Buzzsonic.com

This one is really down to individual needs and every user is different but here’s what Add-Ons I’m running right now as part of my ‘ultimate’ browser set-up. Naturally my browser of choice is Firefox and has been for about three years.

First I dumped the default Firefox theme and installed Noia 2.0 Extreme which is a little more streamlined and sharper looking.

I read way too many RSS news feeds daily and if I’m not using my desktop reader of choice, FeedDemon (which has recently replaced RSS Bandit) Sage is a brilliant RSS feed reader and manager that tends to be less resources heavy than the desktop equivalents and sits in the sidebar of Firefox.

Its not really that useful anymore as the novelty seems to have worn off but I still have my StumbleUpon add-on ,though if I’m adding sites to any bookmarking service at all its at del.icio.us, and that extension is probably used daily as I have it plugged into my WordPress so my latest del.icio.us bookmarks show up on the blog immediately.

I’m really enjoying using the Windows Live Writer and its even handier now there is a Firefox plug-in so I can write more efficiently by clicking on the icon in the browser rather than going to the desktop and launching the program. Its favorite over the Performancing blogging add-on right now simply because I find it faster.

For lightening fast FTP needs there’s FireFTP which works just as well as my stand-alone program Smart FTP. Cheapskate that I am I still get the nag screen asking me to pay for the full version of SmartFTP after two years of useage. I will, I will.

For some reason Firefox 2 dumps the little Mail icon from the browser. Not that great. Get Mail restores it. Then there is the GMail Manager. Dont confuse this with GMail Notifier . Manager lets you manage multiple GMail accounts, Notifier deals with one. Yahoo Mail Notifier works the same as GMail Notifier by notifying you when new messages arrive in your mailbox. The icon sits in your status bar.

Domain Tools WhoIs? Is a great add on for getting background info on domain names. Bookmark Duplicate Detector watches out for duplicate bookmarks which is essential if you save a ton of them daily like me.

GUtil! Is a brilliant little app that lets you access just about every Google service there is from a neat little drop down menu. When you consider just how many Google services I use this is a great time saver.

How annoying is it when you click on a link that turns out to be a PDF document and the whole browser freezes as it runs off to download that 125 page study you didn’t really want? PDF Download cuts out that problem by offering some options first. PDF Download allows you to choose if you want to view a PDF file inside the browser (as PDF or HTML), if you want to view it outside Firefox with your default or custom PDF reader, or if you want to download it.

Another service I seem to have been using forever is TinyURL which I’ve always used for emailing super long links (those Amazon product ones for instance) or shortening links in a blog post. So, over joyed to find that they also have an add on, the Tiny URL Creator.

And, its more a desktop app (albeit a tiny one as apposed to a full blown app) but I mention Flickr Uploadr here as I use it to speed up photo and image uploads. By dragging them into the desktop uploader. I use that in conjunction with FlickrFox which lets you browse Flickr photo streams in the browser sidebar.

Using all these add-ons has kind of done away for the need for me to use either of the Yahoo and Google toolbars too.

Related Reading

Flickr Tools (FlickrBits.com)
Firefox Add Ons (Mozilla.org)
Unofficial MySpace Toolbar (Freewebs.com)