Curious about the domains that you visit most or perhaps you want a way to share that information on a social website? Now you can see and share the 30 most visited domains in your browser’s history with the Visitation Cloud extension.

Accessing Visitation Cloud

As soon as you install the extension you can get started using it. Depending on how your browser’s UI is set up there are three methods for accessing Visitation Cloud: a “Visitation Cloud Button” inserted at the end of your “Bookmarks Toolbar”, a menu listing in the “Tools Menu”, and a “Toolbar Button” (not shown here).

Visitation Cloud in Action

As soon as you activate Visitation Cloud a new window will appear with your top domains displayed in a cloud format. Keep in mind that this is more than just a static image…each listing is actually a clickable link.

Clicking on any of the listings will open that domain in a new tab or window depending on your particular browser settings.

If you feel that you have a great set of links and want to share it with your friends then that is easy to do. Right click anywhere within the Visitation Cloud Window and select “Save as…”. The “cloud image” can be saved in “.png, .jpg, or Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)” format. For our example we chose the “.svg format”.

Perhaps you love the set of links but not the layout…right click and select “Randomize” to change how the cloud looks.

Here is our cloud after being “Randomized”. Things definitely got moved around…

Accessing the Visitation Cloud Image in other Browsers

Once you have your “cloud image” saved you can share it with friends or save it for your own future use in other browsers. Here is our “cloud image” open in Opera Browser with link opening in progress.

The same “cloud image” open in Google Chrome. Very nice…

Conclusion

While this may not be something that everyone will use Visitation Cloud does make for a rather unique, interesting, & fun way to access and share your most visited domains.

Links

Download the Visitation Cloud extension (Mozilla Add-ons)

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Are you frustrated with having to reopen your menus for each website that you need or want to view? Now you can keep those menus open while opening multiple websites with the Stay-Open Menu extension for Firefox.

Stay-Open Menu in Action

You can start using the extension as soon as you have installed it…simply access your favorite links in the “Bookmarks Menu, Bookmarks Toolbar, Awesome Bar, or History Menu” and middle click on the appropriate entries. Here you can see our browser opening the Productive Geek website and that the “Bookmarks Menu” is still open. As soon as you left click on a link or click outside the menus they will close normally like before.

Note: Middle clicked links open in new tabs.

The only time during our tests that a newly opened link “remained in the background” was for any links opened from the “Awesome Bar”.

But as soon as the “Awesome Bar” was closed the new tabs automatically focused to the front.

A link being opened from the “History Menu”…still open while the webpage is loading.

Options

The options are simple to sort through…enable or disable the additional “stay open” functions and enable automatic menu closing if desired.

Conclusion

If you get frustrated with having to reopen menus to access multiple webpages at one time then you might want to give this extension a try.

Links

Download the Stay-Open Menu extension (Mozilla Add-ons)

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For most people the default New Tab Page in Chrome works perfectly well for their purposes. But if you would prefer to choose what opens in a new tab for yourself then you will definitely want to have a look at the “Define your own new tab!” extension for Google Chrome.

Before

Unless you are using a Speed Dial (or similar) extension each time you click on the “New Tab Button” you get the same old page. It would certainly be a lot more satisfying if you could choose custom webpage(s) to open as new tabs.

After

Once you have the extension installed the best thing to do is click on the “New Tab Button”. That will open up the “Options Page” where you can enter one or two custom website URLs of your choosing.

Once you have your custom URLs entered click on “Save”.

As soon as you click on the “New Tab Button” your new custom webpage(s) will open. If you chose two webpages the first choice will open focused on the “right side” instead of the “left”.

Clicking on the “Home Button” will also open the webpage(s) that you chose. The webpage(s) that you chose will also open as your starting “Home Pages” each time that you start your browser.

Conclusion

If you have wanted to choose your own custom “New Tab Page” then this is the extension that you have been waiting for.

Links

Download the Define your own new tab! extension (Google Chrome Extensions)

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Now that the new version of Firefox is out you probably have a favorite extension or two that has not updated yet. You can get that extension working again, test it, and report back to Mozilla on how well it does with the Add-on Compatibility Reporter extension.

