Features

Mozilla Firefox 18 is the latest version of the popular web browser and brings with it a few key and welcome new features. First among them is the company's claim to a speedier, safer browsing experience. Tests reveal that this newest version of Mozilla Firefox is certainly quick to load even the most graphics intense pages.

Firefox 18 also now features secure connections when performing Google searches to improve privacy and there's an updated site identity indicator in the URL bar. Windows users also now get silent updates while Mac users on Lion or above can use Firefox in full-screen mode.

Mozilla Firefox's new tab layout itself is a pretty noticeable new feature. Quite similar to Google's Chrome browser, instead of seeing a blank page whenever a new tab is opened Firefox users will now be treated to icons that offer quick access to everything from bookmarks to most recently accessed and most frequently visited sites.

These icons are fully customizable in Mozilla Firefox as well. You can click and drag them to any spot you like on your name tab's page. If you're not a fan, you can also go to the grid icon on the upper right side of your browser and erase them entirely.

Something completely new to Mozilla Firefox is Facebook integration. Firefox now supports Facebook's social API so you can have dedicated buttons for Facebook in your browser. Mozilla Firefox supports Facebook's Messenger within Firefox, giving users desktop notifications as well as a persistent friends list and activity feed on the right. Conversations will open up as overlays on top of whatever website you're on so you can multitask while you chat.

Usability

Mozilla Firefox really changed the way people browse the web when it originally burst onto the scene. Today Firefox remains an incredibly powerful and customizable browser, although competition from Google Chrome has given it a definite run for its money.

Conclusion

Mozilla Firefox 20's interface isn't much different from previous versions, but the features it has added certainly make for a nicer, more enjoyable browsing experience overall.

What's new

For full release notes, please visit https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/20.0/releasenotes/

Download Mozilla Firefox 21 in Softonic

Large collection of tools including: Comoestamos powerful multiengine search and Google powered search, Google image search, book search, product search, encyclopedia search, world maps search, translations to any language, real time headline news, stocks and investment news, sport news, free radio player to listen to your favorite stations, TV player to watch the best TV channels, free games, weather predictions in your area and many more cool tools. Works for IE, firefox, safari and chrome.

Designed for all internet users with a browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) wishing to have a full collection of tools accesible directly from the browser.

Download Comoestamos Toolbar 7.1.3 in Softonic

Delete Tracking-Cookies: Tracking-Cookies were invented to observe your surfing behavior. Cookies are small data spies that are stored on your computer while surfing. Cookies enable websites to track much information like how long you remain on a certain web page or what for links you click. Delete Google-Traces: Find and delete Flash cookies (also known as Super-Cookies), form data, surfing traces and data garbage of Google applications. Protect your Computer automatically: No need to delete surfing traces manually. The Google Radar is a small application that will permanently look out for Google traces and data garbage on your Computer. The Google Radar starts up with Windows and will keep your system clean automatically.

Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, Chrome, Picasa and Earth: Almost every Google application sends information back home. GoogleClean prevents Google applications from sending unnecessary personal information.

Many Google Applications collect Information about their users and send data back home. It is almost impossible to deactivate some of these spy features manually. With GoogleClean you can switch off those data transfers easily.

Download Google Clean 4 in Softonic

If you're an avid web surfer, you're probably up to your eyeballs in bookmarks. Are they a disorganized mess? If you're looking for a new way to keep things organized, Pearltrees might just do the trick for you.

After you install the Pearltrees extension, you'll have to create an account with a unique username and profile picture. Then you have the option of adding several different Pearltrees toolbar buttons to your browser. Every time you want to save a page, just click the little blue button with the white star in its center.

You can either create a new pearltree, which is essentially the beginning of a mind map, or you can add the website to an existing one. Each website you add is called a pearl, and after you add several in Pearltrees, you'll have a tree of sorts (hence the extension's name). In this way you can create entire trees of related websites for easier browsing.

Pearltrees also has a social element to it. You can share your website finds on Facebook and Twitter, as well as via email. If you're particularly proud of an entire tree you've created, you can share it in the same way, and also embed it into your blog or website. It's a really unique concept that can become quite visually appealing, depending on the sites you're bookmarking.

There are still a few bugs developers will need to work out in Pearltrees. Some pearls display the same name as their corresponding Pearltree with the word "end" immediately next to it, for some reason. It's a minor issue but something that'll likely need to be fixed in later versions of the extension.

Pearltrees is a unique and fun way to map the sites you've visited and share them with family and friends.

Download Pearltrees (for Chrome) 6.0.3 in Softonic

Flash is a popular format to publish videos and animations, so it's always useful to have a program that can extract all the various elements inside it. Sothink SWF Decompiler is one of those programs: a tool capable of extracting the diverse elements that make up an SWF file. This includes images, sounds, text, and more. Sothink SWF Decompiler not only does the job quickly and efficiently, but is also very easy to use.

