Why would you want to do this?  Well, some people may feel that having the Google+ information up there 24/7 is a distraction from what they are doing.  If I am trying to clear away the dozens of emails I got last night, do I really need to know that Uncle Bob has just put me in his inner circle?  Probably not.

You will need Greasemonkey installed to make the script work.  Go check out imwill.com for more information on and about this specific script and you can download it directly from the UserScripts.org website.

Have you noticed your friend number going down recently? I always kind of wonder who would unfriend me on Facebook and why.  The Unfriend Finder user script will at least help me answer one of those questions.  It will keep track of who unfriends you on Facebook.

The problem is that once you have over 100 friends it is a little hard to keep track of them all.  The Unfriend Finder simply gives you the ability to know when they have unfriended you or their account.  Once installed, you will have 0 unfriends.  When a person removes you or deactivates their account, you will be notified on the new "unfriend" page added to Facebook by this script.

This Unfriend Finder also gives you the ability to know who has not yet accepted your friend request. So if you want to know who is ignoring you – this gives you the real time ability to do just that too.

You will need Greasemonkey installed to make the script work.  Once you have that in place though, head over to unfriendfinder.com and start finding out who is unfriending you on Facebook.

Need to tweak the Google search interface, and make it look the way you want it to look?  Maybe you want a few more columns of results? Maybe you don’t like the related searches? One great tool to use to tweak your Google search interface is GoogleMonkeyR.  This user script written for the Greasemonkey add-on will have you tweaking Google in just a few clicks.

One installed, the GoogleMonkeyR user script can be configured by clicking the link for it next your your email address at the top of any Google search result page. 

Here is a screenshot of the changes you can make with this fantastic Greasemonkey user script:

As you can see, there is a lot to love about this fantastic little script.  You can pick up GoogleMonkeyR from the userscripts.org website. To learn more about Greasemonkey and how to use it with Firefox, I highly recommend my guide on Greasemonkey usage in the Firefox Facts archive.

Want to give Facebook a more minimalist look and feel?  If so, I have found the perfect Greasemonkey script for you to install and use.  The simply named, Minimalist Facebook userscript removes several annoying (and space wasting) features of the Facebook website.

After installing this user script, here are the elements that were changed or removed on the Facebook website:

• unnecessary right column gone
• feed column and comment boxes extended
• chat info on left column gone
• chat dock is partly transparent

It is a big improvement.  I like the wider content area – seems to make things easier to read.  You can pick up the Minimalist Facebook userscript for Greasemonkey on DeviantArt or UserScripts.org.

How can you add the full screen button to YouTube videos found on Facebook?  This is the question that was brought to my attention Friday by one of my Facebook followers, and after doing a little hunting I did find a solution.

You see, for some unknown reason, either Facebook or YouTube does not want you to watch videos in full screen when on Facebook. Why?  I guess they are afraid it will take you, “out of the Facebook environment, leaving you with a less desirable experience” or at least that is what I would guess the Facebook public relations team would have to say.

So, how do you bring the full screen icon back to YouTube videos featured on Facebook?  Just grab the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox, then get the user script named Fullscreen Youtube & Vimeo (+others) on Facebook.  Once this script is installed, you will see the full screen icon come back to your online videos you find on Facebook.

The control to watch things full screen (or not) is back to being your choice, and not the choice of the Facebook public relations team.  Thanks to Filipe for the great question!

Tired of having to take the “long way” when it comes to finding the images you want to see via a Google search result? View Google Images Full is a simple Greasemonkey userscript that will help.  When you click a picture inside of the Google image results, it opens up the image alone, and in its full resolution.

This helps to do away with the extra long way approach of having to click, “See Full Size Image” when doing Google image searching.

The best part about this userscript is the fact that you can still access the old link too.  Click on the image in a search result to be taken to the image, or click on the link titled, “Original Link” to be taken to the normal Google image search result.

You can pick up this userscript for Greasemonkey over at Userscripts.org.

Google recently changed the way your search results look and feel with a little more navigational help.  If you are not digging the new left hand sidebar on your Google search results, and you want to remove (or just hide) it, I have two great solutions for you to try out.

You should pick up either the Hide/Show Google left-hand menu add-on or the userscript with the same name for Greasemonkey.  Both options will add a toggle button (seen as +left nav in the picture above) so you can quickly gain more screen real estate by turning these extra links on or off.

Personally, I like the new helpful links over there in my Google search results, however it is nice to show or hide them when I need them.  It is all about dynamic customization here.

You can pick up the Firefox add-on on the Firefox Add-ons web site.  If you already have Greasemonkey installed, I would suggest grabbing that version instead over at UserScripts.org.  Either way you go, you’ll be able to toggle this new Google interface feature on or off depending on your own searching needs.

Better Amazon promises to make your Amazon shopping even better in a number of ways.  If you shop on Amazon a lot, this is a great companion to the browser.

This user script is a must-have for heavy duty Amazon.com shoppers.  It will remove ads, cleans the overall layout of the web page, makes sections collapsible, adds the Amazon average rating to the title, and does a much better job at packing a lot of information onto the screen without the need to keep scrolling down.