Before

For our example we chose a great extension that unfortunately has not been updated yet. As you can see here Firefox is refusing to let the extension install.

After

As soon as you install Add-on Compatibility Reporter you will be presented with an information page on how the extension works and what you can do with it. You should definitely take a moment to read this as it is very helpful.

After trying our non-compatible extension again we were able to proceed with the install process. Notice at the bottom that “compatibility checking” has been overridden.

Success!

As soon as we restarted our browser it was easy to see the “non-compatible icon” in the “Add-ons Manager Window”…but the extension did install though (terrific!).

Clicking on the extension’s entry will reveal a new button in the lower right corner. Using the “Compatibility Drop-Down Menu” you can report if the extension is working as well as before or if it is actually having problems. The extension that we used for our example had no problems whatsoever so good news there.

Whichever option you choose you will be presented with a small “Report Window” with information about the extension, your browser’s version number, and your operating system. Click “Submit Report” to send it on its’ way.

You will see a confirmation message letting you know that your report was successfully submitted.

While the extension itself has not been altered in any form at least you have it working again and have helped verify whether it still works well or not. Notice the “notation” present now in place of the “Compatibility Button” that lets you know that you have already taken care of that particular extension.

Looking great…

Conclusion

If you have a favorite extension that you miss using in the newest release of Firefox then this is definitely an extension to add to your browser. Not only will your extension start working again but you can let Mozilla know how well it is working and (hopefully) help get the extension updated.

Links

Download the Add-on Compatibility Reporter extension (Mozilla Add-ons)

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Do you prefer keeping your Taskbar hidden but still need to keep watch on what time it is? Now you can keep track of the time without the Taskbar using the Date Today extension for Google Chrome.

A Look at Date Today with Different Themes

This extension does one thing and does it well…it provides you with an “active icon” clock that will let you view the time and date in two fashions. The first is by hovering your mouse over the “Toolbar Clock Button”…

And the second is by clicking on the “Toolbar Clock Button” to view an enlarged version. Here you can see the extension in use with five different themes to get an idea of how it might look with the theme that you are currently using. It does stand out very nicely with brighter or darker colored themes.

Conclusion

While this extension is obviously not for everyone it will make a nice (and useful) addition to Chrome for those who prefer keeping their Taskbar hidden.

Links

Download the Date Today extension (Google Chrome Extensions)

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Are you a Twitter addict and need an easy way to manage your account in Firefox? Now you can access Twitter in your Sidebar or as a separate window with the TwitKit+ extension for Firefox.

Accessing TwitKit+

There are three ways that you can access TwitKit+ after installing the extension. The first is by adding the “Toolbar Button” to your browser’s UI.

The second and third methods are through the “View & Tools Menus”.

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TwitKit+ in Action

When you open TwitKit+ for the first time you will see Twitter’s “Public Tweet Stream”. To get started login into your account.

Note: If you do not care for the “brown theme” you can select a different one in “Preferences”.

Here is a closer look at the top area and the commands available. Notice the “blue arrow symbol” in the upper left corner…very useful if you want to separate TwitKit+ from your main browser window for a bit.

• Secure Mode, Undock, Preferences, Login/Logout
• Google Search, Twitter Search, Copy Selection To Status Box, Shorten Selected URL
• Public, User, Friends, Followers, @ Messages, Direct Messages, Profile

Note: To use Google or Twitter search enter your term in the “Status Area” and click on the appropriate service icon.

Here is the regular timeline for our account…the “clickable tab buttons” make everything easy to view and work with. You can perform actions such as replying, retweeting, marking as a favorite, etc. using the set of “management buttons” at the bottom of each tweet.

To add a new tweet to your timeline enter your text and press “Enter”.

A look at the “Following List” for our account. Having a more defined and separate “view categories” set makes this better than directly accessing the Twitter website.

Preferences

The preferences can be quickly sorted out…choose how often the timeline is updated, name display, favorite URL shortening service, theme, and font size.

Note: The default connection setting is for “Secure Access”.

Conclusion

TwitKit+ makes a nice addition to Firefox for anyone who loves keeping up with Twitter throughout the day. There when you want it and out of your way the rest of the time.

