Understanding Browser Plug-ins

Sometimes all you need is a sundae: a nice, cool scoop of ice cream topped off with some lovely hot fudge. But what's a sundae without the hot fudge? Just ice cream. It'll do—I won't turn it down—but if you were hoping for a sundae, you might be a little disappointed.

While using the Internet, you’ve probably come across the terms Plug-in and Add-on. All browsers use them, yet a lot of people may not be familiar with what these terms mean. Both words are pretty much the same thing, so if you see one, it can be interchanged with the other. A plug-in is a piece of software that manages Internet content that a browser is not designed to process. Plug-ins can enhance and improve your Internet experience. Think about them like chocolate sauce on a sundae: you could go without them, but really they make the experience better.

Plug-ins are typically free extras that can be downloaded and added to your web browser to provide additional capability and features beyond the standard. These can include patented formats for video, audio, online games, and more. Most browsers—Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer, among others—are limited to displaying images in standard formats such as JPEG and GIF, so common plug-ins such as Flash and Java allow the browser to display animations. Other common plug-ins like Apple QuickTime or Windows Media player allow a browser to display digital movies and other multimedia content.

Plug-ins are not just limited to supporting media content such as video and audio. There are also plug-ins for applications like spreadsheets, or to have quick access to weather forecasts or to block those annoying pop-up ads. Sometimes plug-ins act as shortcuts: if you use Pinterest, for example, you can install the Pinterest plug-in to your browser and pin items directly to your boards without leaving your current web page.

While surfing the Web, your browser might prompt you to download a particular plug-in. This is because a plug-in is associated with a particular type of file that the website requires and the browser has noticed that your browser currently has no support for it. These plug-ins are usually self-installing and the associated data, video, or audio file will be accessed automatically when the plug-in installation is complete. Most plug-ins are small in size and don’t take long to download and install: usually just a matter of seconds.

Plug-ins are actually pieces of software code that have been written specifically for the browser by third party developers. All plug-ins are be downloaded from the Internet; browsers often have a specific area, sometimes called a “store”, where you can search for different kinds of plug-ins to achieve different outcomes and accomplish a variety of tasks. These kind of official sites are the best and safest places to look for and download plug-ins, because they have been vetted by the people who created your browser. Know what kind of browser you have, and use that knowledge to your advantage.

Browsers update and change regularly, so plug-ins, like other applications, need to be updated to the latest version to run their best. However, plug-ins don’t always update automatically; they can get old and outdated, causing issues with your browser or computer. It’s very important to keep you plug-ins up to date for your safety and security, as well as assuring you enjoy the best browsing experience you can.

If you’re a Mozilla Firefox user, your browser will remind you to update your plug-ins whenever new versions become available. Internet Explorer can be less helpful, so it’s often up to you to make sure that everything is up-to-the-minute. It might be a good idea to schedule a time, perhaps when you’re changing your passwords or getting your next Bask TuneUp, to check the status of your plug-ins. Google Chrome will also detect that a common plug-in on a page is out of date and a message will appear beneath the address bar notifying you that the plug-in has been blocked. When updating plug-ins, it’s very important to update them from a trusted site so that you can avoid picking up any nasty malware or viruses.

Listed below are some of the most common plug-ins and what they do. If you click on any one of the plug-ins below, the link will take you directly to the developer’s site for safe updating. (Note: when updating from sites, most of the time they will download unwanted programs, so read all the instructions carefully, and don’t install anything other than the plug-in you need.)

Adobe Flash – Plays both audio and video files as well as other types of animations.

Adobe Acrobat – Displays Acrobat and PDF files formatted exactly the way the author intended.

Java – Is a program that many games, chat clients and 3D pictures are built on.

Windows Media player – Plays both audio and video files, as well as other types of animations.

Shockwave ­– Plays both audio and video files as well as 3d animation programs.

Silverlight – delivering .NET based media such as audio and video files as well as other types of animations.

QuickTime – Plays video files as you download them.

Do you have a favorite plug-in that helps you with your browser’s functionality? Or do you have a question about plug-ins? We love to hear from you, so let us know in the comments!