The ten most useful extensions for your browser

Browser extensions help us improve our internet experience. PIXABAY

When you drop the internet connection at home or work we discover with a rawness a reality that we are not always aware: the computer is nothing more than a heavy and useless object if you do not have access to the network. We live on the internet, and beyond the applications, a correct configuration of the browser can simplify our lives. It is not about personalizing the look or the way the eyelashes are opened, but go much further and thanks to the extensions. What exactly is an extension in a browser? It is a small complement or mini-program that is added to it expanding its functionality. Let's take a look at the ten of the most useful extensions:

1. Magic Actions, or How to Vitamin YouTube

We all happened to find YouTube on our favorite song and wander through the network of videos between versions to a resolution so painful that hardly distinguishes the face of the singer, this forces us to waste time to come up with an HD version in which you can enjoy audio and video without problems. On the other hand, the YouTube format makes part of the protagonism take the comments section and, of course, advertising. Well, this extension promises to offer only high resolution videos, block the ads and expand the content on the video screen so that we do not get confused with anything else ( Chrome / Firefox / Opera ).

Amazon Amazon, the bargain finder

Who usually buys online will know the variability of prices well: what today can cost 60 euros, tomorrow, in a limited supply, can be halved; on the other hand, there are the offers of the day, in which the manufacturer is disheveled and throws the price of a product in a limited way. Amazon is king of kings in internet commerce, and of course, an extension will help us find those bargains that we can hardly give up. The Amazon Assitant is a discreet button located at the top of the browser and when you click it, offers us the bargains of the day based on our interests. For this, logically, it is necessary to access our account in the store. ( Chrome / Firefox / Opera / Edge ).

3. All passwords are handy and secure with 1Password

There are multiple password managers and it is certainly the best way to keep all the keys to access the sites safely and without becoming crazy. Among them, 1Password is one of the most secure and popular and offers comfortable and secure password management. The advantage of integrating the manager into an extension in the browser is obvious: it will be enough to press on a button so that the system accesses safely for us and we do not have to go crazy typing or remembering what the password was. The fact that it is integrated also allows you to learn new passwords as you enter new sites or modify your password ( 1Password for Chrome, Opera, Safari and Firefox ).

4. Rapportive, or how to gossip to our partners in Gmail

Gmail users can get an interesting  extra in their communications thanks to this extension: they will be able to know more about their interlocutor since the extension tracks their profile in social networks and offers not only their profile photo, but also their biography or the information that they have shared on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook. ( Chrome / Opera )

5. Forget that Page, when we do not want to leave a trace

Although all browsers have a "private mode" (also known as " porn mode" ) that prevents us from leaving any trace of a particular web visited, there is always the occasion that we have accessed a page that we do not want to know more by accident. Well, an extension is responsible for erasing all traces of a particular web by pressing a single button: Forget that Page ( Chrome / Opera ).

6. Session Buddy: Get your favorite eyelashes

Usually, users repeat patterns of visits to pages and always have a series of tabs permanently open, either with the news or the results of football, or with websites dedicated to labor matters. Open these tabs every day can be a bit heavy, and fortunately, Chrome users have a jewel that makes this work easier: Session Buddy (Firefox users will find a similar tool in Session Manager ).

7. Personal Shopping Assistant, a 'bot' for the best price

As we have noted before, the variability of prices on the internet offers great opportunities to buy the same product at very low prices, and not always seasonally. On the other hand, it is such the supply of stores in the network that it is difficult to keep track of the same product in different sites. In this sense, Microsoft has developed a cross-platform extension through which the system will alert us to a variation of the price of a given product. ( Opera / Edge / Chrome ).

8. Pushbullet, all your connected computers

At present one does not only have a PC or tablet or smartphone , but most likely have several of these equipment and use them indistinctly. So things would not be ideal if they were all connected? This way you could send a link from a specific web to the mobile or a photo or document; conversely, on the computer we could receive notification of an SMS received on the mobile. This powerful functionality exists and is offered by Pushbullet , a multiplatform service that, through extensions, offers everything (or most, depending on the platform) of the described functions. Essential.

9. Pocket: I'll read this later ...

Another situation that we live quite frequently is the following: we are surfing the web and we have a content of great interest but at that time, either because we are doing something urgent or we do not have time, we can not read it. Could you save it for later? Yes, reading managers do this job wonderfully and have legions of users. And among them, one of the most popular, Pocket , allows not only organize the links for later reading, but also organize them by tags and share them from the site itself. Its extension in the multiple browsers facilitates the storage of the link with a single touch.

10. DuckDuckGo, the anonymous and private search engine

Can you get away from Google? It is difficult, but not impossible. The quest for excellence has become an excellent tool for all but the toll that has to pay high: our privacy. Those who want to search without a trace have a great alternative in an old acquaintance, the DuckDuckGo search engine , which offers very good results without leaving a trace of it or marketing with our privacy. Once again, it also arrives in the form of extension in multiple browsers that will facilitate the searches with a single touch and without leaving the window in which we are.