While we’re on a roll with the whole Google Chrome thing, today we’re going to share our all time favourite extensions to make your Chrome run faster, easier and more effectively. There are hundreds of apps available in the Google Web Store and it can be hard to weed out the winners from theĀ vast sea of plugins. We did the hard work for you and are sharing the tried and true extensions we use everyday at Data Nerds HQ. We wold love to hear your favourite extensions as well so let us know what they are in the comments below! We could probably squeeze one or two more into our bar before it gets overloaded. š
Speed ThingsĀ Up
1. One Tab
If you read our previous post on Google Chrome Hacks, you’ll immediately understand why this is first on our list ofĀ essential extensions.
For those of you that don’t know, I have about 40 tabs open at any given time (in each open window – I might add) and it wreaks havoc on my overall productivity. Even though I get to work on a top-of-the-line Mac computer, my excessive use of tabs in Google Chrome slows it to a crawl. Thankfully, I’ve found (part of) the solution in this handy-dandy extension.
One Tab does just what the name suggests, it compresses all your open tabs into one. Why is this a big deal? Well, every time you open a new tab in your browser you’re using more of your computers memory to run it. Therefore, when you have 100 tabs open at a time, you’re sucking up a big chunk of memory just to run those pages you aren’t even actively using. One Tab condenses them into one tab and reduces your memory by up to 95%! That means a faster computer, more productivity and more blog posts ;).
2. Skimzee
Ever go to a news site or blog to read about something really interesting only to be faced with a 5000 word essay? Who has time to read all that, especially if you’re doing research from multiple sites or are just trying to understand the basics of something. Skimzee makes this possible by “skimming” the blog post or article for what it thinks is the most useful information.
After you’ve installed the extension from the Chrome Web Store, all you need to do to start summarizing is click the Skimzee button. It will take you to a page (see below) where it sums up what the article is about, gives you further suggested reading and allows you to customize how much or how little information is in your summary. For example, here’s a Skimzee of our Google Chrome Hacks blog post:
The first white box is a summary of the article and the smaller boxes are summaries of some of the comments, tags and author information. You can also adjust the scale at the top to summarize the article even further, here’s an example:
To be honest, I’m not sure how it picks information and it works better for some articles than for others. But it’s still definitely a useful extension to have on your chrome bar!
3. One Password
This is the only extension on our list that isn’t free, but once you hear what it can do – you won’t care what the price is!
You know all those different passwords you have for shopping sites, social media logins and email servers that you can never remember? OnePassword remembers them for you. While most of us just use the same password (or some variation of it) for every site on the net, we know that this isn’t the safest way to do things. OnePassword makes it simple to have a super complex, uncrackable password for each site without you having to remember it (or write it down only to lose it).
All you need to remember is your master password to unlockĀ allĀ your passwords. Now before you start thinking about it getting hacked andĀ allĀ your passwords being stolen, it’s a very unlikely scenario. Since OnePassword is software downloaded onto your computer and not a web-based it’s super secure. It also uses authenticated encryption and key derivation to keep things extra tight.
And can I just say, it’s so nice to not have to remember a password every time I go to a different website! All you do is click on the drop down menu that opens after unlocking OnePassword and you’re in.
4. The Great Suspender
Here’s another little genius that’s going to save your butt if you love having tabs open. The Great Suspender is a chrome add-on that lets you “suspend” web pages while you’re not using them. This saves your computer a whole whack of memory and helps it to run more efficiently.
To use it, all you have to do is go to the web page you wish to suspend, click the little robot-looking guy in your extensions list and your page will be suspended. To bring it back, simply click on the page to reload it. With all these extensions saving you memory, you’re going to be working at lightspeed in no time!
Save Yourself
5. AdBlocker Plus or uBlock
If you use the internet, I’m sure you’ve heard of some of the top Ad Blockers on the market. There are quite a few varietiesĀ of ad blocking software out there but AdBlocker Plus and uBlock are a few of our favourites.
While there isn’t much difference between the two, and both will save you from a million pop-up ads and in page ads per day, uBlock will save you substantially more memory than AdBlocker Plus. As you know by now, this keeps your computer free to run other programs and keeps things moving quickly. Also, AdBlocker Plus no longer blocks YouTube ads, where uBlock does (that’s what makes it my choice!).
6. Panic Button
Ever hear your boss/spouse/children coming when you’re doing something on the computer you don’t want them to see? Whether it be questionable business or something as innocent as buying them a gift want to keep secret, Panic Button will hide your ass*.Ā Here’s how it works:
Simple right? One click of the button and all your tabs are gone leaving you with a blank screen, which is in no way suspicious. Everyone needs one of these at least once in a while.
