I know, I know. Firefox isn’t the only web browser around. Many of you Cooler People are enjoying the simplicity of Google Chrome or the “can’t-uninstall-it-so-might-as-well-use-it” goodness of Internet Explorer. But Firefox is the browser with the most useful and practical plug-ins on the scene right now. How do you get them? All you need to do is go to their installation pages (linked here for your convenience), click “Add to Firefox”, and let it do the rest. Then you will be prompted to restart Firefox to complete the installation. They are easy to install, and easy to use. Here are 5 of them that are worth consideration:

Google Image Relinker with Mouseover & Greasemonkey: Google Image Search is fun and useful, but boy, does it need an overhaul! How frustrating is it to go through the process? First you have to enter the search term, then click on a tiny picture that you can barely see, then you have to go through the site it’s from, or click again on the image at the top, only to find out that it’s still too tiny, or not what you were looking for at all!

This add-on changes all of that! With Google Image Relinker with Mouseover, you can just wave your pointer over the tiny image and get a large, immediate pop-up of the picture for viewing. Even better than that, clicking on the image takes you straight to the image itself, for you to do what you wish with it. This thing saves you a billion years of your life searching for just the right image, and makes those lazy-day, time-killing Google Image Searches much more enjoyable.

How to get it: This one is a special situation, in that you need Greasemonkey to pull it off. Click on the link above and follow the instructions to install Greasemonkey. Then go to the link for the Image Relinker and install it. Then do your own search for “monkeys”.

GCal Popup: If you are an avid Google fan like me, you enjoy the practical capabilities of Google Calendar. But for quick access, this add-on can’t be beat. GCal Popup places a small calendar icon in your status bar at the bottom of Firefox. Click on the tiny calendar, and your Google Calendar opens up right inside your current tab. It has full functionality, so if you need to add/delete/edit an event on your calendar quickly and easily, GCal Popup is the way to go.

Adblock Plus: Take a poll of any internet user about what they hate, and chances are intruding advertisements are the main problem. Google AdSense has made it easy enough for anyone to simply throw a couple ads up on a site and make a few pennies. But man, are they annoying! With this add-on, you can kiss all those ads goodbye. Just by installing it, it removes all the advertisements from a web page – leaving you with a much more pleasant (and faster loading!) web site.

Download Statusbar: You want to download the latest Eminem video (hey, we’re not here to judge), and you click the “download” button. Now you get a pop-up window with your download status and time remaining. If you want to check back on it, you have to click on that window. No more! The Download Statusbar inserts that information on the bottom of your Firefox window. Now you can monitor the progress of your download without having to leave the page you’re on. Just hover your mouse pointer over the download to get additional information. Slick and simple.

StumbleUpon: OK, this one is more for entertainment than anything else. One of the first add-ons I ever tried on Firefox, StumbleUpon allows you to truly surf around on the internet based on your interests. Visit random pages and judge their content, and you will get focused suggestions for stuff you might enjoy. While a productivity killer if anything, StumbleUpon is a great way to mindlessly relax and enjoy interesting content from all over the web.

Those are some that I really enjoy – but what about you? Share your favorite Firefox extensions in the comments!

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