For all those who don’t use Mozilla Firefox, you don’t know what you’re missing. Firefox is the best web browser you can use. The latest stable version is Firefox 4 but I am still on version 3.6.16.

One of the best things about Firefox are the add-ons.

1. Web of Trust - Safe Browsing Tool (WOT)

This add-on will help you determine whether a website is safe or not. It is community based so people have been on that site and have rated it. When you search something on Google, on each link there will be a green, yellow, or red circle. The color green means it’s safe and red means it has been rated bad by the community. AVG and Norton have similar add-ons.

2. FoxyProxy Standard

This will allow you to easily switch from one proxy to another. The benefits of using a proxy is that you can surf the web anonymously (more about anonymous web browsing in my later blogs). FoxyProxy does not come with proxies but it can help you easily manage your proxy list.

3. CoolPreviews

This add-on allows you to browse faster. How? You can preview links and images without leaving your current page or tab. All you have to do is hover your mouse over the link and a temporary box will appear and show you the content associated with the link.

4. Autopager

Autopager will help you load the next page without you even clicking it. Usually I Google everything and it automatically helps me load the next page when I scroll near the bottom of the page. A very helpful tool indeed.

5. NoScript

Now if you want to really be fancy and secure, you can use the NoScript add-on. Only use it if you want to be safe while browsing the web. It prevents content like Java and ActiveX from appearing when you load a page. Only when you trust the site will it allow the site to display all the contents. (Backtrack’s Firefox comes with the NoScript add-on).

This badass add-on is like Google but you search with images. It is a reverse image search engine and allows you to search for an image and see how it is used or being modified. Try it on your Facebook pictures and see if anything interesting pops up.

7. RealPlayer Video Downloader

This is one of my favorite add-ons and you don’t need Firefox for this. Have you ever wondered if you can download that YouTube video or that Veoh video? Well with this add-on, you can download any video from any site (sorry guys but Netflix isn’t going to work). Just download RealPlayer and in the install options, it will ask if you want to install the video downloader. I use it all the time to download songs from YouTube and then convert it to an MP3 format with the RealPlayer converter. RealPlayer has everything you need for media.

Firefox Portable

Firefox is a good web browser but too bad, you can’t carry it around with you. Oh wait, you can! There is a Firefox Portable. All you have to do is install Firefox onto your flash drive and you will have your favorite web browser with your favorite add-ons on it. You can save passwords and usernames for your convenience.

And have you ever had the trouble of not being able to go to a website because your school or workplace blocks the site? With the FoxyProxy add-on, you can use a proxy and go on any site you like (but be careful, don’t get caught). Using proxies will be covered later on in the blog.