Firefox 3 was released just this June, and many Firefox fans believe the new version is clearly the best browser you can get. You can make it even better with free add-ons, which integrate directly into the browser and offer loads of useful new features.

Want to increase your security and privacy, synchronize bookmarks among multiple PCs, dress up Firefox tabs, juice up Google, and more? Then I've got the add-ons you need. These 15 great downloads make the world's best browser even better -- and, like Firefox itself, they're free.

[ Slideshow: What are InfoWorld's Paul Venezia's picks for the best general-purpose and developer Firefox add-ons? ]

Foxmarks Bookmark SynchronizerIf you use Firefox on more than one PC, you most likely spend a lot of time trying to keep their bookmarks in synch, or else you've simply given up the attempt. Otherwise, every time you add, delete, or edit bookmarks on one PC, you have to remember to make the same changes on the others. Not a pretty picture.

The Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer solves the problem. Install this tool on each of your PCs, and then, with a click or two, you can synchronize any changes. In fact, you don't even need to click because you can set the program to synchronize automatically.

The utility offers other benefits as well. Your bookmarks are automatically backed up to a server, so if for some reason you lose them on your PCs, you can always restore them. You can also log into the Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer Web site and edit your bookmarks directly there. In addition, if you're using someone else's PC, you can use your bookmarks straight from the Foxmarks server.

Download Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer | Price: Free

Secure LoginIf you often log into Web sites and forget or lose your password, Secure Login will be a great time-saver. It directly integrates with Firefox's password manager, and will log you into any Web site without you having to remember or look up the password. When you're on a page that requires a login, simply click the icon. Better yet, use a hot-key combination to log in faster.

The program also helps keep you safe online -- it prevents hackers from stealing your passwords by halting malicious JavaScript code. It also protects against other password dangers, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Download Secure Login | Price: Free

BugMeNotRegistering with a Web site often means making a deal with the devil. You give the site information such as your name, e-mail address, and potentially more private data such as your mailing address, phone number, and age. But what happens with that information? You may be inundated by spam, your name may be sold to mailing lists and advertisers, and possibly worse. But for many Web sites, if you don't register, you can't log in and use the site.

This add-on solves the problem. Go to a Web site, right-click in the user name or password field, and select BugMeNot. A valid user name and password will then be entered into the form. You can then use the site without having to register. The add-on works in concert with the BugMeNot Web site, which has many user names and passwords for multiple sites.

Download BugMeNot | Price: Free

Better Gmail 2From my point of view, Gmail has one primary drawback -- it gives you little that you can customize. Basically, what Google gives you is what you get and nothing more. This add-on changes that. It lets you customize Gmail in a variety of ways including skinning it to change its colors and appearance, customizing the sidebar (for example, hiding the spam count), adding HTML signatures automatically to your mail, and more.

Download Better Gmail 2 | Price: Free

Adblock PlusDoes it seem as if the Internet has become the equivalent of a digital Las Vegas with flashing neon ads wherever you look? Banner ads, ads that are placed willy-nilly, videos that start without your permission -- these are just some of the things can distract you and make pages load more slowly.

The answer? Adblock Plus. This add-on blocks just about any ad, but still lets you view the content you want. It claims to eliminate 99 percent of ads on the Web, and that just might be true. When you first start the program, you have your choice of filters to use. If you're the extremely adventurous type, you can try to build your own, but you'll be much better off picking one that already exists. If you browse primarily English-language sites, just choose the EasyList (USA) option. If a banner somehow manages to make it through, right-click it, select Adblock from the context menu, and you won't see it again.

Download Adblock Plus | Price: Free

Sage-TooLooking to keep up with your favorite blogs, news sites, and other fast-changing information resources? You need an RSS reader, which grabs feeds in RSS formats, then lets you browse through and read only what you want. Sage-Too, an update of the venerable Sage reader, makes subscribing to, managing, and reading RSS feeds exceptionally easy. When you're on a page with an RSS feed, click a button, and Sage will find the feed for you and subscribe to it.

