Link Extend For Firefox Is The Ultimate Website Information Add-on
Firefox users can choose between several website and link information add-ons including Web of Trust or AVG Linkscanner that reveal information about websites before they are visited.
The Firefox add-on Link Extend takes the concept to the next level. It combines computer safety, child safety, company ethics and popularity tools in one add-on.
The computer safety services alone lists the eight services Web of Trust, Siteadvisor, Google Safe Browsing, Browser Defender, Web Security Guard, Norton, Dr. Web and Compete Safety Information.
Multiple services are available in the other information categories as well. The best part is that these information can be easily accessed.
Options are to display a toolbar in Firefox that lists some of the information right away and makes all other information accessible with just a click.
Not every Firefox user wants to use a toolbar on the other hand. That's why there is also the possibility to right-click on a link to display the information in a context menu window instead.
An overall rating is displayed on top of each category that is generated from the results of all single services information are requested of.
The add-on does not slow down the web browsing experience noticeably.
Overview of the services offered by Link Extend:
- Safety - Web of Trust, McAfee SiteAdvisor, Web Security Guard, Browser Defender, Norton Safe Web, DrWeb, Compete, Google Safe Browsing
- KidSafe - Web of Trust, Alexa, Browser Defender, Web Security Guard, Google SafeSearch, ICRA
- Ethics - Scryve, Knowmore, CorporateCritic
- Site Traffic - Alexa, Quantcast, Compete, Statbrain
- Thumbnails - GooglePreview, MyThumbnail, Websnapr, Thumbshot
Link Extend comes with extensive settings that you can configure in the add-on's options.
This includes removing services that are not needed, configuring how and where thumbnails are displayed, setting up context menu entries, configuring search engine options that include hiding unsafe options, toolbar options and if suspicious or unsafe websites should be added to the Firefox browsing history.
Link Extend is compatible with several search engines including Google Search or Yahoo Search. It may take some time to configure the Firefox add-on properly but the process should be worth it for many users who like to look up information about sites when they browse the Internet.
Update: While Link Extend can still be installed in recent versions of the Firefox web browser, many of the services it provides access won't work anymore. The extension has last been updated in 2011 which seems to be the main reason for this. It appears that it has been abandoned by its author.
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