Thumbnail Zoom Plus Firefox Add-On

If you would like to be able to see large versions of pictures on all sorts of pages on the Internet when you hover your cursor over a thumbnail, this is the Firefox add-on for you.

I bumped into this add-on today and am loving it. I was using it on Google Image Search results, and later on an artist's blog. For pages like a Google Image Search result page, I found I had to hover for a few seconds on some pictures for the large version to pop up, but, considering the amount of pictures loading on these search result pages, it is a minor annoyance.

Go here to get it.

Google Image Search Freezes In Firefox - Solution

When you run a Google Image Search and the results freeze for a number of seconds before Firefox responds, you may have a problem add-on installed. 

Checking

First, try the search in any other browser. If it runs fine in the other browser, then it is something going on in Firefox.

Next, run Firefox in Safe Mode. To do this, in Firefox, click on Help, then Restart with Add-ons Disabled.

Now try the image search. If it runs fine, then one or more add-ons are the culprit. 

Go to your Add-ons page in Firefox (Tools, Add-ons or Firefox button, Add-ons). 

• Write down all the enabled add-ons
• Disable a bunch (make sure to mark down which ones you disabled) and restart Firefox
• Test an image search. If it doesn't work, re-enable the ones you disabled before and disable a bunch more (marking those ones down) and restart and test again. Repeat this process until you get the image search working
• Once the image search is working, you will know that the problem add-on is in the most recent bunch you disabled.
• Re-enable one add on at a time, restart Firefox and test until the search freezes again. This way you will find which add-on is causing the problem
• Once you find out which add-on is causing the problem, disable it and re-enable the others you want enabled, restart Firefox and do a final image search test. If all is working, remove the problem add-on.

I recently had this problem and found that Linkification was causing the problem, so I removed it and all was well again. If you read up on this add-on at the link, it may seem obvious why this would cause a problem. It was a useful but not necessary add-on.

Lost after updating to Firefox 5?

Common questions after updating Firefox | Troubleshooting | Firefox Help
This link has some answers to common questions.

Many answers to questions from updating from v3.6 to v4 also apply. For more info and tips, see these posts as well:
Firefox 5 update and making old add-ons work

Firefox 4 - Recommended Add-Ons

Tab Groups and App Tabs in Firefox 4

Firefox 4 - new features explained in detail

Firefox 4 - Recommended Add-Ons

It's been 4 years since I posted a listed of recommended add-ons (extensions) for Firefox. A lot has changed, but some things stay the same.

Some add-ons continue to be very useful. Some have stopped being updated and have been replaced by newer and better versions. And Firefox has incorporated some into their program.

Note: if any of the links don't work, just Google Firefox Add On and the name of the add on.

Mr Tech Toolkit (used to be Mr Tech Local Install)
Get the FF4 version (6.04.9000) hereThis is a quick fix version that seems to work okay in FF4, but the Add-ons manager window is often too big. To close the Add-ons manager window, hit Alt+F4.
**Install this add-on first. With it installed, you can then install add-ons that are not deemed compatible with FF4, yet might work in FF4.
Here is the regular add-on page
The primary goal of this extension is to provide the tools needed to install and manage extensions and themes locally and tons of other features.

Compact Menu 2 (replaces Tiny Menu)
(replaces Tiny Menu)
Add a compact menu button to the navigation toolbar, and hide the menu bar.

Tab Group Menu
See more about this, Tab Groups and App Tabs here

Tab Mix Plus
Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.

Send Link Button
Add a toolbar button to trigger Firefox's built-in "Send Link..." menu item.
Quickly email the link to the page you are on by clicking this Send Link button.

Dictionary
Add a dictionary search tool to the Add-ons bar. Results open in a new tab.

Adblock Plus (replaces Adblock)
Blocks ads.
Install, and then subscribe to EasyList filter subscription when this pops up.
If it is not blocking ads, make sure it is enabled, and if already enabled, right-click on the adblock icon, choose Preferences, Filters, Update all subscriptions.
If you want to temporarily disable, Right-click on the icon and choose Disable Everywhere, then re-load your tab.
To permanently disable it on a site or page, choose Disable on , or Disable on This Page Only.

Video Download Helper (replaces Fast Video Download and Unplug)
The easy way to download and convert Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites.
This works also for audio and picture galleries.

Fireshot (replaces Snapper)
Capture all or part of a web page, even flash. Annotate, save to disk, upload, email ... very versatile Firefox screen capture add-on.

Personas Plus
Personas are free, easy-to-install "skins" for Firefox. Personas Plus extends that built-in functionality to give you even more control and easier access to new, popular, and your own favourite Personas.