The reader itself is very slick, and displays the feeds inside Firefox, including graphics. You'll see a summary of each posting; to get to the full posting, click it. It is also easy to reorganize and automatically update your feeds. Plenty of display options exist, as well.

Download Sage-Too | Price: Free

Google PreviewGoogle may be the best search tool on the planet, but it's still missing a very useful feature -- the ability to preview a site before you visit it. A simple text listing and site description usually isn't enough.

Google Preview adds such a previewing capability to Google search results by displaying a thumbnail image of each site to the left of its description. That way, you can better see whether it's a site you want to go to. The add-on also offers site thumbnails when you search using Yahoo.

Download Google Preview | Price: Free

CustomizeGoogleIf you're a big user of Google (and face it, who isn't?), you'll want to install this add-on. It customizes Google in just about any way you could imagine, and no doubt in many ways you couldn't. For starters, it will block Google's ads as well as Google analytic cookies (some people believe these cookies invade their privacy). Additionally, it anonymizes your Google user ID.

That's just the beginning, though. The extension adds links in your Google search results to other search engines, such as Yahoo and Ask.com, among others. It will also filter out search results from Web sites known to be spammers, and it will let you customize not just Google, but its various sites and features such as Gmail and Google News. In short, if you're a Google user and want to tweak the way Google works, make sure to download this one.

Download CustomizeGoogle | Price: Free

FireFTPThe FTP file transfer protocol, one of the earlier ways of transferring files on the Internet, has plenty of life in it. Since many ISPs these days limit the size of files you can transfer via e-mail, FTP remains a very effective way of sharing files.

Normally, you shouldn't try using your browser to transfer files via FTP -- that's not what browsers are built for. But with FireFTP, you get the best of both worlds with a full FTP client right within Firefox itself. It has plenty of useful features, including the ability to compare directories and subdirectories, keeping directories in sync, and automatically reconnecting and resuming file transfers.

You may become somewhat confused the first time you use the program. Don't expect to type in an FTP location into the Firefox address bar and get FireFTP to work, because it won't. Instead, you have to first open FireFTP by choosing Tools, FireFTP. Then create a new account for each FTP site from a button on the top left-hand side of the screen. After that, it's all straightforward.

Download FireFTP | Price: Free

NoScriptOne of the best things about the Web -- its interactivity -- is also the most dangerous. Tools like JavaScript, Java, and Flash Silverlight make the Web a far more entertaining and useful place. But they can be used in malicious ways as well. You'd like to run only the good interactivity, and leave out the bad. Sounds impossible, doesn't it?

That's exactly what NoScript does: It blocks all JavaScript, Java, and Flash Silverlight scripts by default, and then lets you allow them to be run on safe sites. As you browse the Web, a small icon runs in the bottom right of your screen telling you the status of NoScript. If any scripts are being blocked, you'll be shown details in a bar at the bottom of the page. To customize how scripts should be run on the site, click the icon, and you'll be able to allow scripts through from the site or block them -- permanently or temporarily -- along with other options.

Download NoScript | Price: Free

Video Download HelperVideo sites such as YouTube and others are certainly entertaining, and at times even useful. But there's one problem with them: You can't download videos to your PC to play them later. You have to revisit the site each time you want to see a video.

Video DownloadHelper does away with this limitation. It will let you download videos from YouTube and many other sites and store them on your hard disk, so you can watch them whenever you want. When you're on a site, all you'll have to do is click the Video DownloadHelper icon and save the video. You can also do the same for graphics and audio clips.

Some video and music files can be quite large, so the program gives you the option of not downloading files over a certain size. It can also work with any video converter program that you may have installed to convert videos to more useful formats.

Download Video Download Helper | Price: Free

ColorfulTabsThere's no two ways around it -- Firefox's tabs are just plain dull. A bit like the Model T, they come in any color you want as long as they're the same shade of gray. If you'd like to dress up your tabs and make it easier to distinguish among them, you'll want this simple extension. You can either stick with the default colors, or choose your own color for each tab. You can even have the program remember the color for each URL you visit. You can control more than just the basic color of each tab. You can also have the colors fade, and you can even put a background color on each.

