One of the hardest elements of Google Chrome I had to come to terms with, upon switching to the browser after years of using Firefox, was its lack of support for session management. I'm a pretty prolific user of tabs--I usually keep hordes of tabbed windows open at any given time as a sort of "bookmark but not really" method for reminding myself to check out said sites once I have a little bit more time.

However, this lifestyle isn't without its flaws. A browser crash here, an errant reset there, or some silly screw-up on my part (like closing the main browser window that's full of tabs before closing an ancillary pop-up window) has often brought forth heartache. Tabs disappear. An entire week's worth of browsing and collecting (or hording) vanishes within seconds. Tears are shed. Information is forever lost.

Chrome hasn't been the best of browsers when it comes to tab management... but all that's about to change thanks to one, simple extension!

What's that, non-Windows-7 users?  You've never heard of the operating system's neat three-dimensional window organizer?  Let's try it out together.  Grab a copy of the operating system, do all that installation stuff, then hold down your Windows key and hit Tab when you're finally on your desktop.  Presto - provided Aero's on, all of your open windows will shift out into a neat little three-dimensional display that you can quickly scroll through using your mouse wheel.

Of course, someone's made a Firefox addon to mimic this creative functionality.  And while it might seem gimmicky at first glance, rest assured that you will be the coolest (and most organized) person on your block once you start showing off your brand-new way to keep tabs on your multiple browser... tabs.

One of Google Chrome's more useful features is its ability to display recently opened Web pages and your most-visited Web pages via a little visual table whenever you open up a new, "blank" tab. For the Web surfer with a limited range of interests or for those interested in a quick way to hit their favorite sites in one go, this functionality is miles ahead of Firefox's, well, blank tab. But here's the problem: You can't actually customize anything on Chrome's launching page. Or, rather, you can only pin and subtract.

What I mean by that is Chome lacks the ability to let you pick, from the start, exactly what you want to appear on your "new tab" page. If a site happens to make its way across your "most viewed" list and you want to stick it there, you can pin said side to your page by hovering your mouse over the image until its blue configuration frame appears. You use the same process to prevent certain sites from ever appearing on this page--I'm not going to ask what those might be. Other than that, you're stuck--unless you start refreshing a particular page to the point of annoyance just to get it to appear, you have no way to actually predefine or shuffle around these sites.

The Chrome Extension Speed Dial is your solution for complete and total customization of your new tab page in Google's browser. It's not perfect, but it's a welcome addition to any Chrome-tweaker's arsenal. Find out about all its features after the jump!

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!