June 27, 2008 by sharky
If you’re still using Microsoft’s stodgy, slow, over-bloated browser Explorer, it’s time to make the switch to Mozilla’s Firefox. Last week’s release of Firefox v3.0 with over 15,000 improvements should be reason enough to ditch IE once and for all. Throw in the fact that Firefox is more secure, open-source, and just plain faster in page load times; the real benefits come from the add-ons (or extensions) that are available. Proactive plugin developers from all corners of the globe are chipping in to add functionality to Firefox.
Whether you’re a file sharing freak or just a casual surfer, there’s a Firefox add-on for you. Here’s what the real pros are using (and what they’re not!).
BitTorrent Add-ons
Here’s just some of the available torrent add-ons for Firefox. Most serious BitTorrenters will run far, far away from most of the stuff in this section - you be the judge.
FireFox Torrent Handler
This extension allows you to select a .torrent file linked in a webpage and send it to your TorrentFlux system (seedbox) for queueing or immediate download. Simply right-click on a torrent, and select "Add to TF". Installation: Download and install - go to Tools > Add-ons and click the options button for TorrentFlux Add 0.6. Enter in your seedbox URL and the username/password.
WE SAY: We had some issues whereby it wouldn’t work with some private trackers’ torrent URLs. Perhaps it’s not a bad solution to those who find themselves in a situation unable to download the actual torrent file (to a hard drive) or for those who don’t have the admin rights to the seedbox (where you can set it up to do this without a browser addon).
BitTorrent WebUI 0.1.8
WE SAY: Anyone who is already familiar with µTorrent’s WebUI will not bother with this.
FoxTorrent v1.15
http://www.foxtorrent.com. The open source FoxTorrent Firefox extension lets you stream torrents as they download, from your web browser, with zero configuration needed. In short, FoxTorrent is an in-browser BitTorrent client where you can manage your torrent downloads through the browser window. Works with public and private trackers.
- — Simply download a torrent, it will be automatically added to your FoxTorrent GUI. To view your GUI, go to Tools > FoxTorrent Downloads.
- — To change your download path, go to Tools > Add-ons > FoxTorrent, and click the Options button.
- — See the FoxTorrent Help page for additional info.
THEY SAY: "Zero Configuration needed".
WE SAY: "Zere Configuration Available". We’re not impressed with the simplicity of FoxTorrent (it’s not configurable) and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be Firefox 3 support. Perhaps a review is best left to a commenter:
"On the surface, this looks to be an awesome add-on. You just install the add-on, click a torrent, and forget about it until it’s done. No hassle, no mess, no fuss at all. Unfortunately, that is it’s downfall in my opinion. There’s a lot that this add-on DOESN’T tell you, like the fact that it’s installing Red Swoosh in the background. There are no options whatsoever within the add-on to see torrent details, like download/upload speed, who you’re connected to, what pieces of the file you have, and any number of things that any half-decent BT client should have, even if it’s just a light client inside a web browser. Plus, the one file I wanted to download froze up 80% of the way through the file, and with NO OPTIONS or alternate views to see what was going on at all, the only thing I could do was remove the torrent. I uninstalled this after about a half hour. Needs a -LOT- more transparency. Stop dumbing things down and assuming no one will notice your flaws!!"
TorrentBar 0.9.1.8
Very popular BitTorrent file search Toolbar for Firefox. Allows to search numerous sites in a matter of minutes for needed torrent files.
WE SAY: We have to admit, there’s some good search engines in the list, and it’s kept up-to-date. However, anyone who possesses an iota of BitTorrent savvy will know how to use a torrent meta-search site to properly hone in on a good torrent. Probably the best torrent add-on if you’re still hung up on using public trackers.
Torrent Finder Toolbar v1.2.3.2
Torrent Finder Toolbar is a torrent search toolbar for Firefox, which enables users to search over 180 top torrent sites and trackers from their Firefox browser the same way they used to search using www.torrent-finder.com form. It allows users to search a single site, search all sites on one page, or open the sites in Firefox tabs.
WE SAY: Not bad at all! Supports private trackers, as well. There’s even a ‘beta’ version for Firefox 3.
TorrentSpam Toolbar 1.0
TorrentSpam.com is a free Torrent Spam checking site that allows users to determine if a Torrent is "what it claims to be" or not.
WE SAY: Good idea, but utterly useless. If you don’t already know how to identify scam torrents, then you’re in worse shape than we thought. To date, over 18,000 known ’spams’ are currently listed. 18 thousand bad torrents?! That’s it?! You’ll see this number just on mininova alone in any given two-week period - it’s a tiny blip on the radar. Want to really avoid so-called Torrent Spam? Ditch the public trackers.
Specialized Add-ons
Ah, now on to the good stuff! Serious file sharers use these add-ons to customize Firefox and improve functionality. These extensions offer a variety of useful features:
AdBlock Plus
This Firefox extension will block ads, banners & popups from loading in the browser. Great when combined with a filter such as EasyList (although not necessary).
AutoCopy
Select text on any web page and it will be automatically copied to the clipboard.
BringThePorn
Bring The Porn is where good pr0n gathers and gets appreciated. A safe house for movies and clips that have been lost in the infinite abyss of internet pr0n. We’re not sure what BTP has to do with anything in particular - besides Pr0n - thought we’d throw this in anyways to see if you’re paying attention!
