Application Recommendations Part 1 - Firefox

Being in the IT industry I frequently get asked to recommend certain programs for this and that.
What do I use to open swap.avi? How do I block the ads in Firefox? Et cetera.
Because of that I've decided to create this list of my most commonly used programs for both Windows XP and OS X.
I'm going to start with Firefox on Windows and move on to more general Windows and OS X software in later entries.

Firefox It's a great browser that is both fast and secure as well as standards compliant (more or less) and extremely customizable.
I use the following Add-ons:

• NASA Night Launch as my Theme.
• Adblock Plus as a ad blocker.
• Ctrl-Tab to add a graphical alt-tab functionality between large numbers of browser tabs.
• Download Statusbar a cleaner and more efficient downloads manager.
• Firebug a comprehensive and invaluable web development toolbox.
• IE Tab lets you render websites using Internet Explorer inside Firefox.
• NoScript secures your browser by blocking all scripts by default unless you allow them. As well as an asortment of other security enhancements. It's a trade off of security vs convenience.
• Web Developer adds a small toolbar with numerous useful web development tools.
• Firecookie is an extension for Firebug that adds cookie support.
• Flagfox creates a small icon of a country flag showing where the website you are currently viewing is hosted. Right clicking on this flag reveals a collection of useful information about that website.
• Flashblock stops all flash content from auto playing.
• GooglePreview adds a visual thumbnail of the web page beside every google search result.

Now these add-ons are obviously not for everyone, they are just the ones that I personally use.
There are quite a lot of add-ons for Firefox and they can all be found listed here.

There are also many settings and options that you can tweak in Firefox. I've always been happy with the default settings myself. However is there is one tweak that I would particularly recommend. I use a slightly different version of the streamlined layout explained here.

(click for larger image)

It essentially involves hiding the Bookmark and Navigation tool bars and adding whatever elements you need to the menu bar instead. This gives you the maximum viewing area possible as well as efficient use of space. I like it a lot but it's largely up to personal preference.