Speed up Firefox

We’re always tweaking our hardware in an attempt to eek out the best performance, and the Fasterfox add-on extends this philosophy to our browser by putting us in control of various networking settings. Via the Custom tabs, for example, you can change the initial paint delay, which tells Firefox how quickly to begin rendering web pages, or enable enhanced prefetching, which forces links to download in the background (albeit at an increased load to the server). To avoid mucking things up, though, stick to the presets. We saw a decrease from 3.77 to 2.77 seconds on our main page’s load time just by switching to the Turbo Charged option!

Customize with Extensions

With version 2.0, Firefox storms out of the gate sporting a healthy assortment of tricks, like improved tabbed browsing and anti-phishing protection, but it’s the multitude of extensions that really make this browser shine. Extensions add all kinds of functionality, from blocking online ads to serving up a daily dose of Dilbert cartoons, and everything in between.

To browse the 2,000-plus extensions available, select Add-ons from the Tools menu and click Get Extensions, or head over to http://tinyurl.com/phdun. Extensions are sorted by category, making it easier to find the functionality you’re looking for, or you can browse the most popular offerings to see what others have found useful. Below, we list several of our favorites, but don’t install the whole kit and caboodle and bloat your browser, just grab the ones you think you’ll use:

Mouse Gestures

Make an easy task even easier! Navigate web pages with the click of a button and a simple mouse movement.

Performancing

Blog your every thought with this hotkey-accessible editor. You can even drag and drop content from the web.

Tab Catalog

Is your browser overrun with tabs? Tab Catalog presents a thumbnail of each one with the tap of a button.

Gmail Manager

Keep track of incoming messages for multiple Gmail accounts without logging in and out of each one.

Fotofox

Don’t neglect your online photo album any longer. Round up your pics, drag and tag ’em, and Fotofox does the rest!

Digg This!

Can you Digg it? We can, and we can do it with a single click.

TinyURL Creator

Make mincemeat out of long URLs with TinyURL Creator and automatically copy the new link right to your clipboard.

Tab Mix Plus

Supercharge your tabbed browsing with a wealth of additional options.

Image Zoom

Zoom in on any image, just like they do in spy movies!

SportsFox

Feed your sports jones with scores from all four major pro sports, as well as college football and basketball, or follow just your favorite team.

FoxyTunes

Forget alt-tabbing and instead control just about any media player right in your browser. Perform lyrics searches too.

Add Bookmark Here 2

An easier way to file bookmarks, just highlight the appropriate folder in your Favorites and click Add Bookmark Here.

DownloadHelper

No download link? No problem! DownloadHelper can snag videos from sites like YouTube and Metacafe, as well as more *ahem* adult hangouts.

Smiley Xtra

Most forums offer just a basic assortment of smilies, but with Smiley Xtra, you’ll be prepared for any posting situation.

FoxLingo

Is the latest tech rumor posted in another language? Translate it and get the inside scoop with the aid of FoxLingo.

CacheViewer

Browse Firefox’s memory and disk cache or search for a specific item. CacheViewer even displays a thumbnail image of every entry.

Mouseless Browsing

With practice, this virtual cure for suriphobia will have you cruising the web without ever leaving the keyboard!