Most Popular Chrome Extensions And Posts Of 2011

2011 was a big year for Google Chrome and all of its users. There are more Chrome users out there than ever before, and heaps of great Chrome extensions to add functionality privacy, and other services to your browser. Here are the most popular Google Chrome-related posts, extensions and add-ons at Lifehacker during 2011.

The Intermediate Guide To Living Entirely Inside Chrome

Chrome OS is still in the works, and even when it launches, you might not need one of the specialty netbooks that run it. Make the Chrome browser you already have productive enough to do whatever you need instead — and hit Full Screen if you need less distraction. More »

Minimalist Gmail Is The Best Gmail Tweaker For Chrome Yet

Chrome: Adding extra features to Gmail isn’t a new idea, but Minimalist Gmail for Chrome is the best tweaker yet: You can hide items, add row highlights, and even change the five Google links at the top of the page. More »

The Power User’s Guide To Chrome

Chrome is overtaking Firefox among power users, and for good reason. It’s an incredibly powerful, extensible web browser with tons of excellent features. More »

The Best Web Browser For Windows

The battle for best browser on Windows is especially close, but we have to pick Google Chrome for its speed, extensibility, and awesome syncing features. More »

Ask LH: How Do I Stop My Browser From Slowing To A Crawl?

Dear Lifehacker, Everyone bickers about which browser is faster, but in my experience all of them eventually slow down after I’ve opened a few tabs and used them for a while. More »

Save Yourself From Weiner-Caliber Online Embarrassment With Internet Shame Insurance

The web is filled with opportunities to humiliate yourself. You reply all with a scathing takedown of your boss; you post pictures on Facebook of a drunken night out and your mum starts to worry; you accidentally tweet a picture of your downstairs business to the internet at large. This simple tool helps you protect the privacy of your Weiner whenever possible. More »

How To Limit Visits To Time-Wasting Web Sites And Give Your Willpower A Break

Unless you’ve got the willpower of a monk, you’ve experienced this situation: You sit down at your computer to write a report, finish a presentation, or compose an important email for tomorrow. More »

Texty Sends Text Messages From Google Chrome Using Your Phone Number

Android/Chrome: No one likes texting on small, autocorrect-prone phone keyboards. Texty connects your phone to Google Chrome, letting you send and receive SMS messages right from the extension bar. More »

The Best Web Browser For Mac

The browser debate is pretty heated on all platforms, but we love Chrome on the Mac. It’s fast, easy to use, has a great developer community, and even handles failure with grace. More »

Reeder For Chrome Transforms Google Reader

Chrome: Reeder for Chrome is inspired by Reeder for Mac OS and iOS, but it’s not from the same developers. Nevertheless, it retains the clean and easy-to-use look and feel of the original, and completely re-skins Google Reader into a clean and attractive three-paned feed reader that looks just like the desktop and mobile app. More »

How To Build A Chrome Extension

Google Chrome is the best web browser around right now, and part of Chrome’s appeal is owed to its excellent extensions. The good news: It’s not that hard to get started making your own Chrome extensions. More »

Ask LH: Which Version Of Chrome Or Firefox Should I Use?

Dear Lifehacker,I’m a big Chrome user and saw that there’s yet another “channel” (Canary) out for us Mac users to try. I’ve always been a little bit unsure about which one of these I should be running; could you give me some advice? More »

Simplify And Automate Private Browsing Mode With These Browser Extensions

If you’re sick of manually opening links in private browsing mode, Firefox and Chrome extensions will get you in with some quick shortcuts.

Private browsing mode is great for all sorts of things, but it isn’t exactly the easiest to use-you have to open it manually, manually paste in any links you were viewing, and so on. More »

Wikipedia Beautifier Makes Online Encyclopedia More Readable

Chrome: The Wikipedia Beautifier extension cleans the cruft from Wikipedia to offer an easy-on-the-eyes reading experience on the popular online encyclopedia. More »

Disguised Tabs Hides Chrome Tabs With One Keystroke

Chrome: If you need to hide one of your Chrome tabs in a hurry, the Disguised Tabs extension will move it to the background and change its tab name to the unassuming “Google”. More »

Chrome 10 Now Lets Extensions Run In The Background

Certain extensions — like Gmail notifiers, for example — are great when your browser is running, but can’t run when it’s closed. Chrome’s added a new feature that will let extensions stay open, even if you don’t have any open browser windows. More »

What’s The Most Secure Web Browser?

A new Google-funded study of browser security by security research firm Accuvant Labs crowned Chrome the champion of security features, and ranked Firefox below Internet Explorer in terms of protection available from web-borne threats. More »

Awesome New Tab Page Is A New Tab Page For Chrome

Chrome: Like the name suggests, the Awesome New Tab Page extension adds a new New Tab page to Google Chrome. The result is a Windows 8 Metro UI-inspired new tab page that’s fully customisable with apps, widgets, bookmarks, and so on. More »

And there you have it! 2011 brought us a wealth of great tools and add-ons for Google Chrome, and heaps of updates and features that make an already great browser even better. So good, in fact, that we crowned it the best for Windows and Mac OS. If your favourite Chrome-related post of the year didn’t make the list, let us know about it in the comments below — and if you know a killer Chrome extension or under-hyped feature, let us know that too!

If you’re looking for more Chrome goodness, check out last year’s most popular Chrome extensions and posts of 2010.