As I mentioned in a previous post, Firefox 3 is being released today, so I figured it was a good day to share my favorites Firefox add-ons with you.

1. Google Toolbar

(Google Toolbar is downloaded and installed from Google.)

Although you can search Google from the Firefox search box or even address bar, I have gotten used to having it on the toolbar to the left - and being able to select news, blogs, images, etc before searching.

I also like to see the Google pagerank for pages I visit. But the most useful part of Google Toolbar for me is autofill. Autofill will automatically fill out forms with your personal information - even credit card information - which makes filling out forms much easier (especially while online shopping -for better or for worse!)

2. Download Statusbar

This is a very simple add-on which replaces Firefox’s download manager by putting downloads at the bottom bar, with a simple progress meter - in my opinion, it is the epitome of a great add-on - a simple, well-done, alternative way of doing things.

3. Forecastfox Enhanced Forecastbar Enhanced

(This add-on was previously called Forecastfox Enhanced)

This is an example of an add-on which greatly extends the capability of the browser, putting highly-configurable weather forecast information in your statusbar. It even has a mouseover radar, which is my favorite feature. When I lived in sunny California, I never really kept on top of the weather report, but now that I live in southern Connecticut, keeping an eye on the thunderstorm-du-jour is a lot easier.

4. IE Tab

Websites continue to improve as far as Firefox compatibility goes, but smaller video sites, like local news, are notorious for not working well with Firefox once in a while. In this case, you can use IE tab, which puts an icon at the bottom of your statusbar - click it, and the page you are viewing will be  rendererd in IE right in the same Firefox window. You can also add sites to a list which you always want rendered in IE (on my list: *.microsoft.com, *.live.com).

5. Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer

Foxmarks is indispensible if you use multiple computers and/or versions of Firefox. Create a free account, install the add-on on ALL of your versions of Firefox, and all of your computers will keep your bookmarks synchronized. You can also log into the website and see your bookmarks there.

6. Internet Download Manager

Internet Download Manager is actually a third-party shareware program, but it works with Firefox seamlessly through an add-on. As I have a 25 Mbps symmetrical connection, I frequently encounter downloads which are limited by the speed at which I can download over a single connection. Internet Download Manager intelligently downloads seperate parts of the file over multiple connections, which allows me to saturate my connection and get the best download speeds.

This is very similar to how Bittorrent works, but IDM works with FTP and HTTP downloads. In my opinion, if you have broadband speeds over 2 Mbps, you aren’t getting much for your money without Internet Download Manager.