Top 11 must-have Internet Explorer Addons

In case you’re one of those folks using that other browser (aka Internet Explorer or IE), this post is for you. Here, you’ll find a bunch of cool browser extras (other then Google Toolbar) to make Internet Exlorer way more usable.

Update: IE7 Pro was moved to the front due to the fact that it incorporates several frequently used features in one addon.

(1) IE7Pro (only IE 7) – little overwhelming and takes some time to get used to, but totally worth it. Includes powerful tab manager, AD or Flash blocking utility, Crash recovery, Proxy switcher, Web accelerator, User Agent switcher, Webpage capturer, Greasemonkey scripts support, Firefox style inline search, spell checker and some more.

(2) LeechVideo – handy IE addon that lets you download favorite videos from popular video sharing websites (i.e. Youtube, Google Video, DailyMotion, etc.). Other alternatives: Viloader | Video Downloader

(3) Inline Search – integrates an in-page search feature to Internet Explorer. Use ‘CTR+F’ to launch it in the left-bottom corner of your browser window.

(4) ShareThis – lets you quickly (1) email webpages (or embedded pictures or videos) to friends or contacts (gmail, myspace, facebook…) and (2) post notes to your Facebook/Myspace profiles.

(5) Convert with Zamzar – browser addon from a comprehensive, web-based file conversion service, Zamzar. Lets you convert and download desired files from your favorite websites at the click of a button on your browser toolbar. It can be a Youtube video that you want to play in Windows Media Player, a Flickr image that you need in JPEG format, or a word file that you need in PDF.

(6) Browster – integrates link preview capabilities into your browser. For instance, each time you search on Google, Yahoo, MSN or visit some popular website Browster places a special icon next to each link, hovering your mouse cursor over it triggers a pop-up window displaying the contents of the destination page. Other alternative: Cooliris

(7) FeedsPlus (only IE 7) – in case you’re using your browser to follow-up on feeds, then this is for you. It adds couple of handy features, i.e. ability to read feeds in a combined view and receive pop-up notifications when there are new items to read.

(8) ieSpell – allows you to spell check text input boxes on any webpage (i.e. web mails, forum posts, blog comments, etc.)

(9) McAfee Site Advisor (only IE 5.5 – 6.0) – slim and easy-to-use security addon, features include:

  • protects you from adware, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
  • advises you about the safety of websites using a colored button in your browser
  • places website safety ratings next to each search result

(10) IeSessions – lets you save the current state of all open windows/tabs, store it to a file and restore it anytime afterwards. Especially useful if you have to switch between multiple computers (i.e. office, home) during the day.

(11) Videoronk (only IE 7) – add ‘Videoronk’ to your search toolbar and you’ll be able to search on top 8 video sharing websites simultaneously (Youtube, Google Video, Vimeo, Metacafe, iFilm, Blip.tv, Revver, DailyMotion and Myspace Video).

BONUS: Internet Explorer Shortcuts

Internet Explorer Shortcuts

Here is another EXCELLENT find for Internet Explorer users. We put together a list of essential IE shortcuts for you. This will make you more productive and save you tons of time. You can download the printable shortcut sheet for Internet Explorer from here.


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Aibek Esengulov

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Hide 33 Comments

  • Alfred R Ludwig May 28, 2007
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    Looking foward to new 11

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  • eric sandell July 7, 2007
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    need to enable add ons

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  • patrick lewis July 27, 2007
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    ie7pro includes inline search and a session restore feature now, this list should be updated!

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  • patrick lewis July 27, 2007
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    additionally, ie7pro includes a spell checking feature, which makes 3 total plugins that could be replaced with just one!

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  • Aibek July 27, 2007
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    @Patrick
    thanks for heads up, I will update it shortly.

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  • Aibek August 2, 2007
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    Done !

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  • searchons September 9, 2007
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    give a shot at searchons.com, the new Social Search,

    see what others found before you

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  • Jerry September 20, 2007
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    I’ve searched all over for a tool I can’t imagine doesn’t exist: When you open a web page, notification that you’ve been there before; better, when you were last there; still better, a list of the last N dates you visited it. As a researcher I go crazy trying to figure out if I’ve seen this page/material before.

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  • Aibek September 21, 2007
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    @ Jerry

    There are not that many Internet Explorer addons so If you are IE user than most probably you won’t find such tool. On the other hand, if you’re Firefox user than I am pretty sure you can locate something similar to it.

    What browser you’re using?

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  • CBvv November 19, 2007
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    IE IS Sucks ANyway Who Care ABout IE From MIcRoSoft !!

