5 Firefox Plugins for Streamlining Your Work Day

Firefox is a browser that goes above and beyond the usual expectations. One of the best features of Firefox is its ability to use thousands of plugins and extensions to improve the usability of the browser. There are more than 1,500 plugins available for download right now, which can be used by anyone from novices to veterans to increase productivity. This article lists my top 5 plugins that will increase productivity, streamline your work day, put a stop to distractions, and make sure you are focused!

1. Customize Google

Customize Google is an in-depth, yet user friendly extension that allows you to tailor Google services to your personal needs. Customize Google allows you to block any advertisements bothering you on basically every page by Google, including your Gmail account. It also remaps Google Images results of searches so that you will no longer need to click through to the original site to see the image. Customize Google also lets you put links from other search engines, such as yahoo for example, into your Google search results. It can also block click tracking by Google, as well as allows https connections to Google Calendar and Gmail.

2. Gspace

Gspace allows you to transform your Gmail account into a storage device. Gspace will integrate right into your browser and allows you to simply drop files into Gmail so that you can backup or store them. Additionally, I would recommend tagging your files in Gmail for quick access.

3. DownThemAll/Flashgot

This download manager with Firefox is a handy utility, but sometimes you find yourself having a hunger for more flexibility while downloading. For these purposes I recommend DownThemAll or Flashgot. The features of both have their minute differences, but they both feature a much more refined control scheme for your downloads. I take personal liking to Flashgot, I recommend you try one or the other.

4. Ad block+, Stylish, and Greasemonkey

Greasemonkey is a great extension that allows you to add scripts which can alter web pages. Using the combination of Ad Block PLus, Stylish, and Greasemonkey you can block nearly every ad from any website.

5. Flashblock

Flashblock will stop flash from playing when you open a web page. Some of the most distracting advertisements are written in flash. Flashblock has the convenient option of having a "play" button on anything in flash, this way if you need to watch it, it is as simple as clicking the button. If you don't want to watch it, you don't have to do anything at all. Flashblock gives you more control of what you see on the web.