BugMeNot 2.0
Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com. A must have for those that don’t like wasting time registering for free sites that require registration.
ChatZilla
A clean, easy to use and highly extensible Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client. ChatZilla provides all the usual IRC client features: multiple servers, a built-in list of standard networks, easy searching and sorting of available channels, logging, and DCC chat and file transfers, plus easy customization with JavaScript plug-ins and CSS styling.
CS-Lite
This extension will allow you to easily control cookie permissions. It can be accessed from the statusbar, a toolbar button, or the context menu. Just click on the icon to allow, block, or temporarily allow the site to set cookies.
CustomizeGoogle
CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhances Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN, etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam).
Domain Details
View the current site’s server software, IP address, location flag, and have quick links to Whois and other domain information.
Download StatusBar
View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar in the bottom of Firefox - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.
DownThemAll
A download manager/accelerator for Firefox. It features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400%, it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time. Great for downloading multiple files from DDL sites (Rapidshare, MegaUpload) or from your seedbox through HTML. Tons of other ways to utilize this great add-on.
FireFTP
FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers - great for downloading your files from a seedbox through FTP.
FireGestures
A customizable mouse gestures extension which enables you to execute various commands and user scripts with five types of gestures. Pure genius!
FlashGot
A very popular download manager! Download one link, selected links or all the links of a page together at the maximum speed with a single click, using the most popular, lightweight and reliable external download managers. http://flashgot.net.
FoxTor
Anonymous Web Browsing using the encrypted TOR network. Alternative: Tor-Proxy.NET Toolbar 0.3.1.
FoxyProxy
FoxyProxy is an advanced proxy management tool that completely replaces Firefox’s limited proxying capabilities. It offers more features than SwitchProxy, ProxyButton, QuickProxy, xyzproxy, ProxyTex, TorButton, etc. It automatically switches an internet connection across one or more proxy servers based on URL patterns. Put simply, FoxyProxy automates the manual process of editing Firefox’s Connection Settings dialog. Proxy server switching occurs based on the loading URL and the switching rules you define.
GreaseMonkey
Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way webpages look and function - simply amazing add-on! Use it in combination with over 19,000 scripts from http://userscripts.org, such as these:
- • Google Extra - Displays results for google image search, video search, wikipedia search, dictionary.com search and Dict.CN search alongside normal google searches.
- • Better YouTube - A compilation of some of the best Greasemonkey user scripts for YouTube in one interface.
- • YouTube High Quality - Changes all YouTube videos to format 18, a.k.a. "high quality".
- • BetterTube 5.19.1 - auto-embeds the video file, enlarges it, and provides a link to download the video. Supports 57 websites (incl. embed-disabled youtube videos).
- • Universal Links Checker - Automatically checks links from rapidshare, netload.in, easy-share.com, mediafire.com, megashares.com, megaupload.com, depositfiles.com, etc.
- • Better Gmail 2 - use GMail? Then you need this. Add useful extra features and skins to Gmail, like hierarchical labels, macros, signatures, file attachment icons, and more.
IE Tab
IE Tab allows you to embed Internet Explorer tabs in Firefox. Some sites (such as Microsoft) only allow certain access with their lame IE browser. Now you can open IE only pages in embedded IE tabs. Great for downloading those Windows updates that weren’t previously possible.
ImageShack® Toolbar
The ImageShack Toolbar supports drag-and-drop, right-click upload, and many other features for publishing and sharing of personal media. If you host a lot of images and need quick access to them (such as, when asking for invites on BitTorrent Invite Forums, and you need to quickly show a ratio screenshot) then this add-on is for you! For this task, use it in conjunction with Screengrab!
Linkification
Linkification converts text links into genuine, clickable links. Great for DDL sites and RapidShare links that aren’t "clickable" in a webpage. Install the beta version 1.3.4 for support to handle anonymizing links - http://anonym.to/?http://example.com.
NoScript 1.7.1
NoScript selectively, and non-intrusively, blocks all scripts, plug-ins, and other code on Web pages that could be used to attack your system during visits. NoScript also works well to block javascript ads. See NoScript.net for more info.
Password Exporter
Does exactly that - exports your passwords. An extremely useful and easy to install tool for those who need their passwords in different locations. See here for other password-related add-ons.
PicLens
PicLens transforms your browser into a visually stunning experience for finding and viewing online photos and videos. Our "3D Wall" lets you effortlessly search and zoom your way around thousands of images, videos, news feeds, sports feeds, and more. Also see www.piclens.com.
ReloadEvery
The Reload Every extension adds an option to the context menu (the menu you obtain by right clicking on the web page you’re currently viewing) to reload the web page you are viewing every so many seconds or minutes. Great for trying to get into that hard-to-signup-to private tracker!
Session Manager
Session Manager saves and restores the state of all windows/tabs - either when you want it or automatically at startup and after crashes. Additionally it offers you to reopen (accidentally) closed windows and tabs. You’ll be able to save a "session" with your favourite BitTorrent trackers or even running seedboxes, for easy relaunch. "Taboo" is a similar alternative add-on.
Undo Closed Tabs Button
Tired of going to History -> Recently Closed Tabs just to undo a closed tab? Then this extension is for you! This extension allows you to undo closed tabs via a toolbar and/or tab bar button or the right-click context menu.
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