Those who use Mozilla Firefox will know that the true power of the browser is in the form of extensions, little free programs one can download that run off the Firefox browser platform and form simple tasks like check your Gmail and block annoying popup ads.
I had to upgrade my work laptop today, though, and while the Firefox Extensions system makes downloads and installs simple, keeping one’s preferences and settings on a reinstall or even across multiple machines is a chore. If you have your browser just the way you like it, it’s going to take time to (re)find and (re)install those extensions and then manually tweak them; the configuration changes I made were done over time, so finding that one options dialog and that one check box actually takes a bit of hunting and sleuthing on my part.
Of course, what better way to solve a Firefox shortcoming than with an extension? I’ve been trying out three extensions that do all the backing up and restoring for you – from bookmarks to cookies to other extensions – and I’m happy to report that they work great. Check ‘em out if you ever need to do some Firefox duplicatin’:
FEBE (link) – Extracts stuff from your current Firefox to be installed on another, things like themes, extensions, preferences, etc.
CLEO (link) – Combines multiple themes and extensions into one custom extension, to be installed as one file anywhere else.
Foxmarks (link) – Syncs your bookmarks to a server across any number of Firefoxes.