The Browser Guru

Google Mail Checker Plus

The Google Mail Checker Plus extension is essential for anyone who uses Gmail extensively. It notifies you how many emails you have in your inbox and provides a drop-down listing of the top email subjects and senders. You can read, delete, mark as spam, or archive emails, and there is also a link in the popup that will take you directly to your inbox.

Xmarks Bookmarks Sync

Xmarks Bookmarks Sync allows you to keep your bookmarks in sync with Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer. There are slight differences between XMarks for Firefox and XMarks for Chrome, although they function in the same manner. When syncing XMarks in Chrome, the browser does not become unusable — unlike Firefox when it conducts the same operation.

FlashBlock

FlashBlock does exactly what its name suggests. It blocks all Flash content from loading in your browser. It also lets you add sites to your white list on the fly by clicking Ctrl + Shift + F. Flashblock will block the following content types: Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, Macromedia Authorware and Microsoft Silverlight.

Shareaholic

The Shareaholic extension allows you to share links to your various accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter. Just click the Shareaholic button and use the dropdown list to specify the service you want to share the link with.

Shareaholic also lets you add personal notes to shared links. For those who share online work with Twitter followers, this feature makes life much easier.

Forecastfox Weather

The Forecastfox Weather extension is similar to the Firefox extension of the same name, with one major difference. Instead of placing the forecast in the notification toolbar, the Chrome version places a button in the Address bar, along with the other extension buttons.

Clicking the button opens a pop-up window that displays the forecast. You see a week’s forecast as well as current weather details.

Tab Menu

Tab Menu is essential if you tend to have so many tabs open in Chrome that you cannot read the labels. It offers a dropdown list of all open tabs and allows you to switch back and forth between them.

Session Manager

The Session Manager extension allows you to save the state of your browser so it will be reloaded whenever you need it. But it is more than just a single-session save.

Session Manager takes it to another level by allowing you to save multiple states, name them, and open any of those states by selecting them from a dropdown list.

WOT

WOT, or Web of Trust, offers instant ratings for sites. These ratings let you know whether a site can be trusted. But WOT does not just use an algorithm or function to rate sites. Users provide ratings or warnings to unsuspecting users. E-commerce sites are among the targets for WOT ratings.

iMacros

The iMacros power-user tool takes much of the repetition out of browsing. You can use iMacros as a form filler and encrypted password manager. You can even use it to combine extensions.

If you repeat tasks, this extension will quickly become your best friend. On installation, be sure to visit the iOpus iMacros for Chrome page and look at some sample macros you can run immediately.

Remember the Milk

Many users already have the Remember the Milk tool on their phones. It adds a task list to the browser, even linking to your Gmail account so tasks can be converted to email. These tasks can be synced with all your other instances of Remember the Milk, regardless of platform. You will need a Remember the Milk account to use this extension.

Credit: 10 Google Chrome extensions worth checking out from TechRepublic.com