Best Google Chrome Extensions

Polish up your Chrome with some of the best, most useful and intriguing extensions for Google’s browser.

When Google Chrome first arrived on scene, we had big hopes for the speedy little browser. Like a go-kart, it was simple, speedy, nimble, and… devoid of any creature comforts whatsoever. Firefox, the clunky sedan of the browser world, had spoiled us with its clever user-developed plug-ins – the browser equivalent of heated mirrors, power windows and a DVD player in the dash. Chrome just didn’t deliver.

But Google doesn’t sit still. A year and a half later, Chrome now includes its own support for extensions, and sports a growing library of over 3,200 – from simple Facebook tools to built-in image editors. No wonder the little browser that could has nibbled market share away from every other browser out there to reach a steady 5.6 percent. Ready to bolt on a few goodies for yourself? Here are 10 of our favorite Chrome extensions.

Google Mail Checker Plus

Gmail has lured us away from the sophisticated machinations of Microsoft Outlook for good, but we can’t help but miss those new e-mail notifications. Unless you have your Gmail feeding to a smartphone, you never really know when a new message arrives until you check. Google Mail Checker Plus solves this dilemma by tying directly into your Gmail account and showing the number of unread messages in the Chrome toolbar. It even wiggles and turns red when you have messages waiting. Clicking on it brings up a quick rundown of new messages, so you can read without even dropping what you’re doing.

Showing 19 comments

  1. michal-simonfy at 10:07am 5th March 2011 My next tip for the list - Speeddial 2 https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jpfpebm...
  2. alex at 1:41pm 28th December 2010 look at this cool chrome extension i found for chrome which allow u to speak anonymously over the web. every page considered as a chat room. its kind of new so there are very few ppl there... cool idea if more ppl will come there is a web site also where u can see live where ppl are talking every moment http://www.talkingurl.com
  3. mikecann at 2:45pm 7th December 2010 You may be interested in a little sumthin sumthin I have been cooking up over the last few days.. https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/amjio...
  4. MaxV at 10:40pm 7th November 2010 Virtual Piano: http://www.chromeextensions.org/other/virual-pian...
  5. placeforbloggers at 7:49am 22nd October 2010 something for wordpress bloggers wordpress stats https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kfkpl...
  6. Gmail Lover at 1:20pm 7th October 2010 Hey, maybe you should also try better labels for Gmail? https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/oabck...
  7. Chrome Software at 5:59am 24th September 2010 For fun, you should try the Desktop Girls extensions, to bring a touch of charm to your New Tab page: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/obnkc...
  8. Juan at 9:55am 7th September 2010 Another great extension to consider is Radio Player for Streema: http://bit.ly/streema-chrome
  9. Anuja at 5:38pm 6th July 2010 For chrome extensions' lovers https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/libpc... What's New notifies you about the new chrome extensions being published! User can set preference for the time interval after which checking for any new extension should be done. Default time interval is 30 minutes. The extension remembers the latest notification sent to the user. No notification will be displayed if no new extension is available. Click-able link in the notification will take you to that extension's page.
  10. shailendra at 6:39am 28th May 2010 Here is my list of best free extensions
    http://techdrag.com/best-google-chrome-extensio...

    hope you guys like it!!!
  11. dang at 8:13am 4th May 2010 I'm scared to even look for that...
  12. simon at 1:36am 4th May 2010 you forgot the wonderful Google Chrome Goatse Doodle Extension!
  13. z-man at 7:14am 30th April 2010 Also, check out ezLinkPreview to increase browsing efficiency. https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnk...
  14. Autopen at 10:30am 12th March 2010 You might want to take a look at Autopen - Email Signatures https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/cmj... It is a full featured email signatures app for gmail/google apps. Has a great rich text editor, unilimited signatures, different signature defaults for different email addresses and a sync service that will keep your signatures synchronized between different computers.
  15. Ian Bell at 9:58am 10th March 2010 what? Wrong post man
  16. Dan Gaul at 9:55am 10th March 2010 huh?
  17. Dave at 9:53am 10th March 2010 You better not be recommending Panasonic Plasmas with all the rising black level issues.
  18. Greg Mombert at 9:28am 10th March 2010 Sorry about that, we have updated the article with links to each extension, thanks for the suggestion.
  19. anukexpat at 5:37am 10th March 2010 You could have included links to these extensions...would have made your comments a lot more useful...
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