Will this add-on change your browsing life? No. Will it make it more visually pleasing? Without a doubt, and that's enough reason to give it a try.

Download ColorfulTabs | Price: Free

WOT (Web of Trust)It isn't news that the Web is full of innocent-seeming sites harboring bad intentions: Sites that host spyware or malware. Sites that spam you. Sites that scam you. Sites that invade your privacy, or that children shouldn't view.

Unfortunately, there's no simple way to tell the good sites from the bad. WOT, however, acts as just such a screener. It rates every site for trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety, and shows you the results using simple, instantly interpretable colored icons (red for bad, green for good). When you do a search in Google or another Web site, you'll see the icons and know what you're in for if you visit. You can also visit the WOT rating for each site to see why it was given its rating.

It offers other protections as well. When you visit a site with a red rating, you first get a big warning on your screen. That way, you can either navigate away or click through at your own peril. And when you're on any Web site, click the WOT button in Firefox, and you'll be shown details about the site's rating as well.

Download WOT (Web of Trust) | Price: Free

Mini Map SidebarGoogle Maps and other mapping services are among the most useful sites on the Internet. But they do have one inconvenience: You have to visit them to get their information. Wouldn't it be nice if you could get mapping information no matter where you were on the Web?

The Mini Map Sidebar does just that. Open it as a Firefox sidebar, then drag and drop address names or links to it, and a map of them will open right in the sidebar. You have your choice of map services, including Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and others. You can then zoom in or out, get directions--in short, do pretty much anything you can do on the mapping site itself. In fact, you can do even more because Mini Map Sidebar includes some nice extras such as traffic information.

Download Mini Map Sidebar | Price: Free

All-in-One SidebarThe Firefox sidebar is one of the browser's more useful tools, but most likely one of its least used. It serves plenty of purposes -- you can browse your history and view your bookmarks there, for instance. And many add-ons, such as Sage-Too, use it as well.

This clever tool lets you quickly switch among all your sidebar panels, and gives you a great deal of information about your Firefox use. Want to see your entire download history in the sidebar? It can do that. It will also show you all of your add-ons with details about each, give you information on the current page you're visiting, and more.

If you don't regularly use the Firefox sidebar, give this add-on a try, and you might change your mind. And if you do use it regularly, this one will be a keeper.

Download All-in-One Sidebar | Price: Free

Last word: You can find all the files in this story in this Editor's Downloads Collection.

PC World is an InfoWorld affiliate.

If you know one thing about Linux users, it's probably this: They enjoy the challenge of installing their operating system of choice on pretty much anything with a transistor in it. It's only a matter of time before they get around to replacing all those electronic singing greeting cards to make the sound of penguin mating calls.

So the news that Linux has been ported to the iPhone and the iPod touch shouldn't exactly come as a shock; please hold your cries of heresy until the end. OpeniBoot, which brings the Linux 2.6 kernel to the iPhone platform was developed by members of the iPhone DevTeam, the same folks who have long been working on cracking the iPhone's firmware every time a new version comes out.

[ Special report: IT's guide to the iPhone ]

The capabilities of OpeniBoot are still incredibly limited--at present, there's no support for writing to the flash memory, using the touch screen, wireless networking, the cell phone, sound, or the accelerometer. So if you thought that you'd be ending up with a fully operational Linux iPhone--or even a partially operational phone--I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed for now.

There's also some talk that this may pave the way for installing Google's Android OS on the iPhone, though as someone who's been using a G1 for a few days now, that seems like overhauling a Porsche to run like a Hyundai. But then again, there's always somebody who wants to prove that it's possible. So knock yourself out, guys.

Macworld is an InfoWorld affiliate

Consumer electronics giants Apple, Dell, Motorola, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Samsung have been slow to get serious about climate change, and are notably lagging behind, according to the latest edition of the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics.

