Browsers & Accounts · Extensions: Helpful or Harmful · Lesson 4 of 5

Keeping a Lean Browser

Fewer extensions, trusted stores and separate profiles keep you safer.

Fewer Extensions, Better Choices

Every extension is a small door into your browser. Each one is made by a different person or company. Each one can update at any time. The more you have, the more doors you need to watch.

A lean browser is one with only the few extensions you really use. It is safer, and it often runs faster too.

Try this check every few months. Open your extensions page and ask of each one:

• Did I use this in the last month?
• Do I know who made it?
• Do its permissions still match its job?

If the answer to any of these is no, remove it. You can turn an extension off first if you're unsure, then remove it later if you don't miss it. Chrome's Safety Check, in Settings, can also warn you about extensions that were taken out of the store.

When you do add one, get it from the official store for your browser:

• Chrome: the Chrome Web Store.
• Edge: Edge Add-ons.
• Firefox: Firefox Add-ons (addons.mozilla.org).
• Safari: the App Store on your Mac.

Stores check extensions, but not perfectly, as you learned. So also check the publisher, which is the person or company that made it. On the store page, look for the name under the title or in the details. Ask yourself:

• Is it the company I expected, like my bank or my password manager?
• Does it have a real website, and does that site link back to this extension?
• Has it been around for a while?

Never install an extension from a pop-up or a website that says you need it to watch a video or open a file. That is a classic trick.

One Profile for Work, One for Home

A browser profile is a separate space inside the same browser. Each profile has its own extensions, bookmarks, saved passwords, history and sign-ins. What happens in one profile stays in that profile.

This helps in a few ways:

• An extension you add for fun at home can't see your work email in the work profile.
• Your work's rules and extensions stay out of your personal space.
• Family members can each have their own space on a shared computer.

Here is where to find profiles:

• Chrome: click your profile picture at the top right, then Add Chrome profile.
• Edge: click your profile picture at the top left, then choose to set up a new work or personal profile.
• Firefox: recent versions offer profiles from the profile icon in the toolbar or from the menu.
• Safari on a Mac: in recent versions of macOS, open Safari, then Settings, then Profiles.

Each profile can get its own name, color or picture, so you can tell them apart. Many people pick a calm color for work and a bright one for home.

Keep the work profile lean. Add only the extensions your job needs, or only the ones your IT team gives you. Keep shopping, coupon and game extensions in the personal profile, if you use them at all.

A profile is not a lock. Anyone who can use the computer can switch profiles. It simply keeps things apart, so one bad extension can reach less.