Your browser of choice may have changed a lot in the past year, but luckily the best extensions for making your browser better have kept up with all the most popular browsers. Here are our cross-platform, must-have favorites. More »
Blog Archives
Top 10 Must-Have Browser Extensions [Video]
Posted on November 6, 2010
Add Safari Reader-Like Powers to Firefox and Chrome [Add-ons]
Posted on June 21, 2010
How Do I Keep Windows from Hibernating While I’m Downloading? [Ask Lifehacker]
Posted on March 19, 2010
Dear Lifehacker
I frequently download big files to my computer and walk away. How do I stop my computer from going into standby while downloading something from the internet? I’m using Firefox on Windows 7. More »
FireFound Tracks Your Stolen Computer, Nukes Your Personal Data [Downloads]
Posted on November 30, 2009
Firefox: The worst thing about losing your laptop isn’t the cost of replacing your gear; it’s the loss of personal info and saved passwords. Firefox extension FireFound tracks your lost laptop’s location and nukes your personal data in a few clicks.
Once you install the add-on for Firefox or its mobile version Fennec, FireFound uses geolocation to track where you are every time you open your browser, sending that information to a secure server (or your own server, if you prefer.) If your laptop is ever lost or stolen, log into FireFound's web site from any computer and find out where your laptop's being used—handy information to pass on to the cops, though not necessarily info that'll get your laptop back. You can also choose to nuke the personal data in your browser, including history and saved passwords, to protect if from prying eyes until you get your computer back.
FireFound lets you tweak several settings according to what level of security you desire, including the option to receive email notifications if your computer is used more than a certain number of miles from its last location. The data protection feature instantly annihilates some or all of the personal information contained in your browser if someone can’t provide a password to use it.
We’ve seen a fair amount of similar tools for Windows users on a whole in the past (see our laptop thief-proofing guide for more details), but FireFound is the first Firefox-specific version we’ve seen, and it’s got some solid features of its own.
Keep in mind that none of these tools are guaranteed to keep your data safe or recover your hardware, and remember that your best bet to safeguarding your data is encrypting your data. What other steps do you take to protect your laptop’s data besides securing your browser? Talk about it in the comments.
Ed. note: Incidentally, FireFound also just won the Extend Firefox contest, for which both Gina and Adam served as judges.
FireFound [via Addictive Tips]
Automatically Open PDFs and PowerPoint Presentations with Google’s Doc Viewer [Downloads]
Posted on October 18, 2009
Most web browsers: Google’s Doc Viewer allows you to view any PDF, PPT, and TIFF directly in your browser without downloading the file and launching another heavy desktop application, and this user script streamlines that process.
After installing the script (which works with Greasemonkey for Firefox and should in theory work with the dev build of Chrome, Opera, Safari with GreaseKit, and IE with IE7Pro), it will convert any link pointing directly to a download of PDF, PPT, and TIFF files to a link to view those files in the Google Doc Viewer. If the idea sounds familiar, we highlighted a bookmarklet that could do the same thing on a case-by-case basis, but this user script will do the trick every time.
PDF/PPT/TIF viewer with Google docs [Userscripts via Google Operating System]
Helvetimail Gives a Minimal Facelift to Gmail [Gmail]
Posted on September 15, 2009
Firefox/Chrome/Opera/Safari/IE: Gmail’s already got several great themes, but if you’ve never been satisfied with Gmail’s clutter, the Helvetimail user script transforms Gmail into a Helvetica-based, stripped-down interface.
(Click the image above for a closer look.)
Helvetimail is a logical—if obvious—step in the latest craze of applying minimal designs using the Helvetica font to popular web applications (see previously mentioned Helvetical, Helvetireader, and Helvetwitter). To use the script, you’ll need to enable the Minimalist theme in Gmail’s themes settings. Then, depending on what browser you’re using, you’ll have to install the user script. (Firefox users, if you’ve installed Greasemonkey, just click the user script link on the Helvetimail page to install. For the rest of you, the script’s author has instructions for various browsers.)
