Of all the major web browser, Firefox takes privacy and security the most seriously. Unlike Google’s Chrome, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Apple’s Safari, Firefox is an open source project run by the non-profit foundation Mozilla, which means they don’t have a vested interested in tracking your every move online.
If you’re like me and you’re often working remotely from all different kinds of distracting environments, you’re going to want to customize Firefox to help you focus and get things done faster. Fortunately, there are productivity enhancing Firefox extnsions that can help you ensure your time spent web browsing doesn’t disappear down a black hole of distraction.
Firefox Productivity Extensions:
Here are the Firefox extensions I recommend to improve your focus, block out distractions and optimize your workday:
1. StartHQ
StartHQ replaces your new tab page and makes it easier to launch your favourite websites quickly. It also allows you to search across all your cloud services like Gmail, Google Apps and Dropbox from the StartHQ Firefox dashboard.
2. OneTab
If you find yourself always opening a load of tabs, then this OneTab can reduce tab clutter consolidate your tabs into a single tab. Not only is having lots of tabs open distracting, it also drains your battery much faster. If you want more advanced tab management, I also highly recommend Tab Mix Plus.
3. RescueTime For Firefox
See where all your time spent browsing goes. RescueTime provides beautiful charts and graphics to illustrate how you spend your time using Firefox. By providing different rating for productive and distracting websites, you can see how optimally you are spending your time.
4. Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus blocks the scripts that power nearly all online advertisements. Remove those pesky sidebar ads on Facebook, banner ads on websites and ads on Google.
4. Pocket
Save any article or video with a single click to your cloud-based Pocket. Pocket allows you to then read them later from any web browsing or in their apps for iOS and Android. It even downloads them to your device so you can read them offline if you’re going on a long flight or not going to have Internet for awhile.
6. FoxyProxy
FoxyProxy is a Firefox extension which automatically switches an internet connection across one or more proxy servers based on URL patterns. This improves your security, allows you to access geographically restricted content and generally increases the speed at which webpages load.
7. Disconnect
This extension enhances your privacy by encrypting your Firefox data and it disables tracking by over 2,000 popular websites. It also claims to improve page load speed by an average of 27%.
8. Hootsuite Hootlet
Share any web page or video with a single click to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ and track the analytics in Hootsuite’s social media dashboard.
9. LeechBlock
A tool to keep you off distracting websites when you really need to get something done. It offers a lot of flexibility to help you become more productive. You can block websites between fixed time periods (i.e. from 9 to 5), or after a time limit (i.e. after 10 minutes of browsing every hour or for the entire day).
10. LastPass
Protect your security by using unique passwords generated by LastPass and instantly accessing your passwords for any website in Firefox. The service is free but if you want to also sync all your passwords with iOS and Android, it’s worth the $1 a month.
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