The program features a user-friendly interface with the popular ribbon-style toolbar. It also has support for drag and drop, making it even easier to work with, even for beginners. After opening a Flash movie, you'll be able to play it right in Sothink SWF Decompiler and see its structure on the right-side panel. Just note that you need to use an embedded player for it to work properly.

All the elements you choose to extract can then be opened up in a Flash editor for further work. Sothink SWF Decompiler also has a handy tool to capture any SWF movies or animations you see on a website. Unfortunately, it only works with Internet Explorer. In an age where it seems like most users prefer Firefox or Google's Chrome, Sothink SWF Decompiler is really behind the curve in this regard.

Sothink SWF Decompiler is an efficient, easy-to-use tool to extract all the elements inside an SWF movie.

Download Sothink SWF Decompiler 7.4 in Softonic

Accurate: unlike other similar applications PageRank extension provides accurate results. Rank reported by PageRank is the same as rank reported by official Google Toolbar.

Every webmaster wants to know PageRank of his site. So, application like this is must have for any webmaster.

Download PageRank for Google Chrome 1.2.0 in Softonic

One of the most annoying things about switching computers is having to set up browser preferences all over again.

This is when FavBackup comes in handy. FavBackup is a powerful tool that lets you back up and restore bookmarks and user preferences. It works with all major web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and Flock, so it covers a significant portion of the browser market.

FavBackup is really easy to use. To begin with, it doesn't even require installation. Double click the EXE file and you'll be presented with a clearly-designed interface with two toolbars: one to pick the browser you want to work with, and another one to select the task to perform: backup, full backup, restore, or full restore. The difference between full and non-full is that the first one backs absolutely everything up, while the latter lets you select which exact elements you want to save: bookmarks, cookies, stored passwords, browsing history, etc.

FavBackup works just as it says on the tin. It's fast and efficient, and has been greatly improved since earlier versions. It doesn't feature any configuration options (except for the choice between three interface skins) and also lacks documentation – though you do have a link to an online Help page.

With FavBackup you can easily back up and restore bookmarks, history, cookies, user preferences, and other elements in all major web browsers.

Download FavBackup 2.1.1 in Softonic

There is so much software in the world today that it can be really hard to decide what you need and what you don't. Similar to LiberKey Ultimate, Google Pack comes with a load of interesting and useful apps essential for most PC users. Google Pack includes Google Chrome, Google Apps, Google Earth, Google Toolbar for IE, Norton Security Scan, Spyware Doctor, Google Desktop, Picasa, Google Photos Screensaver, Adobe Reader and Firefox with Google Toolbar.

Installation is a breeze and uses an attractive interface to manage it and subsequent updates. The Google Updater window - the tool left once you have installed all the programs in the pack - allows you to configure various update options, summarize past updates and view recent activity.

There is no doubt that many of the programs included in Google Pack are essential basics that will help a lot of people, especially new users who might not already have applications for preventing spyware or reading PDFs, for example. Google Pack also lets you select what to download before installing, as well as individually uninstalling programs if you later decide you don't want them.

On the downside, Google Pack takes a while to install and does not allow you to configure the installations, which means you get desktop icons and toolbars whether you want them or not. In Google's defense, you can modify this once the programs in question have been installed.

Google Pack is an easy-to-use program pack that's perfect for beginners.

Download Google Pack 2.4.1970.7372 in Softonic

Toolbars are usually regarded as resource-hogging add-ons that don't really add any value to the browser. But there are some exceptions that dispel this myth, such as the Google Toolbar.

Google Toolbar is available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer, and the latter has just reached version 6. Though still at in beta stage (which may be the reason why it crashed a couple of times during our tests), Google Toolbar 6 for Internet Explorer is a handy add-on that makes your browser more useful, productive and easier to use.

The great thing about Google Toolbar is that you can fully customize its appearance: pick the buttons you want, add the most interesting gadgets, enable or disable embedded tools according to your needs... all these options are available through the Options menu and enable you to tailor the toolbar to your liking.

But that's not all. This latest version includes two major new features: one is a redesigned tab page that includes thumbnails linking to your most frequently visited websites (a là Google Chrome) and the other is an awesome Google launcher that's embedded right into Windows taskbar, which enables you to open web pages and launch apps just by entering the first few letters of their name.

With all these great features, it's surprising that Google Toolbar is not compatible with Google Reader yet. It would be great to have a button or gadget that showed the latest headlines in your favorite RSS feeds. Am I asking for too much?

Google Toolbar proves that a web browser can be a great and very useful add-on for your web browser.

Download Google Toolbar IE 7.0.1710.2246 Beta in Softonic