i've been using Firefox forever but never looked into add ons except for the one that hides the side tab on iGoogle's home page (a Greasemonkey script). Today I finally got tired of accidentally mousing over an in-text ad and having it block half my screen. On the MSN site, it was easy. Disabling the text ads by following their directions actually worked. However, on TG daily, the instructions were false and did nothing. So I got off my ass and installed a blocker into Firefox to force the ads to go away. Duh. Trusting an Ad company to disable their ads?

This got me thinking....there might be addons that I should be installing into Firefox that I hadn't thought about because I haven't run into a problem. So I thought I might poll you guys.

What browser are you using and what addons have you found useful to you?

I've been using google chrome for a while but I'm really irritated that they don't allow you to "print selection" so I'm considering going back to firefox. I have no idea why I switched. I think chrome just loads pages faster. Looking at my firefox addons window I have Adblock Plus, FireFTP, TryAgain (keeps loading a webpage when server not found until it gets the page) and WebMail Notifier.

I use:
NoScript, blocks all javascript and flash on a page unless you let it through
TinEye, gives you information on image files, very useful to find hidden or imbeded properties of images
FireFTP, ftp client for firefox
iMacros, lets you record macros for firefox
ShowIP, lets you see info about a website: host, whois, ip, etc

This is a lame workaround (apparently, the feature is in the dev version of Chrome...but has been for a year), but I love Chrome's speed and funness, so maybe this will help you:

That's kind of what I've been doing. I have quicklaunch buttons for firefox and IE and I've had to click one of them, open the browser, nav to the address I was at, locate the selection I want to print.... then print. The tab isn't really any faster than the way I've been doing it because I still have to re-nav to the page in question. The only difference between this and what I've already been doing is this opens in a new tab, and clicking the other browser quicklaunch icons open in a new window.

I installed the extension and played around with it. The only way it would be faster is if I could right click my selection and select to print it out using the IE plugin. The re-navigation to the page (especially if it requires a login like a bank website for printing out a section of a statement) is just a huge pita.

It's just so DUMB that chrome doesn't implement the print selection option. Is it really that difficult? Every OTHER browser supports it. Damnit.

So far the only Chrome addon I've installed is "Disable Text Ads - Version: 9.0" (Disables many different inline text ads from Web pages.) because I really hate mousing over bullshit hypertext that pops open a big fucking thought bubble of text that covers half the article I was reading.

And supposedly, the Mac version has it, it's something specific to Windows Chrome. Is the "developer version" something that can freely be d/led? I got that IE Tab thing from a thread requesting the feature, and the developer version of Chrome came up a few times from people that didn't sound like developers.

I'm not sure why the IE Tab thing isn't working for you, though. On my computer, I go to a page, and if I want to use the extension I click the button next to the URL bar and it reloads the page I'm on in an IE Tab within Chrome. I never have to copy/paste or renav to the site; one button click basically converts my Chrome tab to "IE mode" which allows a quick and easy "print" from the right click menu with text selected. The login issue still remains, but once you're in "IE Tab mode," the tab stays that way. Way quicker than renaving or opening a new browser, but it sounds borked on yours

And regardless, it is totally dumb. Seems like something that would be totally easy to implement, and not force your users to make mods or hack their way around it.

Inara, explain yourself!

Maybe it's because my "home" settings for chrome are to open to a blank tab. So when I click on the little IE button to open a new IE tab, it opens to a fresh clean tab.

Mine is too, though. I like my new tabs fresh and clean, like Outkast. The thing is, the IE button isn't there to open a "new" IE tab; it should literally replace the Chrome tab you're already on, but with IE features and compatibilities. I'm useless as help, though. Something I know nothing about that worked for me right away, so my solutions range from "click it again" to "shooooot iiiiiiiitttt!!!"