Unfortunately, you will find some of the plug-ins that promise a lot, actually harm your SEO experience. Before you recommend them to your potential customers, you should make sure they are plug-ins you really need to use.

There are a number of plug-ins and ways to download batches of them that actually cause a huge slowdown in a user’s experience, and even worse, infiltrate a user’s computer so much they are harmful.

I have, on more than one ocassion, had to remove and reinstall Firefox because it was better to get that pesky malware out of my computer. Here is a look at some of those extensions and add-ons that could kill the browsing experience.

Batch Loaders: There are a number of batch loading tools for Firefox. I have found them to cause a huge amount of turmoil with the browser. If you want to add a plug-in, do it one by one.

Some of these batch loading 3rd party plug-ins just seem to never want stop updating and offering hundreds of plug-ins. This is where those nasty malware extensions can sneak in.

Don’t believe the hype that these 3rd party options will filter out and give you the most popular and best add-ons to make your experience better. You will just be busy dealing with the thing and trying to get rid off it, and what it is putting in your browser and harddrive.

Malware: Despite Firefox claiming it is a much safer browsing experience than Windows’ Internet Explorer, there are many plug-ins that slip through the screening process. You might have downloaded them before the alert was given out. Sothink Web Video Downloader was one of them.

The Trojan in this extension will hijack your PC. This happens more often than not. It is always important that you read other user’s comments and experience when downloading an extension, add-on, or plug-in.

Very Dangerous Malware: Although I keep mentioning Malware, it is important you understand the extent of the dangers associated. In the past, there have been Malware extensions that have taken all your saved passwords and sent that information to a rogue site.

No virus scanner will even be able to pick up on this kind of attack because all of that nasty stuff is written in the Javascript inside the extension.

Broken Extensions and More: Some extension will actually cause your browser to freeze, and may even cause your computer to crash. Just because an add-on or extension is popular, don’t think that it is right for you.

Again, it is important for you to research and read other users’ experience. Some extensions can conflict with others. Some extensions such as TrackMeNot, will do a lot of useless work in the background while you surf, such as creating a lot of random searches on search engines, so your searching activities cannot be tracked.

While this is not broken, it will eat up your bandwidth and slow down your surfing time down. If you are in Australia, and you are paying for bandwidth by the amount you use, you could run into some huge internet bills.

If you have a site, or you are recommending plug-ins for your site, it is important you think about your Search Engine Optimization, to make sure your site runs as smoothly as possible. It is actually better if you don’t have to get your users to do anything but enjoy the experience.

The new password sync feature allows you to save your passwords, bookmarks, preferences, themes and extensions across multiple computers. All you have to do is enable the sync feature in the “Personal Stuff” area of the browser settings.

The new Chrome settings menu will now appear in a new tab, rather than a separate menu. Finding settings in this new tab is much easier and quicker to find with the new search feature. Using this search feature is a great way to find URLs for specific settings, which are now a feature in Chrome. Right in the browser you can navigate to a URL such as chrome://settings/passwordManager. Check out the video below to get a live example of the new features:

The new extension, dubbed Personal Blocklist, will allow users to block any search result they feel that shouldn’t show up in search results. If you block a result, it will end up blocking all results from that domain. Don’t worry, they aren’t gone forever. You can easily unblock any blocked domain by clicking the extension’s icon.

You can also have the blocked results show on the search engine result page by clicking the “show” button. This show button is similar to the feature that Google has when it finds duplicate results i.e. “repeat the search with omitted results included”.

This experimental extension will only affect your search results, but could be deemed as a possible source of input for search engine rankings in the future. This extension is a good way to block sites that don’t provide any useful results or just seem like spam.

Do you think this will help Google cull out the spam? Or is it another tool people can abuse to improve their search rankings?

Google Chrome is a newcomer in the browser wars, but it’s gaining on other Internet Explorer alternatives like Firefox and Opera. This popularity has led to growth of the extensions mentioned above. Chrome extensions are made available through Chrome’s Extension Gallery, but imagine trying to find the extension you want, among 4,000+ without some sort of categorization. It looks like Google has been listening and they recently announced that you can now browse extensions by categories.

They’ve added six categories to aid you in your search for the extensions you want.

To Download Chrome, visit (Google.com/chrome).

The new categories group Extensions into the following groups:

• Web Development
• Blogging
• Shopping
• Sports
• Fun
• by Google

List of extensions for Web Developers.

Looking for a couple of really cool extensions and don’t know where to start?

Check out – 10 Chrome Extensions Every User Should Have.

Below I will show you how WiseStamp works and how to install and use it. If you have any comments or questions, please post them below.

Note: The WiseStamp website will automatically detect your browser and suggest the appropriate version you’ll need. I used Google Chrome browser for this tutorial.

Before proceeding with the how-to below, download and install the WiseStamp extension from WiseStamp.com.

Customize your Email Signatures

1. Once installed the WiseStamp icon should appear in the Chrome toolbar. Click on WiseStamp to open the menu.

2. Click on Edit Signatures.

3. The Email Signatures window will open. Click on the drop-down to specify the signature you will be editing. I chose Business for this guide.

Note: You can rename the signature by clicking on the Rename link.

4. Enter your email signature in the text box. Feel free to use the formatting bar to specify font, size, color, add hyperlinks, and even images.

Note: If you will be adding links to your social profiles, follow the steps below to get a very professional look.

5. Once you are done with the signature text box, now we can add the various social links available to your signature. Click on the drop-down to select a social network from the list. Once selected enter the URL (web address) for your profile on the selected service.

You can include additional services by clicking on the Add button. If you wish to delete a social link, click on the [X] to the left of the URL text box.

