Pimp Internet Explorer 8 Part 1: plug ins and toolbars
If you're an IE user and have gotten the impression that the only mods you're going to find are horrible smiley toolbars, think again. There are plenty of great extras you can install to personalize your browser - you just have to know where to find them.
Still using IE7? Most of these will work just fine for you, too, with the obvious exceptions of accelerators, slices, and Visual Search.
Plug-Ins and Toolbars
Sure, IE can already remember passwords and it's been able to do that for a long time. It's not the most secure setup, however, and if someone gets their hands on your computer all they need is a program like IE PassView from Nirsoft.
LastPass encrypts your password vault and stores it on a remote server. All communications with the server are SSL protected and your data isn't readable by the guys at the other end. Once you've set it up, you only have to remember the password to your LastPass account - the addon automatically handles the rest for you.
On top of that, LastPass can also create strong passwords for you and automatically fill forms. It's a must have.
Even if you're careful, there are bound to be web pages and files which you don't know are safe. WOT is a "socal safety" tool that works with a massive database of user submitted ratings. The code is easy to understand: green = good, yellow = questionable, red = get out while you can.
If you happen to stumble on to an especially bad site, WOT will block the page with a warning and ask if you'd like to continue or bail out.
Trixie
You may have read about Greasemonkey for Firefox. It's an addon that allows you to run the thousands of handy files from Userscripts.org. Trixie lets IE users enjoy those scripts as well.
It's a little more work than with Firefox, though. Find a script you want, and save it to the Trixie\scripts folder (probably C:\Program Files\Bhelpuri\Trixie\Scripts\ ). Next, go to the tools menu and choose Trixie Options. Press reload scripts, and your new addition will appear.
IE7 Pro
This one packs a ton of features, like a download manager, an ad-blocker, online favorites storage, browsing session restore, mouse gestures, and more. You can also use it to capture web pages to an image and quickly clear private data.
It can also handle Userscripts, though I've found Trixie to do a slightly better job. Just watch during the install and uncheck the box when it appears - unless you'd prefer a one-addon-does-it-all solution, then skip Trixie and use IE7 Pro instead.
If you spend a lot of time browsing photo or video sites, Cooliris should be right up your alley. Visit a supported site (more than 40 so far) and Cooliris will activate, providing a slick interface for viewing and discovering media. There's a bit of a learning curve with this one, so give yourself time to play with it before casting judgment.
If you've yet to experience the time sink that is Stumbleupon, it's worth trying out. Here's how it works: you select some basic topics that interest you, then start stumbling. As pages appear, you give them a thumbs up or down.
For it to really be effective, you'll need to stick with it for a while and do a little work. The more pages you rate, the more accurate Stumbleupon's recommendations become.
After a few days, it's quite possible that you'll become a Stumblezombie, staring at your screen and feeling a tremendous urge to click the button just one....more...time...
Yoono
IE users that love social networking sites: you need to install Yoono. It adds a ton of functions for a number of social sites, including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed, Last.fm and Flickr.
Apart from being able to update statuses and reply to direct messages, Yoono also enables messaging with your gTalk, AIM, Yahoo, and MSN buddies.
On top of that, Yoono's widgets will let you listen to Last.fm, browse images related to the page you're currently browsing, and rate web pages, images, and videos.
BugMeNot
You've got LastPass to handle form filling and passwords, but what to do when a site requires you to register and log in but you'd prefer not to? Turn to BugMeNot for the solution.
Other people share your feelings, and they've also shared usernames and passwords to tons of sites. Right click a login link and this accelerator opens a new tab on BugMeNot.com with a list of user-submitted credentials (as long as there's a match for the link you click). It also displays the success rate for each pair.
Continue on to part 2: accelerators, web slices, and search...
