While extensions are not required on Google Chrome, they drastically improve functionality over the stock browser. There is a limit on how many extensions you run before you will start to notice a performance hit on your computer, which will vary from system to system. Just pay attention to your system and if you start to notice a slowdown, the culprit very well may be the last Chrome extension you added to your system.
Typio Form Recovery
Have you ever written something and then your browser crashes and you lose everything you had just written? There is an extension called Typio Form Recovery that will remember your last entries for a customizable number of days into any place you enter text with the exception of password fields. If you would like to save your passwords as well, you can toggle it on in the settings. Typio Form Recovery stores everything locally on the machine, meaning someone won’t be able to hack a central server to retrieve whatever they might be seeking from you writing history.
Pushbullet
Pushbullet makes it easy to share content from one device to another. An example of this is if you are reading recommendations for a restaurants food online on your desktop. When you are ready to head out and try them out, you might want to send the recommendation to your phone. With Pushbullet this is seamless, once installed, just press the Pushbullet icon on Chrome, choose the devices section and choose the device you would like to send it to. And it works both ways, so if you are viewing something on your phone, you can send it just as easily to your desktop from iOS or Android devices.
Adblock Plus
Some advertisements are created to be very intrusive and potentially contain malware which can harm your computer, and by extension, you. Adblock Plus empowers you to block annoying ads that don’t meet Adblock Plus’s requirements, e.g. are extremely intrusive, contains malware etc. This way you don’t need to feel bad about blockings websites that you love and are ad supported.
Session Buddy
Managing tabs can be tough. You might end up with several windows, all full of tabs that you know you need to reference for one reason or another. When this happens and you want to close everything, or to close just a few specific windows without losing anything, you can use Session Buddy. It stores all of your browsing sessions separately. You can choose to save an entire session at any time and it also stores your previous sessions automatically when you close Chrome. When you are ready to bring a previous session back, all you have to do is locate the session time and choose specific tabs from your session, choose to open your previous session in their respective windows, in one window (which is separate from your current window) or in the current window.
Google Dictionary
When browsing online you will inevitably come across a word that you don’t know. With Google dictionary installed you can simply double click on a word and a little popup will show the definition along with an audio option so you can listen to how the word is pronounced.
When you come across an article that you would like to read later you can save it to your Pocket reading list. Pocket will then generally strip out ads and displays it on a book-like page in order to improve its readability. With Pocket’s chrome extension installed you can right-click on any webpage to bring up the context and save it to your Pocket.
Visual Ping
Visual Ping will allow you to monitor any web page for changes. You can even set it to alert you depending on the amount of change made on the page and the specific location on the page. If you are looking for a job that is currently filled, you can set an alert so as soon as the job listing page changes, it will send you an email. This also provides you the advantage of potentially being first to apply for the job.
Dashlane
The Dashlane extension, coupled with the their desktop client are great for boosting your security. You can randomly generate passwords, save your current ones, automatically fill in forms and enter payment information with this extension.
Google Chrome’s own built-in password manager stores your passwords in plain text. So anyone who is able to gain access to your browser can bring up your passwords and use them, unlike Dashlane. With Dashlane you have to enter your master password before you can view your passwords. If you are logging into a new browser or haven’t logged in for a long time, Dashlane will verify it is really you by requiring two factor authentication.