One of the major reasons Firefox is approaching 400 million downloads is because of how customizable the browser is thanks to extensions. In a way Firefox extensions are bittersweet, because they can provide some unique and useful features, but at the same time they can cause some unwanted problems.

Now, a lot of people publish lists of 'best' extensions. It's quick and easy to make these lists. One difference between my list and some of those "99 Must Have, Best Firefox Extensions!" is that is the real list of the extensions that I use every day. These don't just sound good, they work well.

Installing these Firefox extensions, like installing any other Firefox extension, is just a matter of clicking the shiny green Install Now button from the extensions' homepages. You'll find both the extensions enabled after a browser restart to complete the installation.

The number of Firefox extensions continues to grow. For example, when I last wrote about tab extensions just over a year ago, about 110 existed. Now, despite the need to rewrite many extensions to make them compatible with Firefox 3.0, the number is over 190, and the choice is greater than ever.

For Firefox users who are constantly referring to multiple pages, tabbed browsing is not a feature, but a way of life. There are enough of us that the Firefox addon page lists more than 110 extensions related to tabs.

Google and its applications are fast becoming the backbone of the internet. They seem to be solving everyone’s problems with free stuffs. Just when you get happy with something like Firefox, Google comes along and makes a browser that’s fast, super secure and has all kinds of add-ons and themes to personalize it.

We’ve put together a list of 30+ must-have Firefox 3 extensions that we know you’ll enjoy, whether you’ve upgraded to Firefox 3 and are looking for something new to add to your browser, or have yet to make the upgrade and are looking for a reason.

Among the many reasons why Mozilla's Firefox browser has become popular is the fact that it's relatively easy to build and install add on extensions for it. That ease of extensibility however has a potential dark side to it.

"...For an overview of extensions that will work with one of the Firefox 3 betas, check out this, somewhat obtuse, but largely functional chart, which tracks Firefox 3 compatible extensions..."