Dear reader,
As a person with a weird interest in browsers, I sometimes go through different subreddits to see what's going on in that space. I often encounter people sharing the browser extensions they use while asking for more suggestions. Here are a few examples of these setups:
As useful as browser extensions can be, most of them are unnecessary, and some are even malicious. It's a good idea to only install the few extensions you need instead of always trying to find more to install.
Ad blockers are a great example of extensions that people seem to have a habit of collecting. Maybe they think one isn't enough? Well, if you're going to be using one, a single, trustworthy extension is all you need. The lead developer of uBlock Origin (one of the most popular and respected content blocking extensions) has stated that using multiple content blockers simultaneously is a bad idea and can cause issues.
What is acceptable then? If you're using the Tor Browser, then you shouldn't install any extensions, but otherwise, I suggest starting from the following. A content blocker, such as uBlock Origin or AdGuard, is a must, but only if your browser doesn't include a solid built-in solution, such as Brave's Shields. A password manager extension is also useful and can even prevent phishing attacks since they don’t autofill on sites you haven’t saved in your password manager. You could still copy and paste the credentials to a malicious site, but at least the extension adds this step before this happens that should make you think twice why the autofill isn't working.
If you want to learn more about browser extensions, both Privacy Guides and Arkenfox have great information on the topic. 🌔