February 26, 2008, 3:29 PM — Stuck with a boring browser? Wish that Word could handle more tasks? Feel hemmed
in by Photoshop? You don't have to toss (or upgrade) your existing software
to get new features and tools. Sometimes a plug-in, an add-on, or even a simple
tweak can enable your computer to do tricks you never even thought of before.
We rounded up more than 50 of our favorite tools and tips for unlocking extra
value from popular browsers, productivity applications, and multimedia tools.
Browser Boosters
Web browsers--especially Firefox--are built with plug-ins in mind. Thousands
of these code snippets are available, but here we present some of the most useful
add-ons, plus a few tips that don't require any extra code.
Nuke Web ads: Though decried by many Webmasters for cutting into a lucrative
revenue stream, Adblock
Plus is practically a mandatory addition to Firefox, due to an increasingly
onerous glut of Web advertising. (IE users can try Ad
Muncher free for 30 days and then pay US$30) Put simply, Adblock Plus blocks
ads--not just pop-ups, but regular banners, towers, rich-media stuff, and Google's
ubiquitous advertisements. Adblock Plus doesn't stop everything, but it nabs
enough that you'll notice the difference immediately.
Many PCs, one set of bookmarks: If you use numerous computers, you have undoubtedly
had to deal with separate browsers on each of those PCs, each with its own set
of bookmarks that must be managed separately--unless you have a bookmark synchronizer,
that is. Foxmarks is
one of a number of tools that can sync Firefox bookmarks among multiple machines.
Just install Foxmarks as an add-on to the Firefox installation on each system,
and never worry about manual syncing again. As a bonus, you can access your
bookmarks on the Foxmarks Web site, too.
Put an FTP app into Firefox: Even the most casual Web developer needs
an FTP application, but many of these are cumbersome and unintuitive--and they
require installing yet another full-blown program. FireFTP
turns Firefox into an impromptu and speedy two-way FTP application. Once installed,
FireFTP appears in the Tools menu. Click it and a new FTP tab opens up, offering
a simple two-pane system that lets you easily copy files between your desktop
and your remote site.
Get a handle on downloaded files: If you are a download junkie who always
has something in the queue to leech off the Web, you need a download manager
to help handle everything. FlashGet
is a free and extremely popular download manager that can help you organize
and queue up HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, and other types of downloads, working in
the background and letting you pause and resume downloads. It can even tell
your computer to shut itself down when the downloading is done. Works on any
browser.
Restore embedded passwords to IE URLs: Several years ago, Microsoft
disallowed Internet Explorer to use an embedded password as part of a URL (of
the format https://username:password@server.com) when a user goes to a protected
Web site; instead the person must type in the password manually at the pop-up
log-in screen. (This restriction was a response to phishers' employing phony
password fields to deceive unsuspecting users.) Restoring IE's original ability
takes a Registry tweak. Run Regedit and browse to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_HTTP_
USERNAME_PASSWORD_DISABLE
Here, create two new DWORD values: iexplore.exe and explorer.exe. Leave the
default DWORD value for each of these at '0'. Restart IE.
Grab a hard copy of any Web page: Did you ever print a hard copy of
a Web page only to have it come out garbled, missing images, and otherwise nigh
unreadable? One reason that may happen is because the newfangled Web 2.0 standards
don't play well with 0.1-era printers. Solution: Grab a screen shot of a Web
page, and select Print. But how do you do that, when a single page has enough
content to fill up three display screens? Simple: Install Screengrab
for Firefox, which lets you save a full page, the visible portion of a page,
or just the tidbit you'd like to keep. IE Screenshot performs similar tricks
for the Microsoft browser. Save images as digital files or print them out.
More Browser Boosters
