add-on

Add-ons make Firefox a social-network powerhouse

It's easy to fall behind the activities of your social-network connections. Before you know it, you've got dozens or even hundreds of your friends' status updates, new photo albums, and site and video suggestions stacked in your network home page. Yoono, the Facebook Toolbar, and TwitterBar are three Firefox add-ons that keep you a little bit closer to the people in your online social circles.

Integrate your social networks with Yoono If you find yourself jumping between Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networks, you can view all your network alerts in a single window by adding … Read more

Xmarks adds open tab syncing

Browser add-on Xmarks has introduced a major new synchronization feature over the past few weeks for its multiple browser plug-ins that lets users sync open tabs across multiple browsers and computers. The new feature (download Xmarks for Firefox | Chrome | Internet Explorer | Safari) offers far better control over tab opening than merely forcing all your tabs to appear on all your computers and browsers. Instead, Xmarks politely tells you which tabs are synced under which browsers and lets you open them individually.

Once the add-on is installed, you'll be asked to create an account if you don't have one. … Read more

5 time-saving Outlook add-ons

Your Microsoft Outlook 2007 in-box is one of those apps that's underappreciated and easily overlooked, yet for business professionals and home users alike, it often bears the brunt of most e-mail exchange.

It's time to give Outlook--and yourself--a hand with some free, and free-to-try, add-ons that could very well smooth out your workflow. We've rounded up five time-saving Outlook add-ons for you to take on a spin. Just don't get too add-on-happy, since, as with browser extensions, a surplus of running Outlook extras can drag down the pace.

Mozilla Contacts makes Firefox socially aware

Most people develop acne when they become socially aware. Firefox just gets an add-on. Mozilla Contacts is an experimental new add-on for the browser that provides one-click access to your address books, provided that you've synchronized them.

Right now, the add-on has fairly limited features and functionality. It can sync contacts from Gmail, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Plaxo. Mac users can also sync with with local address books, and there are plans to incorporate Thunderbird, locally stored contacts in Windows and other social-networking systems.

Once installed, Contacts can be accessed only from your Tools menu. It opens up a new … Read more

Browser wowser

Internet downloading got a major boost from bit torrents and the widespread availability of broadband, but conventional Web-based downloads are still limited by single-thread technology. Download Commander from Heitmeijer is a downloading application that uses the familiar HTTP protocol but enables multiple simultaneous downloads via multithreading, so instead of downloading each file on a Web site, you can download them all at once. It will also save various credentials so you don't have to re-enter them constantly.

Download Commander integrates itself with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. Right-clicking a Web page calls up the context menu with Download … Read more

Basic download manager

Sometimes it's enough to download a video or song by itself, but other times we find ourselves with multiple downloads going, which can get confusing and hard to manage. InstantGet is a download manager that helps organize downloads and claims to make them faster. Although we're not sure that the program's claims are accurate, overall, it seems to work well enough.

The program's interface is fairly basic, not differing significantly from that of other download managers we've encountered. It's not the most intuitive program we've ever seen, but with a bit of poking … Read more

Polk's SurroundBar SDA IHT sounds sweet, but lacks features

Just because you don't want a full surround-sound home audio system doesn't mean you have to settle for the sound coming out of your TV's speakers. That's the pitch behind TV add-on speakers, which are stripped-down versions of sound bar home theater systems that offer minimal connectivity, but promise a significant upgrade over your TV's tinny speakers.

Polk Audio's SurroundBar SDA IHT is the company's entry-level sound bar, and it offers only the bare essentials, with just one analog audio input, no remote, and no front display. If all you need is a … Read more

Firefox add-on accused of malware comes up clean

Last week, Firefox users were warned by Mozilla of two add-ons that had been discovered to contain malware and removed from their add-on Web site. Mozilla backtracked on one those add-ons last night, saying that the company had worked with McAfee and determined that the Sothink Web Video Downloader is malware-free.

The initial estimate of 6,000 affected downloads has also been revised downward, to 700 downloads. Mac and Linux Firefox users were not affected by the malware discovery.

Mozilla stated that during the re-testing process that cleared the Sothink add-on, the other add-on thought to be infected, Master Filer, … Read more

Mozilla yanks infected add-ons, warns users

Mozilla on Friday pulled two programs from its Firefox browser add-on site for containing malware. Sothink Web Video Downloader 4.0 and all versions of Master Filer were found to contain Trojan horse code aimed at Windows users.

In a blog post, Mozilla stated that the Master Filer add-on was able to bypass AMO's security tests.

Mozilla user CatThief discovered the threat, it said. And when Mozilla added two more security checks to its vetting process and rescanned its entire catalog, it discovered that version 4 of the Sothink Web Video Downloader also contained a Trojan horse program. Sothink … Read more