Firefox R0×0rz!. Not only is it more stable, secure and offers a nicer browsing experience than IE, but it’s also highly customizable and versatile. There are tons of extensions and tweaks that can be installed to make you more efficient or to simply to get rid of pesky banner ads and such.

Paul and I were having an IM discussion last week in which he sent me a link to an extension for Firefox that he thought was handy. I replied that I had been using it since the extension had first come out, in the early days of Mozilla Firefox, back when it was known as Phoenix. (The product name was then changed to Firebird then Firefox before the current name of Mozilla Firefox.) He wondered what other gems I was keeping to myself and suggested I write a post about it. So…here ya go!

Extensions

Extensions are “small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. They allow the application to be customized to fit the personal needs of each user if they need additional features, while keeping Firefox small to download.”

Here are the ones I use, roughly ordered by the value I put on them.

• SessionSaver
      Restores your browser -exactly- as you left it, every startup, every time
• Tabbrowser Preferences
       Enables enhanced control for some aspects of tabbed browsing
• undoclosetab
      Reopen a closed tab
• Gmail Notifier
      Sits in the status bar and notifies on new emails
• GreaseMonkey
      Adds new functionality to web pages, fixes rendering bugs, combining data from multiple web pages, and numerous other purposes
• Spellbound
      Provides spell check for web forms
• ForecastFox
      Display Accuweather’s current weather and forecast in the status bar or toolbar
• downTHEMall
      Adds new advanced downloading capabilities to your browser
• Duplicate Tab
      Allows you to clone a tab along with its history
• AdBlock
      Filters ads from web pages
• miniT
      Provides the ability to reorder tabs
• FLST
       Brings focus to the last selected tab when closing the active tab
• IE View
      For those websites that simply will not cooperate with web standards
• Bloglines Toolkit
      Subscribe to a website’s feed quickly and easily
• Del.icio.us
      Makes it quick and easy to add a website to del.icio.us
• PDF Download
      Gives the option to download PDF files rather than opening within the browser
• SmoothWheel
      Provides smoother scrolling

Themes

Themes are “skins for Firefox. They allow you to change the look and feel of the user interface and personalize it to your tastes. A theme can simply change the colors of Firefox or it can change every piece of its appearance.”

I like my themes simple, not flashy or distracting. I like ‘em small, so I have more room for the content. My theme of choice is Whitehart. I previously used a version of Le Breeze, though that was some time ago.

Preferences
There are additional preferences and files that can be tweaked, but I won’t go into those details. Here are some websites that detail those tweaks:

• Editing Configuration Files
• Tips and Tricks

Once again, if you’re not using Firefox, it’s time to make the switch!