The Firefox browser offers lots of great features that make it a great choice for surfing the web.  Why use it?  Well, for one, it's considered more secure because its open-source nature means that bugs can be fixed and disseminated faster than IE, it's easy to clear your private data, and it offers extended protection from spyware.

But security is only one piece of the Firefox puzzle.  It's also much more customizable than IE, and its tabbed browsing makes your internet experience easier and more enjoyable.  Below are some examples of functional and fun add-ons for enhancing your browsing experience.

Add-ons, those great little bits of code that help you customize your browser, are largely the result of developers and tech-savvy users who take advantage of the open-source characteristics of Firefox to create new styles and features for themselves and others to use.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of these add-ons available for download. I've chosen a few representative examples that I think will come in handy, but you might want to experiment with others, and new ones are released all the time.

The Haverford Add-on bundle can be downloaded here. Once the file is downloaded, click on it, choose to open it by selecting a program from a list, and then choose Firefox. Running this pack will install the following Firefox add-ons:

AdblockPlus{0.7.5.3}
Use Adblock Plus to block out unwanted ads, images, and pop-ups from your browser.  It gives you the option to subscribe to a service that creates lists of blockable features and then blocks them, or you can tell Firefox yourself what you want to block.  A great security feature.

DownloadStatusbar{0.9.5.2}
The download statusbar will save you the annoyance of either an extra download window or having no idea whether your downloads are finished.

FEBE{5.1.1}: Firefox Extension Backup System
Just in case Firefox ever crashes on you, or you want to be safe when you update Firefix, FEBE will backup and restore your favorite extensions.

Firebug{1.05}
Firebug is a great extension that not only shows you all the html, css, javascript, etc. coding on your pages, it allows you to test changes to the code and see how they'll look before uploading your changes to the server.  A great tool for web developers.

FoxyTunes{2.9.5}
Another fun extension, you can control multiple media players within your browser using FoxyTunes.

IETab{1.3.3.20070528}
For those annoying times when the page just won't view right in Firefox, or if you're developing a page and want to see how it looks in IE, this extension allows you to open an IE tab right within your Firefox browser.

OpenSearchFox{0.1}
One of my favorites, the opensearchfox add-on will allow you to create new searches in your Firefox search bar.  Just right click on any search box and click "add OpenSearch plugin" and you'll be able to use that search engine without even navigating to it!

PDFDownload{0.9.3.2}
An add-on to help you control how your pdfs are downloaded.

STOPHammertime{2.0}
Send your browser back to the early 90s by turning your stop button into a "Stop, Hammertime" button!

StumbleUpon{3.15}
The ultimate in time wasters: register, tell them what your areas of interest are, and then let Firefox "stumble upon" related sites.  You can vote on the sites you find, suggest some, find people with similar interests, and write reviews.

TabMixPlus{0.3.6}
Even more things to do with your Firefox tabs, like a session manager to bring up previously closed tabs, clicking options, and duplicating tabs.

Zotero{1.0.0rc5}: The Next-Generation Research Tool
Zotero, it's like EndNoteWeb, only better, more flexible, and free!  Zotero just released version 1, so they're no longer in beta.

Use Zotero to collect citations from the library catalog, databases, and websites.  Tag your citations to group them together.  Take a snapshot of a webpage and then highlight and comment on it.  Use Zotero with Microsoft Office or Open Office to create citations right inside your document and then create a bibliography from those citations.

There are many screencasts out there that will show you how to do these things and more, but it's an easy program to learn.  Future releases will allow you to save your Zotero collections online so they can be easily transferred between computers and shared with others.