Googlebar (not to be confused with Google Toolbar)
The original (though unofficial) Google toolbar for Firefox, with an emphasis on easy access to many types of specialized searches.
Install Mr Tech Toolkit first to make this work in FF4. It is not compatible, but it will work okay.
I especially like the fact that you an have google local search on the toolbar.

Print/Print Preview Update (replaces Print/Print Preview)
Replace the default "Print" button with the Mozilla Suite "Print/Print Preview" toolbar button/menu, with additional "Page setup" option. Adds Print and Print Preview to the context menu.

Update Notifier - no longer needed as FF4 has a setting to update add-ons automatically.


OTHER USEFULL ADD-ONS
Blog much? Get Scribefire
ScribeFire is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog(s).

Scribefire Next
A work in progress - the next version of Scribefire. I would recommend waiting for a while for the bugs to be ironed out of this before switching to this new version.

FireFTP
FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP/SFTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP/SFTP servers.
A great and very quick and easy way to upload/download files for your website.

Greasemonkey and Greasefire,
Customize the way a web page displays or behaves, by using small bits of JavaScript. You don't have to write the scripts if you aren't into that. There are thousands of scripts written for all sorts of sites.
You can go here
and root around for scripts, or, better yet, install
Greasefire
and let this automatically find scripts for you.
When you visit a web page that has compatible user scripts on Userscripts.org, this extension will highlight the Greasemonkey/Scriptish icon in the toolbar button (or status bar icon for older versions of Greasemonkey). Right click the icon and choose the "X scripts available" menu item to see and install the scripts available for the current page.
I mainly use these to fix issues on Facebook. I use: FFixer, Unfuck Facebook, Facebook and Comment Fixer.

IETab Plus (updated version of IETab)
Make sure to un-check Support Price Comparison feature in Settings.
Supports Adblock Plus in IE mode!
Works with IE8 and IE9 now.
IETab Plus enables you to use the embedded IE engine within tabs of Mozilla Firefox. It is not only a great tool for web developers, like the old IE Tab, but also an useful tool for normal users, since you can easily switch to IE when you meet incorrectly rendered web pages in Firefox.

MozImage,
Great for viewing and downloading a number of pictures at once from a web page.
You will need Mr Tech Toolkit to make this work.

Linkification
Converts text links into genuine, clickable links.
Newest version compatible with FF4 (linked above).
Regular FF Add-ons link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/linkification/


Special Mouse Gestures add-ons
Great for use with a mouse, not so handy for use with a touchpad.

FireGestures (replaces All-in-OneGestures)
A customizable mouse gestures extension which enables to execute various commands and user scripts with five types of gestures.

QuickDrag (replaces Super DragAndGo)
Extends the function of the drag-and-drop mouse gesture so that it can be used to load URLs, do a web search of selected text on a page, or save an image on a page. The successor to Super DragAndGo.


Others that might be useful/interesting (that I have not tried them out):

LinkExtend - Safety, KidSafe, Site Tools
LinkExtend provides meta-site-ratings for computer safety, child safety, company ethics, and popularity. Safety results come from eight online services giving you a safer browsing experience. Site links, titles, files and reviews are also included.

NoSquint
Beyond the page zoom in/out features in Firefox (Ctrl+ to enlarge a page, Ctrl- to reduce and Ctrl0 to reset), NoSquint allows you to adjust the text-only and full-page (both text and images) zoom levels as well as colour settings both globally (for all sites) and per site.

Bookmarks Menu Tool Button

Firefox Add-On Tiny Menu upgrades from version 2.0 to 2.0.1

Tiny Menu :: Add-ons for Firefox
If you were having problems with squished bookmark drop-down menus in Firefox with Tiny Menu add-on version 2.0, then make sure to update to version 2.0.1. This problem has been fixed.

Updating Firefox and add-ons that are no longer compatible

MR Tech Toolkit :: Add-ons for Firefox
If you don't have the Mr. Tech Toolkit add-on installed, you may end up with some incompatible add-ons whenever you update Firefox. Install this add on. Then, whenever Firefox updates and something stops working, open up the add-ons (Tools, Add-ons), find the one that is no longer compatible, and right-click on it and choose Make Compatible. Then, restart Firefox.
Most of the time this will fix the add-on an it will work. But sometimes, the add on will no longer work properly. If the add-on no longer works properly or causes problems, disable it and watch for updates for it.

Recommended Firefox Extensions

The following is a list of the Firefox extensions that I use most frequently. Most of them are available at the Firefox Add-Ons site. But some of them are available at the Mozdev Extension Room, or at the developer's home page. To find any on this list that are not in the Add-Ons site or the Extension room, just type Firefox and the extension name in Google and you should be able to find them.

