I switched to firefox as soon as my brother-in-law introduced it (and tabbed browsing) to me. It is highly customizable thanks to the huge number of add-ons. My browser is now optimized for research, here’s how mine’s set up. Anyone have any other favorites?

• Quick Searches: these bookmarks let you set up a quick link to any search engine and set up a keyword. For example I search Googlebooks by going to the address bar typing books Name of Book Looking for. (Pressing Ctrl+L moves the cursor to the address bar.)
• Search Engine Bar: This section of the browser has an area to type a keyword and several search engines to choose from, plus you can add additional engines: for me this includes a passage lookup in the English Standard Version of the Bible and the World Cat catalog. Several more can be found here.
• Adblock: this stops those frames offering free iPods and other annoyances.
• Unplug: downloads embedded media.
• Zotero: this is a bibliography tool that is really cool. My thesis bibliography is stored here. It downloads bib information, you can search for libraries that have the book, print/export bibliographies, tag books and add notes.
• Googlenotebook Extension: allows you to take notes and access them from small section without browsing to the google site.
• Greasemonkey:multiplies the possible extensions by adding new functions to websites, reworking their look, additional blocking such as google ads and flash media.
• Snaplinks and Downloadthemall: lets you select several links to open at once and download all links on a page respectively.