8 Ways to Help Your Browser Run at Lightspeed

Your browser is probably under the weather.

And it’s all your fault.

Surf habits add up: memory’s eroding, efficiency fading, speed diminishing. Herewith: a few (mostly) free extensions for your browser that are both unobtrusive and performance-optimizing, from password help to tab-overload relief.

Dashlane

For password security
Never write down a password again. Dashlane is a heavily encrypted digital password manager with a suite of interesting features, including autofill generator, digital wallet and synced password management. (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer)

For annihilating banner ads
For a clean and breezy ad-free browsing experience, uBlock Origin is a pro. It requires less CPU muscle and attacks ads/content efficiently and to your specifications. (Chrome, Safari, Firefox)

For scrubbing your browsing history
With one click, Click&Clean wipes away your (browsing) grime. With its extensive panel of tools, users can view browsing history, stored cookies and cached files. And it detoxes better than your browser of choice, where temporary files can still linger. (Chrome, Firefox)

Ginger

For instant grammar and spelling improvement
Ginger Grammar and Spell Checker is your own personal copy editor. Besides its (obvious) spelling and grammatical assistance, the app defines words and assists in choosing the right one … and even rephrases sentences as you type. (Chrome, Safari)

Pocket

For saving your longreads
Forget bookmarks. With Pocket, you can store pretty much anything — articles, images, websites, etc. — from the web or through 1,500 integrated apps and email, all for later reading, with or without a ‘net connection. (Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox)

For upgraded screenshots
Awesome Screenshot allows you to annotate saved images. You can capture the part or all of a webpage and add comments, blur sensitive information and share with one-click uploads. (Chrome)

WiseStamp

For custom e-signatures
Creating an engaging signature is a limited option with most email services. WiseStamp fills that void by allowing you to create a personalized signature with any assortment of contact info and templates. (And for signing docs with your real sig, try HelloSign). (Chrome)

OneTab

For excessive open tab maintenance
You can easily lose yourself in a scatterbrained workspace. OneTab converts all open tabs to a list, saving your CPU load time by 95%. Simply click on the extension and all tabs are relocated to a drop-down list. Similarly minded Panic Button moves all of your memory-hogging tabs into a separate folder to be saved for later. From there, you can erase the folder from existence or pull the tabs at will. (Chrome, Firefox)

—Eric Brown