MR Tech Local Install – Install this one first.
This extension allows you to install extensions from within the extension window from a files on your computer (instead of off a web site). This makes it handy for re-installing if you are doing a fresh install of Firefox. It also lets you remove the installation delay, sort the extension and theme windows alphabetically, comes with a re-start button and a few other things. You can also use it to tell Firefox to ignore the version, so older extensions will work with newer versions of Firefox.

Adblock
Blocks ads from loading on web pages. When it is on, it will show the word Adblock in the bottom right of your screen on the status bar. Right click on this to access the options menu. If you want to check a page with all the ads, then disable and re-load the page. To block specific Flash ads that are coming up (even with Adblock on), chose Overlay flash (for left click) on the Adblock options menu, then left-click on the ad. It will pop up with a window showing you the address for the flash file. If it has something like shoptv in the address, you can make a wild card out if it - change it to *shoptv* and then it will block all flash ads from shoptv. Once you've blocked this, reload the page and the other flash graphics that were not ads (that you don't want blocked), will re-appear.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater
Companion extension for Adblock - a big set of filters for common ads. A constantly updated database of ads and ad domains on the web.

All-in-OneGestures
Allows you to program various mouse gestures (using right click and drag) to do many things (instead of having to click keys or search through menus or select buttons). Examples: I have mine programmed so when I drag-right on a link, it opens in a new tab in the background. To close the current tab, I drag-down. When you right-click and drag a red line appears on the screen to help guide what you are doing.

Canadian English Dictionary
The English version of Firefox 2 comes with the American English dictionary installed by default. For Canadian English, install this dictionary.

CompactLibraryExtensionOrganizerCLEO
Save your backed up extensions (see FEBE) into one extension file for easy re-installation (in case you need to do a fresh install of Firefox, or if you are setting it up on a friend's computer).

Dictionary Tooltip
Double-click on a word and up pops the meaning. Simple. You can also chose which dictionary site you use. The list also includes the Urban Dictionary, which is good for looking up slang terms.

DownloadManagerTweak
Gives you a few more options for your Download window.

Fast Video Download
Saves embedded flash videos from many sites, including, You Tube, Google Video and many more. Just click on the icon on the status bar and the Save As window comes up. Simple.

FirefoxExtensionBackupExtensionFEBE
FEBE enables you to backup your extensions as their original installation file forms.

Firefox Menu Buttons
This gives you many more buttons to use for customizing your menu toolbars, which is very handy if you also use the Tiny Menu extension.

FireFTP
An excellent and simple FTP program that opens up in a Firefox tab. Just create a new account, enter your ftp address, login and password and away you go. Very simple for uploading files to your web site.

Googlebar
I like this better than using the search field that comes with Firefox (which is limited). And I like it more than the Google Toolbar (which comes with too much stuff). This extension is very customizable. Find it at:
http://googlebar.mozdev.org/installation.html#versions
scroll down to Experimental Version and install the latest version.

Googlepedia
When you run a Google search you will get the usual list of sites, but with Googlepedia running, you will also see the Wikipedia site that relates to your search on the right half of your screen. You can expand, shrink or hide the Wikipedia page.

IETab
Sometimes you will come to a page that won't load properly in Firefox (because some web programmers program sites for IE only (which does not fully support web standards)). With this extension you can open Internet Explorer inside a Firefox tab. You can also use this to program specific sites, so whenever you click on the bookmark or a link to that site, it will come up as an IE tab.

Print/PrintPreview
Puts the print/print preview arrow back on the Print button on your toolbar (so you can preview what will print and decide which pages you want.)

Snapper
With this you can select (drag and draw a rectangle around) anything inside your browser window on a web page and save it as an image file.

SuperDragAndGo
Download/save an image to your computer by left-clicking and dragging on it.

Tab Mix Plus
Fully customize the way that the tabs work and appear. This includes Session Manager, which is very handy (and is more customizable than the built-in Firefox restore function) for when Firefox crashes when you are in the middle of something.

Tiny Menu
Menu-izes the text menu, so it becomes a drop-down menu - thus saving you more space on the main menu bar.

Unplug
If you can't save the video with Fast Video Download, try this one. Right-click on the page, chose Unplug from the menu and the page will change to one with a list of the video in different formats. Chose the one you want and save. This extension seems better than Video Downloader and Downloaded Embedded.

Update Notifier
Currently, you can set Firefox to automatically update itself. But you can't set this for extensions. With this extension you can. You can set this so every time you open Firefox, it will check for updates for all extensions and themes, download and install them, all automatically in the background (so you don't have to worry about doing this manually).