Many companies still show little engagement with the issue, which is a disappointment, according to Greenpeace International Climate & Energy campaigner Mel Francis.

[ For more on technology and the environment, see Ted Samson's Sustainable IT blog | Stay ahead of advances in technology with InfoWorld's Ahead of the Curve blog and newsletter. ]

"They are basically lagging behind on what we need for a good climate package. They haven't demonstrated any real commitment to cutting their own CO2 emissions, or to lobbying politicians to get a good deal post-Kyoto," said Francis.

"They assume that growth in their business also must therefore mean growth in their CO2 emissions. At Greenpeace we think that's not necessarily true," said Francis.

Greenpeace would like to see a lot more action going forward. "We are simply asking them to become climate leaders. They need to put their words into action and follow through on the claims they're making," said Francis.

Still, there are a few exceptions: Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Philips and Sharp support the level of cuts in greenhouse gases that science requires, according to Greenpeace.

In its latest Guide to Greener Electronics, Greenpeace gives Philips marks for committing to making absolute reductions in its own greenhouse gas emissions from the product manufacture and supply chain, which HP has done as well.

Both Philips and HP have also committed to making cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from their own operations. Nokia has done the same, said Francis.

Its overall ranking -- which takes into account company policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change -- is topped by Nokia (Greenpeace likes its take-back program and use of renewable energy), followed by Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.

Philips and HP are in the bottom half of the list: good energy policies aren't enough, and both companies must improve how they handle e-waste, said Greenpeace.

Motorola, Toshiba and Sharp made the biggest moves up the chart, while the companies falling down the ranking are the PC brands Acer, Dell, HP -- and Apple, although it still gets a thumbs-up for improving its score, by better reporting on the carbon footprint of its products.

Apple's new iPods are also are now free of both PVC and brominated flame retardants, according to Greenpeace.

In general, the PC manufacturers need to improve the handling of e-waste.

Dell and Acer also need to reduce their use of toxic chemicals, said Greenpeace. Dell loses points for withdrawing from its commitment to eliminate all PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants by the end of 2009.

The use of toxic chemicals has in the past been a focus area for Greenpeace, but here there has been some positive movement. Consumer electronics companies have been allies to Greenpeace as it has tried to reduce the use of toxic materials and get legislation passed, according to Francis.

Nintendo remains in last place in the ranking, although it is taking small steps to remove or monitor the presence of some potentially toxic additives in the plastics it uses, Greenpeace said.

JetBrains released TeamCity 4.0, a continuous integration server and distributed build management tool featuring enhanced build capabilities, this week.?

Version 4.0 offers build chains support for breaking down a single build procedure into several parts that can be run on different build agents using the same sets of sources.?

Other improvements in version 4.0 include the ability to redo a particular build from a particular control revision, known as a history build, and improved authentication mechanics.

With version 4.0, statistics are offered for an entire project. Extensibility is enabled via a Java API, the company said. A tests reordering capability determines which tests are likely to fail and performs those first during the next project build.

TeamCity 4.0 automates routines and streamlines the software development process. Team communication is improved, and teams can implement agile methodology, JetBrains said. The product integrates with multiple IDEs.

Eclipse integration is highlighted as is integration with ClearCase, with Eclipse backing bringing IntelliJ Idea IDE capabilities to Eclipse users.

"Since its creation, TeamCity has been a key element in our own development process," said JetBrains CEO Sergey Dmitriev, in a statement released by the company. "The production TeamCity server at JetBrains is currently having over 50 build configurations in a build grid with more than 50 build agents, with literally every project and every developer using it on a daily basis

Version 4.0 also has an improved search engine and user interface improvements, JetBrains said. TeamCity automates more than 600 Java code inspections.

TeamCity 4.0 is available free to individual developers and small-to-medium-size teams. The free edition is restricted to 20 build configurations and three build agents.

TV network CBS has become the latest big name to have it Web site used to host malware, a security company has reported.

