10 Browser-Boosting Downloads

NoScript

The Internet is a dangerous place--and sometimes the best things about it are also the most vulnerable to attack. That’s certainly true of many of the Internet’s interactive technologies, such as JavaScript, Java, and Silverlight. Though they enable Web pages to offer sophisticated features, they can also let bad guys attack your PC.

By default, Firefox allows all of these interactive technologies to run when it encounters them on a Web page--it can’t differentiate between the useful and the malicious. NoScript solves that problem neatly. It blocks JavaScript, Java, Silverlight, and various other technologies from running, unless you instruct it to let specific sites run them. That way, you can enjoy the features at sites that you know are safe, and turn them off everywhere else.

When you visit a site at which content is blocked, NoScript issues a notification, and you can then decide whether to let the content through, block it, allow it just once, or always permit it at that specific site. You can also fine-tune the permissions for scripts to a remarkable degree (something that only true techies will want to bother with). The freebie safeguards your PC in other ways as well, protecting against cross-site scripting attacks, for example. NoScript is an ideal tool for anyone concerned about online safety. Most people will simply set it and forget it, while the hard-core can fiddle with it to their heart’s content.

Download NoScript | Price: Free

Tab Scope

Tabs in Firefox are missing one important feature: the ability to display thumbnails of their content when you mouse over them. If you frequently have many tabs open, finding the one you want to switch to can be difficult. That’s where Tab Scope comes in. Simply hover your mouse over any tab, and you’ll see a thumbnail that gives you an overview of that page.

You can interact with the thumbnail view, too. Buttons appear for back, forward, refresh, and to close the window; another button zooms in on the page so that you can see more detail. You can also click any link you see in the thumbnail and browse that way.

You get quite a bit of control over how the tabs look and behave, and you can change things such as the thumbnail size, the zoom level, where the thumbnail should appear, and how long the lag should be between the time you hover your mouse and the time the thumbnail appears.

Download Tab Scope | Price: Free

Internet Explorer Add-Ons

When it comes to add-ons, Firefox gets all the publicity, but Internet Explorer has some very good ones as well. We’ve chosen two of our favorites for you.

CloudBerry TweetIE

If you’re a Twitter user, and you frequently send tweets that include excerpts from Web pages you visit, you’ll like CloudBerry TweetIE. Given the simplicity of Twitter, you’d expect this Internet Explorer add-on to be simple to use as well--and you’d be right. After you install it and then tell Internet Explorer to treat it as a toolbar, it displays as a small button. Click it to log in to Twitter. Then, when you find text on a Web page that you’d like to send via Twitter, copy the text to the Clipboard--it pastes into CloudBerry TweetIE, along with the URL. You can then edit the text and send it as a tweet. It’s that simple.

The creators also have a version for Firefox, but when I tried to install that software, it refused to cooperate. The Firefox add-on is listed as experimental, too, so at this point I can’t recommend trying that version. Let’s hope the problems are fixed soon.

Download CloudBerry TweetIE | Price: Free

IESpell

These days you perform all sorts of text-related tasks in your browser that you previously did in a word processor or another application with a spelling checker. You might use a Web-based e-mail service such as Gmail, for example. You may write a blog. And you certainly fill out forms.

That means there are plenty of chances for you to make yourself look foolish by spelling words incorrectly. And the problems stemming from incorrect spelling can go beyond embarrassment--say, if you’re filling out a job application or sending a cover letter.

The problem, of course, is that most browsers don’t have built-in spelling checkers. IESpell solves the problem for Internet Explorer users. It integrates right into the browser, and makes checking the spelling of anything inside the browser a snap. It includes all the features you’d expect in a spelling checker, including the ability to add words to a dictionary, and the option to ignore certain words.

Download IESpell | Price: Free

A Cross-Browser Add-On

Here’s one final selection, designed for anyone who uses more than one browser. We’ve saved the best for last, too, because this download may be the best browser booster anywhere.

Xmarks

If you use more than one browser, more than one computer, or more than one operating system, the free Xmarks browser add-on is probably the best add-on you can find. Although it does a lot of nifty things, at its most basic level it synchronizes your bookmarks among all your browsers, no matter what computer they’re on or what operating system the machines use. (If you’re interested only in Mozilla’s take on bookmark syncing, see Mozilla Weave Sync.)

I’m a perfect example of someone who finds Xmarks invaluable. I use Firefox and Internet Explorer on my main Windows computer, Firefox on a Linux PC, Firefox and Internet Explorer on a laptop, and Safari and Firefox on a Mac. As you might imagine, trying to keep all of their bookmarks synchronized would be an impossible task--except that’s exactly what Xmarks does. You can find versions for Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows, for Firefox on Linux, and for Firefox and Safari on the Mac.

Simply run Xmarks along with your browser, and it synchronizes not just your bookmarks but also your passwords, so you can log in to your favorite sites from any browser you use. And since all of that information is backed up to a server too, you can be sure it will never disappear.

You’ll find a lot more, such as the ability to get detailed information about any site you visit. But that’s just the extras. Synchronization is what this browser add-on is all about, and it does a superb job.

You may have heard about this add-on before, when it was called Foxmarks. But no matter what you call it, it’s a must-have.

Download Xmarks | Price: Free