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It's been exactly a month since we last visited the topic of Google Chrome. With both Windows and OSX beta versions of the browser now supporting add-ons, and with nearly 1,500 possible extensions flooding the Chrome Extensions "marketplace" since December 8, 2009, it's about time to take another look at the overflowing mass of Chrome add-ons. Why? To build the perfect browser, of course. Allow me a moment to monologue:
I've been a Mozilla Firefox user for a long, long time. Simply put, I love extensions. Being able to build new elements into my browsing experience, from Cloud-based bookmark synchronization to Sudoku puzzles, has been one of the more awesome elements of using this piece of software. If only it was that easy to enhance or extend the usefulness of any program one installed!
I've been hesitant to switch to Chrome for this very reason--without add-on support, I'm missing out on 50- to 75-percent of the awesomeness I've build into my admittedly slower and more memory-hogging browser, Firefox. But that's an argument that's slowly dying away. A number of Firefox's best add-ons have made the conversion over to Google Chrome, and that's exactly what I'll be exploring in this Freeware Files roundup.
These extensions are the crème de la crème. The best. The add-ons you should rush to pack into any new installation of Google Chrome, period. But that's not all--I'm also going to take a look at some apps that interact with Google Chrome or, in some cases, replace Google Chrome entirely... you'll see what I mean when it comes to interesting alternatives!
When Google Chrome installs on your machine, it installs with a unique ID that, in theory, could make the browser traceable to you in some fashion. I'm not suggesting that Chrome has some huge security breach or that there exists a huge record of everybody's installation / browsing / add-ons / whatever. However, the fact of the matter remains--there's an identifying number tied to your installation. If you're a privacy geek, that's not cool. And if that's not cool, then Chrome Privacy Protector is the app you'll use to get rid of this variable.
Download it here!
These two browsers, variants of Google Chrome (technically, the open-source Chromium version of the browser), each offer a different set of customizations and built-in add-ons that might be just what you're looking for if you find the standard version of Chrome to be a bit lacking.
Here's the deal: Iron-Version focuses on building a more private browsing experience, in that it strips out a number of features that would be used to send Google information of any sort. No longer will your browser have a user ID associated with it, send any data to Google in any form, update itself from Google's servers, or use any alternative error messages when your browsing experience goofs up.
ChromePlus, on the other hand, doesn't concern itself with privacy as much--more usefulness. Although this Chrome variant still strips out parts of the whole "sending information to Google" routine, it also packs a lot of great functionality directly into the browser that you'd otherwise have to find via add-ons.
For example, this version of Chrome allows you to double-click in the area of any tab to close it--take that, tiny "x" button. You can quickly open up new tabs by dragging a link on a page to anywhere on that page, and you can also navigate back and forth through your Chrome browsing experience using built-in mouse gestures. Even better, you can load up the Internet Explorer rendering engine directly via Chrome for pages that don't play well with Google's browser.
Download Iron-Version here and ChromePlus here!
Comments are closed on this article
jcseely
January 27, 2010 at 10:33pm
So with Chrome Privacy Protector, since it's a downloadable program and not an extension, do you have to launch it every time you use Chrome or just once-for-all-time? Can't find anything on their website to answer the question.
gmvolk
January 12, 2010 at 12:20pm
I have been waiting for plugin support for chrome since chrome was first released. When I saw this on MaxPC, I imedialtly, downloaded chrome again. I installed it and went to xmarks site. They sent me to Googles extension site, and lo and behold, you still need the beta version of chrome to do extensions! How could you forgot to mention that MAJOR detail in your write-up. You made it sound as if everything was in release status. So your title should be:
Freeware Files: Nine Must-Have Extensions and Apps for Google Chrome!(BETA)!!!Oh well goodbye to chrome once again!
Walnut
January 12, 2010 at 3:38pm
That's not a major detail at all. "Beta" does not mean "unstable." In fact, with Google, it means virtually nothing. If you want extensions, grab the beta build.
TheMurph
January 18, 2010 at 1:22am
Bingo. And I'll add to this -- it's pretty common knowledge that the beta of Chrome is the version of the app that turns this functionality on. But that doesn't mean it's a crash-filled or otherwise "true beta" version of the browser as one would commonly use the term.
PawBear
January 11, 2010 at 4:24pm
First I've heard of the personal ID #. Seems Chrome is getting a free
pass on this. I don't remember being told about it during the install.
I don't care how fast it is. I want what little privacy I can keep without
jumping through hoops. Trust Google? Apparrently not!
justchad
January 13, 2010 at 10:45pm
I too would love to see more articles jumping down googles throats for this crap. I will not be using chrome just for this reason, and hope others will make this statement also. There's to much tracking as is and I don't like it and will not support it!
-Chad
Sovereign
January 11, 2010 at 1:19pm
Xmarks is capable of syncing passwords as well, why install more addons than you need?
Neufeldt2002
January 11, 2010 at 10:23am
Adsweep with the MIT license works way better than adblock or adthwart. IMHO
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