Helvetimail is probably the least attractive of the Helveti-bunch of user scripts we’ve seen (I love the look of Helvetical), but if you’re a big fan of the user-contributed, minimal Helvetica designs, it’s worth a look.
Helvetimail [Josef Richter]
YouTube Auto Buffer Makes the Popular Video Site a Lot Better [Downloads]
Posted on September 8, 2009
Firefox with Greasemonkey: The YouTube Auto Buffer Greasemonkey script tweaks the popular video sharing site to fix some of its most common annoyances. Specifically, it stops videos from automatically playing, turns on HD/HQ playback for all videos, and hides in-video advertisements.
All three of the tweaks YouTube Auto Buffer makes can be toggled, so if you’d really like to get rid of in-video ads but don’t want to always watch videos in HD or prefer that videos play automatically, you can just disable the two unwanted features. Or at least they can be toggled in theory. I had trouble getting my preferences to stick, so your mileage may vary.
Either way, it’s a nice little script that aims to fix some users’ common YouTube annoyances. For some other YouTube-specific tweaks, check out our very own Better YouTube Firefox extension. (With any luck, maybe we can convince Gina to incorporate some of the YouTube Auto Buffer features into said add-on.)
YouTube Auto Buffer is a free download, works with Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension.
YouTube Auto Buffer & Auto HD & Remove Ads [Userscripts via gHacks]
Icon-Only PermaTabs Collection Streamlines Your Minimal Gmail, Google Reader Tabs [Tip Testers]
Posted on August 24, 2009
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Last week we showed you how to set up space-saving, permanent Gmail and Google Reader tabs in Firefox, a process requiring four Firefox extensions to get up and running. Now it’s a touch easier.
Our industrious Gina Trapani put Mozilla’s previously mentioned Collections feature to good use to pull together all of the necessary extensions for one quick and easy install. So just head over to the Icon-only PermaTabs collection, install the necessary extensions (they’re all really solid extensions in their own right, so you won’t necessarily only be installing them for this purpose), and head back to our original post if you need help setting it up from there.
Icon-Only Perma-Tabs for Gmail and Google Reader [Mozilla Add-ons via Smarterware]
FirefoxNotify Puts Download Notices in Ubuntu’s Pop-Ups [Downloads]
Posted on May 27, 2009
Linux only: The smoked glass, Mac-like notification alerts are one of Ubuntu 9.04′s best features, but they’re not yet compatible with every program, including Firefox. An experimental extension can fix that, moving download notifications into Jaunty Jackalope’s pop-ups.
That’s all FirefoxNotify does, really, but for Ubuntu users looking to give their desktop a more seamless look and feel, it’s a nice fix. The add-on itself is only 9K or so, and while it’s technically unofficial and not thoroughly tested by Mozilla’s team, it seems to work just fine for its single purpose. Until our tipster pointed it out, I was pretty happy to stick with Lifehacker favorite Download Statusbar, but this might just tempt me to switch. If you’re a Mac user looking for the same kind of Growl download notices, try the previously mentioned Growl Notifications add-on.
FirefoxNotify is a free download, works with Firefox on Ubuntu Linux 9.04 (or earlier, if you’ve enabled notifications). Thanks Leo!
FirefoxNotify [Mozilla Add-Ons]
JetPack Could Revolutionize Firefox’s Extensibility—in Time [Beta Beat]
Posted on May 21, 2009
Yesterday Mozilla introduced a new Firefox project, called JetPack, that could revolutionize the extensibility of Firefox. Currently available as a Firefox extension, JetPack allows users to extend their browser using regular HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. So far JetPack seems to us sort of like a hybrid between a normal extension and Greasemonkey user scripts; using new JetPack functionality requires a page refresh and not a browser restart (like Greasemonkey), but JetPack can add elements to the user chrome (like extensions). It’s a tool that’ll probably interest developers most for the time being, but JetPack’s functionality could be the future of Firefox extensions down the road. [JetPack via Mozilla Labs]