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Mozilla Firefox, a hugely popular browser that enjoys a market share only less than Microsoft Internet Explorer, is lean and very fast. But what makes this browser all the more useful are the free extensions created by the Firefox developer community.

These extensions, also referred to as plug-ins or add-ons, are small applications that anyone can download and install into their Firefox browser to add brand new features or enhance existing functionality.

But the problem is how to make a start?

There are thousands of Firefox extensions and picking the most useful pieces from this large heap may take some effort and experimentation. I am an ardent Firefox fan since its early days, and have played around with a few hundred Firefox extensions during this period. Here are some of the gems that I recommend. They improve your browsing experience and make Firefox even better:

Aardvark: If you regularly print web pages, this is a must-have add-on. With a simple shortcut key, Aardvark lets you remove any elements from that web page that may not be required in the print version. This could include advertising,

HTML tables, banner graphics, etc. Start Aardvark, hover the mouse over areas of the web page that you don’t want to print and press erase.

LinkAlert: When you click an hyperlink on a web page, you normally expect it to point to another web page but that may not be the case always as links can point to PDFs, Office Documents, MP3 files, zips, email addresses, etc. You know the frustration when you click a PDF and it starts to load Adobe Reader causing your browser to freeze for some time. Or you click an email address accidentally and Outlook opens up. With LinkAlert, such accidents may become a thing of the past as it appends a small visual icon next to links on web pages that are not HTML documents.

BlogRovR: As you are surfing the web, this extension will quickly show you what your favourite bloggers have said about the web page that is currently open in your browser. You just have to pass a list of your favourite blogs to BlogRovR and it will automatically fetch articles/commentary from those blogs which link to whatever web page you’re viewing.