An awesome way to browse easy

Firefox 3.5 includes a useful feature called the Awesome Bar that helps you quickly navigate to previously visited websites without having to type the full address of that site in the address bar of the browser.

Firefox 3.5 includes a useful feature called the Awesome Bar that helps you quickly navigate to previously visited websites without having to type the full address of that site in the address bar of the browser.

For instance, let's say you searched for "match scores" on Google a few days back and want to repeat that same search today.

If you are using an older browser, you will have to type the whole search phrase in the Google box and hit enter. But with Firefox 3.5, you can simply type a few letters — like "ma sc" — in the address bar and it will automatically show you a drop-down list of matching web pages from your browser history and bookmarks that contain those words, either in the title or the address (URL).

Only for your eyes
So Firefox's Awesome Bar saves a lot of time and effort. However, some people may be wary of upgrading to Firefox 3.5 worrying that this feature might reveal their embarrassing Google search queries and visits to other inappropriate Websites.

Luckily, there's an option to turn that off. Go to Firefox Tools > Options > Privacy > Location Bar and select either "Bookmarks" or "Nothing" from the option that says "When using the location bar, suggest:".

That's it and you're safe.

Amit Agarwal is a technology blogger at http://www.labnol.org/