It appears that Russian malware distributors were able to launch another iFrame attack on a subdomain of the cbs.com site so that it was serving remote malware to any visitors. A user's vulnerability to the malware attack launched by the site hack would depend on a number of factors, including the type of security used on a PC, the operating system, and possibly the browser version.

[ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ]

"This saga confirms our many previous warnings that obfuscated code posing a serious threat to Internet users' PCs," said Finjan CTO, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, who has devoted a fair amount of time in recent months to finding these hacks.

"Our Threats Reports have continued to identify the increasing use of code obfuscation as a means of bypassing traditional signature-based solutions in order to propagate malware," Ben-Itzak continued, taking a pop at the anti-virus products against which his company in part competes.

"It also highlights the fact that no web portal, no matter how high ranking, can be totally secure against a system hack and consequent infection of its visitors. Web users need to exercise caution at all times," he said.

Finjan has it had informed CBS of the issue, but that the Russian exploit server had in any case been taken offline, neutering the attack for the time being.

iFrame and SQL injection attacks on big-name Web sites have been one of the fashionable attacks of 2008, embarrassing a string of household names.

Techworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, the task of upgrading the security of federal computer systems continues to be a work in progress.

Several cybersecurity initiatives launched during the Bush administration are still years away from being completed. Others are closer to completion but don't do enough by themselves to defend networks and systems against increasingly sophisticated attacks, according to IT security analysts.

[ Learn how to secure your systems with Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog and newsletter, both from InfoWorld. ]

And, they said, resolving the security issues will require Obama to focus on more than just finishing the ongoing initiatives.

For starters, he needs to end the policy of tying federal cybersecurity efforts so closely to the post-9/11 war on terror, said Gartner analyst John Pescatore. "The terrorist attacks sent the Bush administration in the wrong direction" on cybersecurity, Pescatore said, adding that more immediate threats to federal systems have been overlooked.

Progress has been made, claimed Karen Evans, administrator of e-government and IT at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Evans said several security initiatives launched over the past few years are already making, or will soon make, a difference.

At the top of her list is a 2004 mandate by President Bush that required federal agencies to issue new smart-card identity credentials to all employees and contractors. But even that program hasn't been fully implemented. Agencies were supposed to finish issuing the new ID cards in late October, but most will need at least two more years to do so.

Other projects that Evans pointed to include a recent upgrade of federal networks to the more secure IPv6 protocol and the Trusted Internet Connections program, under which agencies are working to reduce their external network connections.

Evans also cited the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) project, which is aimed at cutting costs and boosting security by requiring agencies to employ standard security settings on all Windows PCs.

Earlier this year, President Bush also put in motion a highly classified, multiagency program called the Cyber Initiative, with a goal of bolstering the nation's ability to detect and respond to cyberthreats against critical infrastructure targets.

Tom Kellerman, vice president of security awareness at Core Security Technologies in Boston, said the Cyber Initiative marked an "awakening" in Washington about the need for stronger cybersecurity efforts.

But Kellerman, who is a member of a commission that's developing cybersecurity recommendations for Obama, said much remains to be done. "The existing administration has only just begun to pay attention to cybersecurity" as a national security issue, he said.

Many of the ongoing initiatives are helping to improve security in bits and pieces, Pescatore said. But, he added, they were the result of "random edicts" from the OMB, not broad cybersecurity objectives.

Increasingly, new funding has been moving toward surveillance and monitoring initiatives related to fighting terrorism. While such efforts are needed, Pescatore said, they do little to protect federal agencies from cybercriminals.

Franklin Reeder, an independent consultant and former chief of information policy at the OMB, said the most important step for Obama is to use the government's purchasing clout to compel IT vendors to build more security capabilities into products. The FDCC program has shown that such an approach can be successful, Reeder said.

More spending is needed on security training, he added. He also thinks the feds must change how they work with the private sector on security. Existing programs, Reeder contended, "have just been convened by the government for the government."

This version of the story originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition. Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.

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