Customize Google

Anyone who has ever wished they could bend Google to their will should download this add-on. It gives you a tremendous amount of control over the way Google and its associated sites work. Want to remove all ads from Google and Gmail? It can do it. Want to add links to the Wayback Machine in your search results so that you can find Web pages from long ago and far away? It'll do that as well. It will also anonymize the Google cookie UID so that Google can't create a profile about you, and much more.click here to install

Adblock Plus

Good news: What may be the most popular add-on of all time works with Firefox 3. This extension does exactly what it says: It blocks banner ads so that you can surf the Internet without flashing, annoying advertisements. Nothing more, and nothing less.Click here to install.

Force Old Extensions to Work in Firefox 3

When you install Firefox 3, it checks to see if your old extensions have been updated for the new version of the browser. If it finds they haven't, it disables them.

If you like living on the edge, you can change a couple of settings to force Firefox to use your old extensions. Be forewarned, though, that doing this can cause compatibility problems and other woes.

Go to the following settings in about:config, and change both to false by double-clicking them:

extensions.checkCompatibility

extensions.checkUpdateSecurity

If you don't want to muck around with about:config but still want to force old extensions to work in Firefox 3, download and use the Nightly Tester Tools extension.

Gmail Handle mailto: Links

Gmail, surprisingly, doesn't show up in the Firefox list of mailto: handlers. But you can add it. Just follow these steps:

1. In the address bar, type about:config and press Enter. Ignore the warranty warning.

2. In the filter box, type gecko.handlerservice.

3. From the entries that appear, double-click gecko.handlerServiceAllowRegisterFromDifferentHost. This will change its value from false to true.

4. In the address bar, copy this code, exactly as you see it, then press Enter:

javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto",
"https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","GMail")

5. Below the address bar, you'll get a message asking if you want to add Gmail as the application for mailto: links. Click the Add Application button.

6. Next time you click a mailto: link, a screen will appear that lets you choose an appropriate application. Select Gmail, check the box next to "Remember my choice for mailto: links," then click OK.

From now on, Gmail will handle the links. As with Yahoo Mail, if you're not currently logged in, you'll first have to type in your e-mail and password, and then Gmail will create the e-mail.