Choosing the best Chrome extensions can be difficult. Loading up Chrome with as many features as possible is a surefire way of having a slow browsing experience. Chrome has quickly become the most dominant browser in recent years. Firefox, Edge, and Opera are struggling to retain their market share.
Even Microsoft’s Edge browser which comes with Windows 10 will be using the Chromium engine as its’ backbone soon: Read More
What is an extension?
Extensions are add-ons to your browser which enhance its functionality. These add-ons give you more personalized settings and features than the browser included by default. There are thousands of 3rd party extensions out there so choosing the best chrome extensions can be difficult
Here are 4 of the best chrome extensions which are contributing to the browsers:
1. Honey (For Shopping)
Most shopping extensions provide no value. Often times shopping or coupon related extensions are are just a way to push adware onto your system. The coupon codes Honey finds however quickly prove their value and legitimacy, setting it apart as one of the best Chrome extensions you could download.
This extension specializes in finding and applying coupon codes when shopping online. When you’re about the check out on a website you can click on the Honey extension and it will search through it’s a database for current coupon codes that may apply to the items you selected.
Honey also has a feature for Amazon discovery which tracks the historical prices of items you commonly purchase. This extension will then alert you of any deals for those products. Honey is supported by shopping sites in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and India.
2. ublock Origin (For Adblocking)
A popup blocker in this day and age is almost a requirement when surfing the internet. uBlock is a popup blocker and is the best Chrome extension for that purpose for a few reasons. One reason is that it does not use as many system resources as other popup blockers.
uBlock Origin in a simple to use. When you click on the browser extension there is a giant On/Off button which allows you to quickly and easily disable it for a site. Being as many websites obtain most of their profit from advertisements some sites will not allow you to view the content until that extension is disabled.
uBlock can also read and create filters for host files. The list of filters that comes preloaded is EasyList, Peter Lowe’s Ad server list, EasyPrivacy, and common Malware domains.
3. LastPass (For Password Management)
LastPass is the best Chrome extension for Password management. Having to remember every username and password for every website is difficult. Most of us resort to using similar user names and passwords across multiple accounts. This can lead to serious security risks if one of our less secure sites gets exploited. If you use the same information across all platforms now the hacker doesn’t only have your Facebook password for example. Now they also banking other social media, or your email by exploiting only one login. That’s why most professionals will advise using different usernames and passwords across your accounts.
How Does It Work?
To help make that more manageable LastPass saves those usernames and passwords in an encrypted format. LastPass has a master password that is assigned to your account but each site still has its individual usernames and passwords. This spreads out the possible risk if one site gets exploited.
LastPass can save and organize all those passwords in one safe place. Once you are signed into the LastPass extension it will then automatically log into the individual websites that have their passwords saved. This extension allows you to have complicated and unique passwords across all your sites, all maintained by one master password, without risk of some of the less secure sites compromising your important information.
There are two different methods for this important data to be stored. Local-only password storage means that all the information is only available on the current computer. If someone attempts to sign in elsewhere, even in with the correct Master password, none of the website passwords will be available on that second computer. The other option is to sync this account information and back it up to the cloud. Cloud backup is the best for people using multiple devices and switching between them.
LastPass also has a premium version which includes additional features such as Instant syncing across all browsers and on multiple computers, the Digital Wallet app, as well as Secure Note storage.
4. Grammarly (For Spellchecking)
Grammarly is one of the best Chrome extensions for writers. It allows you to spell check all of your messages, documents, and social media posts. Grammarly will also make suggestions or changes to phrasing if they are grammatically incorrect.
If you register a new account you also will receive weekly emails providing recommendations tailored to your writing style and statistics on how you write. Registering an account also allows you to create and store all of your documents in their online editor.
Grammarly has a contextual spell checker feature which will help spot correctly spelled words but are used in the wrong setting or phrasing. Not knowing or accidentally using words like lose or loose, affect or effect, lie or lay, will be a thing of the past.
Grammarly also has a premium version that provides features like additional error checking, vocabulary enhancement suggestions, plagiarism and citation suggestions, suggestions of different writing formats such as academic or creative.
Conclusion
Choosing the best Chrome extensions will enhance your daily browsing experience and improve your functionality. Honey can save you money and find deals and uBlock can prevent unwanted advertisements. LastPass will make your accounts are more secure, and Grammarly will make your writing as professional as possible. If you download all four and you’ll have the best chrome extensions 2020 has to offer.
If you have any further questions or concerns about what browser options are best for you, Rush Tech Support would be happy to help! Give us a call at 844-881-7874 (RUSH).