Here are the current features, as detailed by the user script author:

• All features of the (somewhat) popular script ‘Amazon Average Rating’;
• Make sections collapsible to provide a cleaner environment;
• User’s preferences of leaving some sections open is remembered;
• Remove or minimizes ads such as ‘related services in the city’, ‘related external websites’;
• Remove some fixed sections which are not very useful such as the Feedback section and the navigation footer;
• Decrease the width of and add gray background to full reviews so they are both easier to read and easier on the eyes.

You can download and install the Better Amazon script for Greasemonkey out at the userscripts.org web site.

All in all, 2009 was a great year for Firefox.  It grew by leaps and bounds, and continues to be the best alternative browser out there.  Firefox Facts did pretty well in it’s own right too – surpassing the 7,000+ RSS subscriber mark.  So with today being the last day of 2009, let us all sit back and revisit some of the best posts of the year.

Here are 10 of the most read stories, tips, tutorials and reviews I have posted here in 2009.  Hope you check out some classics you might have missed, or revisit a favorite post or two.

#10 – Love (or Disable) the New Tab Button in Firefox

Love it, or hate it – Firefox got one more addition to it’s browser that seems to have gotten a mixed reaction from the fans. The open new tab button rests at the end of your tab bar in Firefox 3.5 giving you an easier user interface to open a new tab.

• More Tab Fun – Move the Close Tab in Firefox

#9 – 10 Popular Web Designer Tools for Firefox

Thanks to Firefox and some of the great add-ons that have been developed for it, your browser is your best friend when it comes to web site design.  From CSS tools, to promoting your domain, here are 10 of the most popular web designer tools for Firefox.

• Top 10 Greatness – Top 10 Personas Backgrounds for Firefox

#8 – Add Another Bookmarks Toolbar to Firefox

Have more than a few bookmarks you want to keep handy on the bookmarks toolbar in Firefox but don’t have the room?  Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, an extension for Firefox, will help you solve that issue by letting you add as many bookmark toolbars as you need.

• Popular Add-ons – Most Downloaded Bookmark Add-ons

#7 – Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  However, with this newest addition to the Firefox 3.5 feature list, you can now go incognito on the Internet.

• Firefox Tip – Easier Access to Private Browsing Mode

#6 – Convert YouTube Videos to MP3

The experimental add-on YouTube 2 MP3 will convert and download YouTube videos in the .mp3 audio format.  There is no doubt that YouTube has a large collection of music videos, so this type of service was bound to happen eventually.

• More YouTube Tips – 1-Click YouTube Video Downloader

#5 – Speed up Flash Videos in Firefox

Want to speed up your flash video watching?  By default, Firefox takes a sort of “snapshot” of whatever you are doing every ten seconds.  Why?  It is so that the browser can restore itself, just in case of a crash.  Now you might ask, what does this have to do with flash videos?  Well, the snapshot action is what is causing your ten second delay, at times, with watching flash videos on the Web.

• Firefox Hacks – More Fun Tips with About:Config

#4 – 10 Popular Themes That Are Firefox 3.5 Ready

One of the negative side effects of a new version of Firefox rolling out is the fact that some Firefox theme creators neglect to update their themes to the newest versions.  So, when updating our browser, that leaves some of us in the dark, when it comes to using the themes we know and love.  However, this time around many more popular themes have been updated to support Firefox 3.5 and here are my favorite ten for you to choose from.

• Skins Galore – All the Great Firefox Themes I’ve Reviewed

#3 – Skip to the Download on Rapidshare, Megaupload and More!

Want to skip the totally unnecessary “wait to download” pages on Rapidshare, Megaupload and more?  SkipScreen, and add-on for Firefox is here to help.

#2- All About Perspective – Firefox Wallpaper

Firefox wallpaper that I would actually see myself using is hard to find.  The main reason behind third is that I don’t really like text on my desktop, and I really don’t like feeling like a marketing campaign either.  So with that said, what type of Firefox wallpaper does make me happy?

• Desktop Decorations – Five Star Firefox Wallpaper

#1 – Beginner’s Guide to Greasemonkey

In a nutshell, Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox that allows you to customize a web site’s look and function.  Now you don’t have to be a coder to use it though, because there are already hundreds of scripts out there available for free that you can use to help you do a number of different things.

• Another Great Guide: Beginner’s Manual to Stylish

I hope you have enjoyed reading all the Firefox Facts tips, tricks and more this year – and you’ll subscribe to the RSS feed, visit daily and be entertained and informed all the way though 2010 and beyond.  This site wouldn’t be a success without you, so thank you for making Firefox Facts on of the most popular Firefox tip related blogs out there today. Happy New Year!

BONUS – Check out the Best of Mitchelaneous (2009 Edition)

One big complaint about search engines is they are all rather vanilla with their visual representation.  Wouldn’t it be better if you could color code things a ‘bit more?  One Greasemonkey script that does a great job at this is Colorful Search.

Once you install this user script, it will generate a random light background color for Bing, Yahoo and Google.  Colors are decided and grouped together based on the domain name they come from.  So you can quickly see that if Firefox Facts results are light blue, and you see 7 out of the 10 results are light blue, they all came from here.  It makes the visual representation much more useable. 

Want to color code your own search engine results? You can pick up Colorful Search from userscripts.org.