6. When you are ready, click on the Preview button to review your signature.

A small window will appear with the preview of your signature. If you wish to customize the social services icons, follow the steps below.

7. After you Close the Preview window and return to the Email Signatures window, click on the Settings button.

8. A small window will appear. Select how you would like the services to be displayed.

a. Customize the label, the default is My Profiles, but you can change it to something catchier.

9. Click OK to save the settings.

Click on Preview again to review the changes.

There are a ton of other features that can be added to your signatures, visit the WiseStamp Goodies for more details.

Insert Signatures into Your Messages

All you have to do is Compose/Create a new message and your WiseStamp signature should appear. If you’re like me and you’ve been using Gmail for a while, chances are that you already have a signature automatically inserted by Gmail, so you’ll end up with two signatures…

If you don’t remember how to remove your default signature in Gmail, follow the instructions below.

Remove Your Old Signatures

1. Open Gmail and click on the Settings link on the top right corner of the screen.

2. When the Settings page appears, make sure that you are in the General tab, click on No Signature from the Signature section.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Save Changes.

When you compose a new message only the WiseStamp signature should appear.

What’s your favorite Chrome extension?

Note: Each extension listed below will have a direct link to the extension hosted by Google, alternately you can explore other extensions by visiting the Official Google Chrome Extensions Gallery.

1 . Send from Gmail (by Google)

If Gmail is your email client of choice then this is an absolute must have. When in use the Send from Gmail extension will automatically pick up on a any email links you click on within the browser and it will also allow you to send a link of the page you are viewing.

Download Send from Gmail Extension

2 . Evernote Web Clipper

Once you use Evernote, it is hard to go back to OneNote or paper. With this extension you can use Evernote to store your favorite website as a link or the entire page so that you can read it on your spare time or keep it as research. This is an excellent tool to enhance Evernote’s capabilities.

Download Evernote Web Clipper Extension

3 . IE Tab (Internet Explorer Tab)

Unfortunately a great number of websites still don’t look good in Chrome as such we have to open up Internet Explorer or Firefox in order to view the page correctly …lucky for us the IE Tab extension will open an Internet Explorer tab within Chrome and save us a trip to the Desktop.

Download IE Tab Extension

4. Facebook for Google Chrome

If you’re reading this post, then you are more than likely one of Facebook’s 350 million users, if so then you need to install the Facebook Extension for Chrome. It will give you access to your newsfeed, your status updates, and profile, it will also let you update your status. You get to do all this without having to open another tab.

Download Facebook Extension

5. StumbleUpon

Discover the Best of the Web in less time…that’s what StumbleUpon stands for. When enabled it allows you to "stumble upon" websites that have been rated by users with similar interests…the more websites you Thumb Up or Thumb Down, the better job that StumbleUpon does in finding a website you will enjoy. When activated this extension adds a toolbar to Chrome so that you can access SU features.

Download StumbleUpon Extension

6. Google Reader Notifier (by Google)

If you use Google Reader as your default RSS aggregator then you are going to love this extension. The Google Reader Notifier will alert you with a number badge on the icon to the number of unread feeds in your account. If you choose to get a preview of those feeds without having to visit the Reader page you can simply click on the Reader Notifier icon to display a dialog box with the title’s of the news feeds and their publishers. You can also use the Open Google Reader link to visit the Reader site.

Download Google Reader Notifier Extension

7. Chromed Bird

If you are on Twitter and love to update your status as well as check other tweets without leaving the page you’re on, then this is the extension for you. With a click of a button you will be able to access almost all of Twitters features without having to open a separate window or tab.

Download Chrome Bird Extension

8. ChromeMilk

We all have tons of things to do and one way to organize all of those tasks is by using Remember the Milk, however you can further streamline your use of this awesome task management website by adding the ChromeMilk extension to Google Chrome. With this extension you don’t have to visit RTM to access your To Do list, you can do so from the dialog box that appears when the ChromeMilk icon is activated.

The extension allows you to browse, add tasks, and modify their status. Great addition for anyone who is constantly working on the web.

Download ChromeMilk Extension

9. Google Dictionary (by Google)

Forget the visit to your dictionary or dictionary.com for that matter, simply double-click on the word whose definition you wish to discover and a small pop-up will appear with the definition and a link (More) to additional information about the selected word.

Download Google Dictionary Extension

10. RSS Subscription Extension (by Google)

This should be a default feature with any browser, but apparently optional with Chrome. The RSS Subscription Extension will automatically detect if there is a feed available from the website you are visiting. If present, click on the icon and a dialog box will appear that will allow you to choose the feed you wish to use, once selected then you will be given the option to choose the service that you use for your RSS reading needs. Very handy …should be a default feature in Chrome though.

Download RSS Subscription Extension

Firefox 1.5 has an intuitive interface and blocks viruses, spyware, and popup ads. It delivers Web pages faster than ever. And it’s easy to install and import your favorites. Packed with useful features like tabbed browsing, Live Bookmarks, and an integrated Search bar, Firefox will change the way you experience the Web, for the better.

Useful Extensions

• Performancing: Performancing for Firefox is a full featured blog editor that sits right in your Firefox browse and lets you post to your blog easiy. You can drag and drop formatted text from the page you happen to be browsing, and take notes as well as post to your blog.
• FlashGot: Download one link, selected links or all the links of a page at the maximum speed with a single click, using the most popular external download managers for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and FreeBSD (dozens currently supported products, see http://flashgot.net for details). FlashGot offers also a Build Gallery functionality which helps to synthetize full media galleries in one page, from serial contents previously scattered on several pages, for easy and fast “download all”.
• IE Tab: Very useful extension. Allows embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox.

For more extensions be sure to check: https://addons.mozilla.org/?application=firefox

Firefox description via Developer’s Site.