*Hide Your Ass is the name of the company that makes Panic Button, it just happens to do the same thing it’s name states.
7.Ā Grammarly
You would think, as someone who basically writes for a living, I wouldn’t need an additional spell checker on my computer. Well, I can tell you with absolute certainty that I do. Grammarly is a chrome extension that will underline mistakes and makes suggestions throughout your online writing. While Mac’s have a feature like this built in to their system, PC users will find this specifically handy.
Even though I work solely on Mac’s, I still find this extension useful and a lot more user-friendly than the system version. Hovering over an underlined word creates a popup box of options. You can also add words that you use on a regular basis that aren’t necessarily considered real words. Like Grammarly. Which they have conveniently built in for you.
8. Social Fixer
Social Fixer is running a close second behind One Tab in the race for my favourite extension (actually, they are all great and I have all of them installed on my own computer!). Social Fixer makes your Facebook back intoĀ yourĀ Facebook! Before they started filtering what you saw, throwing in a bunch of ads and completely ridiculous click-bait news stories.
After installing this extension, I actually got to see what my friends and family were up to! The best part about this is it’s super customizable, so if you like having a couple of those crazy news stories breaking up your feed you can. It takes a while to tweak it the way you want, but it’s well worth it in the end!
Fun Extras
9. Checker Plus
This extension falls more into the essentials category and less into the “just for fun” category. If you’re a Gmail user, listen up because this is about to change your life!
Checker Plus is a Gmail extension for Google Chrome that allows you to check your Gmail without going to the web page. It also sends you notifications, gives you the choice to archive or delete the message straight from the pop-up and even lets you set up multiple email addresses in one app. I’ve actually stopped using my Mail app and switched over to this completely.
It has a ton of customizable features so you can be bugged as much or as little as you want and each pop-up has a convenient “Remind me in 5 Minutes” button for if you’re really busy. This is by far the simplest way I’ve dealt with my inbox and I highly recommend trying out this free extension.
10. Honey
If you’re an avid online shopper, Honey is the extension you’re going to use most! What Honey does is search the web to find you better prices, discount codes or cash back on all your online purchases. It’s a little like Ebates butĀ with less real cash and more discount codes.
Whenever you go to a shopping site, Honey will automatically scan for any discount codes and alert you to them using the extension bar. It also lets you know if there is HoneyGold to be earned on the site you are shopping from. HoneyGold is a reward points program that adds up to free Amazon gift cards. For every 1000 points you earn, you will be rewarded with a $10 Amazon GC – just for using Honey.
11. MightyText
As an Android user, I get jealous of (and teased by) just about everyone in the office who is on team iPhone. One of the few disappointments I have with Androids is that you can’t get your SMS messages on your computer like you can with iMessage. Well, Mighty Text has changed all that and made desktop texting accessible to everyone!
MightyText puts a little icon in your extensions bar to let you know when you get any SMS messages, calendar alerts, phone calls or pictures and videos. On top of being able to send messages without getting your phone out of your pocket, you can also use this as a handy phone-to-computer transfer device or even get your app notifications on your computer as well. It’s free but there is also a pro version that gives you a few more options, features and storage space.
Ooh fantastic apps. I always have 20 or so tabs open at the same time and it can often cause my computer to crash so one tab sounds great.
I highly recommend OneTab Ana, you’ll love it for social media and blogging! š
Lots of great tools here! I’ve been looking for an off-line password keeper and there are too many to sort through to find one that is really great. Thank you for the recommendation.
OnePassword can be a bit pricy but it’s only a one time fee which makes it better. I don’t know what I would do without it now!
I need to check these out.
Definitely Tara, you’ll love them!
I seriously love Honey! Saves me money!!
That’s a new one for me Heather but it’s already saved me some cash just having it for a week!
Ooh, I haven’t heard of most of these! Exciting extensions to try!
They are all great Isabel! let us know which ones you like if you try some!
I love the google checker plus. I normally stay away from extensions for passwords, I just want to make sure I type everything myself, lol. Thanks for sharing!
I definitely understand why people wouldn’t want to use Password savers, but for my line of work there is no way I could remember all the ones I need! haha I’ve actually completely switched from Mail to using Google Checker Plus. It’s a great extension!
Wow, thanks so much. Will start with One TAb.
Great Karen! You’ll love it I’m sure!
I use OneTab all the time, thanks!
Great! It makes such a huge difference doesn’t it?
Thanks for sharing! I am going to have to check them all out but especially the OneTab!
OneTab is my favourite Stacy! I highly recommend it š
I most definitely have to check out a couple of these! Thanks so much!
