The true power of Firefox comes from the fact that it is open source, and this is illustrated best by extensions. Firefox was built so that you could easily put together an extension to the browser that interacts at a fundamental level and feels like it is part of the browser itself. It is, however, important to realize that extensions should be carefully chosen in order to improve your browsing experience without impacting it negatively. There is a very popular extension called Greasemonkey that is extremely powerful and has all kinds of additional plug-ins that allows you to truly customize your browsing experience. However, every time that I installed Greasemonkey it has caused Firefox to become extremely unstable and caused consistent crashes when I would visit certain web sites. Your mileage may vary, but despite its popularity, I would steer away from Greasemonkey. You should also be sure to only download extensions from trusted sources. I would actually recommend that you get all of your extensions from https://addons.mozilla.org. When you add an extension to Firefox, you are giving access to your browser to a third party, and an unscrupulous person could easily program an extension that tracked your browsing habits and logged keystrokes. However, by downloading extensions only from trusted sites you minimize this risk.

Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about some cool extensions and how to install them. One very popular extension is FoxyTunes. FoxyTunes allows you to control your media player from an interface within Firefox. Let's say you want to install this extension. The easiest way is to go to https://addons.mozilla.org and do a search for FoxyTunes. Once you pull up the FoxyTunes page in the browser, click the "Install Now" button, click the install button in the window that pops up (you have to wait 3 seconds) and then restart the browser. You now have media player controls on the bottom right hand side of the browser. To manage your extensions, go to the Tools menu at the top of the browser and choose "Add-ons." You can then un-install, disable, and update your installed extensions. There's even a handy link labeled "Get Extensions" that takes you directly to Mozilla's extension web page. Extensions I use fairly extensively include FireFTP, Firebug, Del.icio.us, IE Tab, and Download Statusbar. FireFTP is an FTP client for Firefox, Firebug is a very handy tool for web development, Del.icio.us provides an easy way to bookmark pages you are on for your Del.icio.us account, IE Tab renders the current tab using the IE engine installed on your computer, and Download Statusbar keeps track of your current downloads on a bar at the bottom of the browser instead of opening a new window. There are plenty more extensions at https://addons.mozilla.org. Just be careful how many extensions you install, as they can slow down the browser. I would recommend installing one extension at a time and waiting a day or two before installing the next one so that if any problems arise, you know exactly which extension is causing the issue.

Another very neat tool in Firefox is the built in search box. When I first started using Firefox, I didn't really see the purpose of this tool, but as time went on I began to appreciate it. Especially, once I added search engines that I used a lot. For instance, I added the IMDB search engine so that I can search for movies and actors without first going to imdb.com. I also added the Wikipedia search engine because I find that I do a lot of searches at Wikipedia. Finally, I also added the search engine for Webster.com for looking up definitions. I don't just add search engines, I remove the ones I don't use like Yahoo.com. To add and remove search engines from the search box, click on the down arrow to the right of the search icon, just like if you wanted to select a different search engine. Then click on "Manage Search Engines" at the bottom of the list. Using this menu, you can arrange the search engines you have installed, and remove the ones you don't want. If you want to install new ones, click on the "Get more search engines..." link.

If you do a lot of searching on a website that doesn't have a search engine for Firefox, you can still accelerate your searching using Smart Keywords. For instance, we don't have a Firefox search engine for the Tech Bytes website at www.techbyteshow.com, but we do have a search box where you can search through all the show notes. If you right click on that search box and choose "Add a Keyword for this Search" a dialog box will open with three options: Name, Keyword, and a place to store the bookmark. In this instance, give the search an appropriate name like "Tech Bytes Search", give it a keyword you can remember like "tb", and then choose where you want to store it (probably somewhere out of the way). Now, if you type "tb Firefox" in the location bar of the browser, it's the same as typing "Firefox" in that search box on the Tech Bytes website, only you've been saved a step. Smart Keywords Instructions

I hope you can use these new Firefox tips. Firefox has its issues (mostly with stability), but I keep coming back to it because it is so customizable, and I cannot do without many of my extensions. Here's hoping that Firefox 3 will resolve these stability issues, it will probably be completed early next year. If you want to hear more talk about technology, you should subscribe to our sister show Tech Talk with 5 to 9 Computer Services which you can find at http://www.techtalkshow.com. To request a topic to be covered in a future Tech Bytes show, send an e-mail to requests@techbyteshow.com. I'm Kevin, and I'll be back next week with another serving of Tech Bytes.