Links

Download the TwitKit+ extension (Mozilla Add-ons)

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If you’re experiencing slow connections or none at all to your Windows Home Server, a good way to help diagnose issues is with the Windows Home Server Toolkit. Today we take a look at the toolkit and see how it can help you get your connections back.

Windows Home Server Toolkit Install?

The WHS Toolkit is an easy to use utility that will help you find out what is going wrong if computers aren’t connecting to your home server. Simply download and install the toolkit on any of the machines on your network that aren’t connecting properly.

For this example we installed the toolkit on a Windows 7 machine and after installation you’ll see it listed in the Start menu. The first thing we need to do is publish the add-in over to the Home Server.

After it’s copied over you’ll receive the following message stating that it needs to be installed on the Home Server.

Open up the Home Server Console and click on Add-ins then the Available tab on the right then Install.

You’ll receive a message indicating the installation was successful and that WHS Console will close.

WHS Console closes and you’ll see an error that connectivity has been lost… that is normal just click Ok.

Using Connector Troubleshooter

Now you can use the toolkit to help troubleshoot network issues. Go to Start All Programs Windows Home Server Toolkit then launch the Connector Troubleshooter.

The troubleshooter gathers data and tries to help diagnose connection problems. It doesn’t make changes to any settings on your computer, but does help detect issues and find solutions.

After it’s complete you’ll get a report that opens in your browser and points out any issues it found. It might point you to a driver or software that needs to be installed, a Knowledgebase article, Windows Updates…etc.

?

There might be times when you’re asked to send these logs to tech support, copy the logs to the server, or control other options. You can do so from the WHS Console under Home server support tools.

For example here we copied over the log files to the server.

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Advanced mode

While the method above is easy and should help most people who need it, you can also run it in Advanced Mode. This allows you to see the tests that the troubleshooter performs and can give you a better idea of any potential problems. To run it in Advanced Mode go to Start Run type cmd into the search box and hit Enter.

Now in the Command Prompt type in the following…

cd /d “%ProgramFiles%Windows Home ServerToolkit”

Then at the next prompt type in…

ConnectorTroubleshooter.exe – a

The troubleshooter opens in Advanced Mode…click Run All Tests, enter in the server password, then get detailed information on each test that’s been performed.

This can be used to help solve connection problems and for sending error reports to tech support. You’ll need to install the toolkit on each machine that you’re tying to troubleshoot and it runs on XP SP2 and higher. If you’re having problems connecting to your home server, this toolkit can come in very handy for beginners and advanced user alike.

Download Windows Home Server Toolkit 1.1 32-bit

Download Windows Home Server Toolkit 1.1 64-bit

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Are you looking for a good way to keep up with your Google Tasks List? Now you can keep your tasks list close at hand each time you open a new tab with the New Tab to Tasks extension.

Before

The default new tab page in Chrome is useful but it would be nice to change or access some different features in it. Perhaps you would like a way to quickly access your “Google Tasks List” instead while browsing.

New Tab to Tasks in Action

As soon as you open a new tab your “Google Tasks List” is ready to go. If you happen to be having one of those extra busy days at work then every new tab will be a helpful reminder to keep you focused and on target. And everyone can certainly do with less of those last second “Oh no! I forgot all about that!” panic moments.

Note: If you are not already signed into your Google account in your browser then you will need to login.

Notice that you can have multiple instances open if desired.

Multiple instances can be especially helpful if you have more than one window open while working.

Conclusion

If you tend to forget about your “Google Tasks List” while busy then this extension will definitely be helpful in keeping you focused on what you need to get done. Those new tabs will make perfect reminders throughout the day.

Links

Download the New Tab to Tasks extension (Google Chrome Extensions)

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If you are using Google Chrome, there are times when you might want to quickly take a screenshot of a page without having to open a third party utility. Today we take a look at the Webpage Screenshot extension for Chrome which will save a screenshot of any webpage in PNG format.

Sometimes obtaining a screenshot of a webpage can be a bit of work depending on whether you need only a portion of it or the whole thing. If you do not want to take the time to launch another screenshot utility, this extension works well in a pinch.

