilla Foundation bad management.
Ghostery, protect your privacy.
iMacros for Firefox, help jump through log-on hoops.
Mozilla Archive Format, save everything you see displayed on a web page.
NoScript, protect against attacks, stop tracking.
Nuke Anything, Enhanced, remove areas of a web page.
Restart-less Restart, Firefox frequently crashes when there are many windows and tabs, because of the memory-hogging bug that Mozilla Foundation hasn't fixed in 9 years.
Session Manager, when Firefox crashes, go back to the Windows and tabs you had before the crash.
Session Manager Export Tool, export windows and tabs of a Firefox session to HTML.
Snap Links Plus, opens multiple links inside a selected area.
SQLite Manager, manage any SQLite database.
Tab Mix Plus, fix Firefox's insufficient GUI design.