Guess I'm late to the thread, totally overlooked this one 😉 I actually have very few which I'd consider essential, but these are the ones I like best: AdBlock plus, this should be an obvious choice IMO. It helps you filter / block out a /lot/ of online spam / advertisements.
Next up is Google Translate. A very handy extension; I simply highlight a word, an translucent icon will pop up above it and when clicked I can instantly translate the word using Google. No need to open new tabs to go to their website.
Finally StopSocial. I'm sometimes very weary of all the social media "like links" because in a way these give those websites the perfect infrastructure to build a road map out of everything you do. Think about it: you go to a site which uses like buttons. What usually happens is that your browser will contact one of the social media websites to download the required scripts, and those requests normally also mention the originating site as a referrer. So basically its the perfect tool to collect what kind of websites you're browsing. SO yah, this tool helps me block that stuff entirely. With the added bonus that I can tune it on a per-site basis. I'm well aware that full anonymity on the Internet doesn't exist, but every little bit can help out from time to time.
And I'd almost forget: Bing & Weather speed dial. Those add 2 tiles to my speed dial screen. One shows the daily background which Bing uses while the other shows the current weather.
And there you have it 😉