Great Claudette! Please let me know if you get any and which ones are your favourites š
Well Grammarly is nice but after a point you have to pay and that is not in my budget at this time.
Thanks for sharing! I’ll definitely have to check these out.
Wonderful Maddie! Glad you enjoyed š
I totally dig this post. I love Articles that give me practical solutions to known and even unknown problems. But I definitely do agree that having several open browsers slows down my PC and I hate that. I I am going out on a date night so I have book marked this for one by one dissection.
I use a different password saver and I dont know what I ever did without it. BUT I used to know all my passwords off the top of my head. CRAZY I know, but now I cant be bothered…good or bad…not sure. Life too fun to worry!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the post Julie! Password savers are definitely a blessing no matter which one you use! I would recommend you try out OneTab or The Great Suspender if you’re one to have lots of tabs open. They will both help with the lag you experience.
OMG how wonderful. Thanks for the recommendation Shaylee….Coz now I can Zone in on a couple and test. See how things go. You absolutely rock! My Qn is aren’t all these extensions to chrome affecting it as well?
Thanks for sharing! I’ll have to check these out.
Great Jennifer, I hope you find some you love!
I have about ten tabs open. That drives two people I know crazy, lol
That’s me always! People come over to my desk at work and go “Why in the world do you have so many tabs open?!” haha
i don’t use google chrome but for those who did these extensions sound really helpful
A lot of these you can get on Firefox too if you use that Michelle š
Love, love, love! Thank you for putting so much work into this! I use grammarly, but am going to add all the others right now!!
Wonderful Angie! I seem to be the last one to find Grammarly haha but now that I’ve found it, it’s wonderful!
Awesome tips. Thank you.
You’re very welcome Melissa!
These are so good to know!
Sarah
Flip Flops and Furs
Glad you enjoyed it Sarah!
I love Adblock. Thinking of checking out Grammarly to help when I write my blog posts!
It’s a super handy little extension for everything Marielle! It even helps me when I mistype a tweet š
Grammerly is wonderful. I’ll have to check into the others. Thanks for all of the info. So much to learn
I love Grammarly as well Pricilla! It catches all my mistakes š
This is a great list. I need to check out the OneTab extension. I usually open a lot of pages at one time.
It’s fantastic Esme! I’ve found it speeds up my computer A LOT when I use it diligently.
I love learning from you! I have pinned this as I need all of these wonderful apps. I agree that OneTab is now my favorite app and I need Grammerly. and Social Fixer rocks, Oh I love them all! Thank you so much for educating me!
Aww thanks Eileen that means a lot! I’m so glad you enjoyed them, I know we do too!
I agree one tab is awesome!
I can’t be without it now Rich!
Thanks for this list; I love Grammerly! Saving this post for later!
I agree Katie! Although I only installed it pretty recently, I love it! I find it catches a lot more of my mistakes than the iOS version.
Grammerly is awesome. This is a great list you have here.
I like the panic button. Great for when i am shopping for presents.
Isn’t it Tara? I love that one for that reason!
Amazing!!! I love this panic button and grammerly š So cool š
I’m so glad you liked them Eugenia! Hopefully they come in handy for you š
I love the Grammerly and the one password. I’ll have to try them out.
Two of my favourites Amber š
Grammerly can be the best for writers and bloggers. ABP is great
I’m loving Grammarly Urvi! And I don’t know what I would do without my Ad Blocker š
You seriously rock! I am saving this because I need more time to delve into these
Love Grammerly and one tab sound like something I can use always save your post thanks.
Grammerly is wonderful. I have to check this out. I’m so glad you post it
Never heard some of this post before. I love Grammerly, I need to check this out.
These are all really worthwhile Google Chrome extensions. I refuse to surf the internet without AdBlocker Plus installed. It has seriously changed the way I experience the internet, and it’s so much better!
After reading your amazing post, I decided to add grammerly only to find out that I already had it!
I’ll have to check out Skimzee. It sounds like a great productivity tool. Even when I’m interested in a topic sometimes I just don’t have time to read long articles.
I am a grammarly fan!! I will totally check the other extensions!!
I feel so old for not knowing any of this extensions! I need to update my self! Thank you so much!!
I am totally downloading some of these now!
Thanks for including Skimzee in this really useful list of extensions. I wrote Skimzee back in 2012-2013 and to be honest haven’t really worked on it since. It now needs a lot of UI love and some parts like Twitter & Facebook searches no longer work. The way it summarises by the way is based on detecting keywords from spatial frequency. If people still find it useful then I’ll try to revamp & modernise it. Anyone up for me doing this?
Very useful. I went ahead and added a lot of these extensions to computer. I can’t wait to see how they help.
I will definitely be looking into some of these!! So very helpful! Thank you.