Oooh, extensions! With the right know how these little tools can be really helpful, but if you don't know much about them they can at best be annoying and at worst be a danger to security.
So, we'll take a little dive into what extensions are, what they do, and how I can make you feel more confident in filtering the bad from the good.
Want to block ads from showing up on websites? Maybe something that forces websites into a dark mode? Extensions can do a variety of things to help you be more productive and/or efficient. Personally, I love using Dark Reader and Hover Image. However, like with anything, all things in moderation. Even if all your extensions are good, quality extensions you probably don't want ten or more of them running in your Chrome browser at the same time.
Now, not all extensions are created equal. In fact, some of them sneak their way in without you even noticing, downloading themselves through an application or by agreeing to terms on a website that you didn't even realize that's what you were doing. Some annoying pop up about cookies and terms of service... "Yeah, sure, whatever. Accept." Surprise, now you have a rogue extension. I've been there, done that.
The general rule I like to employ with extensions is if you don't know what it is, or have any recollection of installing it, delete it! I have seen some of these rogue extension cause some very unwanted pop-ups happen, push spam, and even affect settings. The better extensions, the ones you might actually want, will be ones you download yourself.
So do yourself a favor. Right now, assuming you're in the chrome browser, in the top right by the URL bar you'll see a puzzle piece. Looks like this...
Click on that and at the bottom of the pop-up menu choose manage extensions. From here you can see what extensions are installed. You'll notice some you can't remove. Those are pushed district wide by us in IT, but everything else is free game. So do a little spring cleaning in here if you can.
As for downloading extensions, you can do that by googling "Google Web Store" and they have a whole section on extensions. Don't be afraid to download one to try and see how it works, and if you don't like it, delete it. Pay attention to reviews and remember to only have as many as you need, not want. Too many good extensions running can be as annoying as a couple bad ones.
