If you like using an alternate site to watch YouTube videos (like the minimalist Tube, which we recently covered, or the more minimalist Surprise.ly, which we covered long ago, then you can set up a Chrome extension to redirect you every time you click on a YouTube link.

Google Chrome comes with its own built-in security measures to warn you about dangerous websites and weed out phishing scams, but it never hurts to have more (or better) safeguards when you're browsing.

We only get so much time in this life, and yours is running out, friend. That might seem scary, but it doesn't have to be - it can be motivating. Sometimes you just need a reminder that you need to make it count. This tool sets your Google Chrome homepage and any new blank tabs you open to a clock slowly ticking toward your demise.

Most connected people use services from at least one, if not most of the major tech companies. And while they generally make it easy for you to figure out what data you're sharing with them and other third-party services, sometimes you need a big, red warning flag - such as PlusPrivacy.

Even though everyone is talking about deleting their Facebook accounts, we suspect most of your friends are probably starting out their day as usual - checking Facebook on their morning commutes. But if you're serious about cleaning up your Facebook life, the Chrome extension Social Book Post Manager is a great tool to have at your disposal.

Every time you watch a video, YouTube shows you a dozen more in the sidebar, most of them weirder and worse than what you're watching. They're obnoxious and distracting, they can lead kids to inappropriate videos, and according to a Wall Street Journal test, they tend to get more extreme the more you click. Here's how to hide them.

Nothing kills a good Netflix binge-watching session like those pop-ups that ask if you are in fact still trying to watch yet another episode of that show after a few hours. Here's a neat little Chrome extension that takes care of the problem.

"Trending topics" are bull, says Select All. These little modules on social media sites are swamps of banality and disinformation. This week, YouTube's trending page included a conspiracy-theory video, which claims that the Stoneman Douglas High School students fighting for gun control are actually paid actors. (Narrator voice: They're not.)

This week Twitter announced it's getting rid of its Twitter for Mac desktop client. The app was bad and had a rating of 1.7 out of 5 at its time of death, so it's probably safe to say that it won't be that missed.

We wrote about Vimium, the Chrome extension that adds customisable keyboard shortcuts, back in 2010 and 2012. But I think we buried the lede: If you install Vimium, you can open links without using your mouse, and without hitting the tab key over and over.

SoundCloud recently switched its music streams from 128Kb/s MP3 to 64Kb/s Opus. Many users hear a drop in sound quality in the higher frequencies. So artist Joseph Lyncheski, aka Direct, built an extension for Chrome and Firefox to force the site to stream in its old format. (For now, Safari is still streaming in MP3.)

Ah 2017, the year fake news took over our timelines, and the attendant hand-wringing took over our lives. It's not as if we needed more things to disturb us on Facebook -- we've been FOMO-gnashing our teeth to dust for a decade, after all. As this year comes to a close, I encourage you to gird yourself for the certain onslaught to come. Take two seconds and install News Feed Eradicator for Facebook, a Chrome extension that does exactly what it says, and in so doing, will preserve the teensy shred of sanity you have left.

Chrome/Safari: If you want a gentle reminder not to waste time online - without investing in a full-featured paid app such as Freedom - try Nothing on the Internet, an extension for Chrome and Safari that turns off all the content of the web, leaving a zen-like expanse of empty wireframes.

I love using Night Mode for apps and sites whenever possible. Darker colours are easier on your eyes, even during the daytime, and you can even save a little battery power on your laptop or smartphone by trading a bright white screen for something a little more subdued.

Phishing attacks, wherein scammers pretend to be legitimate companies in order to trick you into handing over sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or credit card information, are getting more difficult to spot. Even Google is susceptible to more sophisticated attacks, which have popped up everywhere from email attachments to shared Google documents.

Chrome: I liked Twitter better when everyone got 140 characters. That's the whole point of Twitter: Brevity, concision, a strong editorial hand on the tiller. So I was not at all pleased to see the company's announcement that all users now get 280 characters, which I believe will encourage a certain sloppiness in expression - a slippery slope straight down into logorrhea.

You might be unfortunate enough to have an annoying coworker in your vicinity. You know, the one that talks about how much he loves eating quiche for breakfast. Let's call him Chad. While you (probably) can't put Chad's headphones in jello to get back at him for pinning last week's soccer loss on your bum knee, you can slowly drive Chad mad where it hurts the most: in his precious YouTube goofing-off time.

Being a parent can feel like a never-ending routine of Good Cop/Bad Cop, and for today's generation of child rearers, that includes laying down the law on the digital frontier.

There are a lot of options out there to send secure and self-destructing messages to others. But what if you really just want to send them a message using Gmail? Snapmail is a Chrome extension that allows you to send messages just like you might otherwise, only they will destruct in 60 seconds.