By Bob Rankin

You’re not alone… the Google Chrome web browser has been gaining ground on its two main competitors, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox. StatCounter, one of many sites that tracks browser popularity, even put Chrome in the number two spot ahead of Firefox by the end of 2011. Part of the reason for Chrome’s climb in market share is the increasing availability of useful addons or extensions for Chrome.

I’ll say up front that I use Firefox most of the time. I do fire up the Chrome browser on occasion, and it’s very slick. (See my related article Is Chrome the Best Browser?) But while doing the research for this article, I have to say that I am sorely tempted to switch to Chrome, or at least use it alongside Firefox. Take a look at ten of my favorite Chrome addons, and you might find yourself switching from Internet Explorer or Firefox, too!

#1 Xmarks

A must-have extension for Web surfers who switch browsers frequently. Installed in Chrome, it syncs the browser bookmarks that you always want available to a storage spot in the cloud, and automatically makes those bookmarks available to whatever browser you are currently using. You can even set up profiles for different browsers you use for work or personal surfing, so that only a subset of your bookmarks collection is available in each different setting. Whether you switch PCs, reinstall your OS, or change browsers, your bookmarks remain safe in the cloud without worrying over backups and importation.

#2 IE Tab

An essential for those all-too-frequent occasions when you must access a site via Internet Explorer or not at all. It’s fairly incredible that some webmasters still create sites that only work when viewed with Internet Explorer, when it’s the preferred browser of less than 40% of users. But until these dinosaurs are extinct, IE Tab will open a new tab in Chrome, and uses the Internet Explorer rendering engine to display a specified page or site. You can set IE Tab to always use IE when displaying a particular site, so you don’t have to invoke IE Tab manually every time you visit that site.

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This excerpt is shared with permission from Bob Rankin.

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About Bob Rankin

Bob Rankin is a translator for the technology impaired -- a writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and explaining technology in plain English. His work has appeared in Computer World, NY Newsday, and other publications. Bob is also publisher of Internet TOURBUS, author of several computer books, and creator of the Lowfat Linux tutorial.

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