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    • hobo November 18, 2009
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      Instead of cutting down IE you better get ahold of your Grammar.It sucks moron!!!

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      • Chuck0 November 23, 2009
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        You just slapped a probably severely physically disabled person while hiding behind your electronic curtain & managed to do so in a public forum. Were you referring to yourself in your final sentence? If so- you over estimated yourself.

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  • haomin December 13, 2007
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    gigiggih

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  • Camazza December 18, 2007
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    This may be useful to those people who absolutely don’t want to switch to Firefox. There are a lot of MUCH better plugins for Firefox. And they’re a lot easier to install, too.

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  • abz January 20, 2008
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    I found a website dedicated to Internet Explorer AND Firefox. Funnily enough, its called internetexplorer-firefox.com

    Its a great little website with a brilliant list of add-ons and plug-ins for both browsers. The website is kind of bare-bones but ts got a great add-ons, reviews and features page.

    If the link above didnt work, copy and paste it into your browser or try this one

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    • Aibek January 22, 2008
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      Thanks for the link, will definitely check it out.

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  • ajay pathak January 24, 2008
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    here also some useful ie addons are available

    readerszone.com/2008/01/24/cool-internet-explorer-addons/

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  • awfaf February 12, 2008
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    LOL.. most of it is already builtin to Firefox xD

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  • FireShot July 10, 2008
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    If you need to capture entire web-page, quickly edit it or add some comments, you’ll aprreciate how FireShot does it for you.

    http://screenshot-program.com/fireshot

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  • Andy February 10, 2009
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    check out our free IE add-on for twitter

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  • Bill February 18, 2009
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    Why “IE Assist” not listed ?

    I had used “IE Assist” for a long time, it’s running with 0% CPU usage, less than 5M memory usage, environmental protection, energy saving, I really like it at http://www.ieassist.com !

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  • joey April 7, 2009
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    Great list. But I would also add Umibozu:

    http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/bookmarks/Umibozu_search/

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  • Joshua Issac June 13, 2009
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    IE7Pro works for Internet Explorer versions 6 through to 8. The name is misleading.

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  • sam the sham August 8, 2009
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    i have had 7strokes,and two heart attacks,diebeatic,70%brain dammage,and 100% dissabled.i keep on track with anything,sorry

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  • Peter August 25, 2009
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    I would like to add the adblocker simple-adblock.com to the list. It is free, very efficient, and makes my browsing experience a whole lot better :-)

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  • Internet Threat August 27, 2009
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    Very neatly done in one post. I don’t use IE, but might come in handy some day

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  • Sameeha September 7, 2009
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    all are great & usefull addons for IE, will be productive from SEO point of view. LOL & ThnX

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  • SenderOK September 10, 2009
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    You may also try one more addon – SenderOK. It’s an email management tool that also works with Outlook. It’s most interesting feature is an unread email map that covers all accounts that you introduced to SenderOK. It ranks incoming emails by sender importance, notifies about priority email arrival and inserts a photo business card in the message preview pane. You could read about SenderOK and download it at http://www.senderok.com

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  • RS October 3, 2009
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    Excellent advice, can you please help me to find the add on of IE8 which actually gives the IP addresss of the website we are browing, in firefox there is a addon called “FlagFox”… i want similar for IE… plase help

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  • MirrorChecker October 5, 2009
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    Hi guys,

    I have a site ( http://mirrorchecker.com ) that allows people to check the status of links from various free file hosting sites (eg. Rapidshare, Megaupload etc.).

    I have written both a and an which gives the user a right-click menu option for either hyperlinks or highlighted text (if link isn’t clickable).

    I know how many people use free file hosts so this add-on, I believe, is very significant … plus it’s the first of it’s kind :)

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  • Jeff November 9, 2009
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    You listed IESessions – there’s another add-on available called IE Session Manager, available at (electricbrainproductions.com/ie-session-manager), and it works in both IE7 and IE8.

    One thing I don’t like about IESessions is that it doesn’t preserve the instances – when IESessions loads a session set every URL is opened in a single instance (if one originally had saved the URLs from five instances, when loaded back up the URLs are all crammed into one instance).

    Also, IE Session Manager allows you to pick and choose which URLs are saved and which ones are loaded, where as with IESessions it’s all or nothing.

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  • Video Converter November 29, 2009
    0 likes

    I Collected some best video converter. You can free download video converter here.

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  • James December 27, 2009
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    I don’t see how a list of video converters relates to internet explorer addons? I recommend IE Downloadhelper, which is a downloadhelper for Internet explorer http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/6395/IE_Download_Helper/

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