Tip of the Week: The 4 Most Useful Extensions for Google Chrome

If you’re one of the many people who prefer Google Chrome to other browsers, you know all about extensions and how they can improve your browsing experience. These are mostly add-ons that are designed to augment your browsing experience or adding new features. While some aren’t so useful, there are others that are invaluable under the right circumstances. To help you get the most out of Chrome, here are four useful browser extensions that you should take advantage of.

Text Mode
You don’t need us to tell you that the Internet is a distracting place. Your attention span is at the mercy of YouTube videos, cute cat pictures, and just about everything else humanly imaginable. This can be quite irritating if you’re working on a deadline and absolutely need to complete a big project on time. In order to help you take back your productivity unsullied by the Internet, Chrome’s Text Mode extension eliminates all images so that you can concentrate on the task at hand. Thanks to there being no images loading, you’ll notice that the browser’s speed is slightly increased, as well.

AdBlock
Online ads are annoying. It’s as simple as that. You don’t want to accidentally click an ad and have even more tabs open than normal. More importantly, you just want to browse the web in peace without pop-up videos or distracting ad text in your sidebar. AdBlock completely blocks these ads from your web pages, allowing you to get back to business without a new ad catching your eye.

Lightshot
All Windows PCs come with the innate ability to take screenshots using the PrtScn key. The free tool Lightshot allows you to take focused, clear screenshots of select areas of your screen. For instance, you’ve received a strange error message or noticed a spelling error, and you want to report this to the appropriate personnel. Lightshot also comes with the ability to draw on the image, insert text, and more. You can then proceed to either upload it directly to the Internet, or save it locally on your PC. This helps you give your IT support team a visual representation of what your problem is, allowing for a swift resolution.

Google Cast
Google’s Chromecast is an essential part of any techie’s entertainment repertoire, but in order to use it effectively, you need the Google Cast extension on your PC. Chromecast is a device that you can plug into your television’s HDMI port to send content to the big screen. A great use of this would be in your office’s conference room for a meeting, or simply in your living room for movie streaming. It’s compatible with all sorts of entertainment mediums, like Netflix, YouTube, Google Docs, and more.

Do you have a favorite Google Chrome extension? If so, let us know in the comments.