Webpage Screenshot in Action

As soon as you find a webpage that you would like a screenshot of click on the “Toolbar Icon” to open this drop-down window. Notice that there are three types of screenshots that you can take: a Resized Window (specific pixel size), a Visible Area Screenshot, or the Entire Webpage.

If you choose the “Resize Window Option” this is what you will see. Being able to enter a custom width and height will be great for anyone who loves to finesse their screenshots.

For our example we chose “All Page Screenshot”. The drop-down window will be active and the webpage itself will “auto-scroll” as your screenshot is being created.

When finished you will be presented with a thumbnail of the screenshot, the image size, and a clickable link to view the image itself.

Clicking to view the image will open the image in a new tab. Looking at it the only difference between it and the original will be the “Control Area” at the top and the lack of a website address if you are viewing it at 100%…ours turned out that nicely.

When you have saved the screenshot you can easily open and view it using the “Download Bar”…

If you have taken a lot of screenshots you can easily search through them on the “Downloads Page”.

The Results

Here is our screenshot opened in Paint.NET…definitely looking good.

There was one interesting thing that we noted during our test. The entire length of the webpage was captured but the “visible width area” of the screenshot was affected by the width of the browser window itself (in our case the browser was not maximized). This will not be a problem if you have your browser window maximized though…

Here is the webpage shown for comparison with the screenshot displayed above…the right side is “cut off” at the same point in both.

Conclusion

If you have been been looking for a nice screenshot utility for Google Chrome then you might want to give this extension a try.

Links

Download the Webpage Screenshot extension (Google Chrome Extensions)

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Last July, we pointed out that the Google Reader Notifier extension had turned into crapware, the NoScript add-on was hijacking another extension, and even the Fast Dial extension was spamming you—so it was only a matter of time before an extension came bundled with a full-blown trojan.

Last time, it was as simple as spam links showing up in your browser, and tracking the URLs you were going to—really frustrating and evil, but not necessarily the end of the world, since it wasn’t going to take over your PC.

Yesterday, the Mozilla Add-ons blog reported that two extensions contained nasty trojans that hijacked your PC.

Two experimental add-ons, Version 4.0 of Sothink Web Video Downloader and all versions of Master Filer were found to contain Trojan code aimed at Windows users. Version 4.0 of Sothink Web Video Downloader contained Win32.LdPinch.gen, and Master Filer contained Win32.Bifrose.32.Bifrose Trojan. Both add-ons have been disabled on AMO.

If you’ve installed those extensions at any point, you should make sure to run a full virus scan on your PC.

Rant About Firefox Extension Security

Instead of ranting again, let me just quote what I said last time this happened…

What’s to stop yet another Firefox extension from turning into badware, sneaking in tracking codes, or stealing your personal information? It’s already happened with two of the most popular extensions… Somebody at Mozilla needs to do something about this.

The current process over at Mozilla is to run an automated virus scanner against the extensions, and as a result of this issue they have added more scanning tools to the process. This doesn’t solve the real issue, because any virus programmer with some skills can write a customized virus that doesn’t get picked up by any of the commercial virus scanning tools. Sure, some of the tools have heuristics that will probably detect rootkits and some of the nastier techniques, but it’s not going to prevent the issue entirely.

The real problem isn’t even a traditional virus, as far as I’m concerned. How difficult would it be for somebody to write a native Firefox extension that simply takes all your passwords and sends them to a rogue site? There’s no security layer to prevent add-ons from accessing your personal information stored in the browser, and no virus scanner is going to pick up a native Firefox extension since they are written in Javascript.

The Partial Solution

Nobody’s expecting Mozilla to scan through the source code of every single extension—that’s just prone to human error anyway. What would make sense, however, is to have some layers of security that prevent add-ons from accessing any of your personal information stored in the browser unless you specifically allow them to.

What Can You Do to Keep Safe?

You should always make sure to check the reviews on an extension before you install it—don’t just take somebody else’s word when they vouch for an extension… make sure to do your due diligence to check things out first. The same thing applies for any application, of course—if you’re installing applications without doing a virus scan, you’re leaving yourself wide open to having your PC hijacked.

Please read: Security Issue on AMO [Mozilla Add-ons Blog]

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