For quick access to a URL you can add a URL address bar to your Windows Taskbar:
- Right click on the taskbar, select Toolbars and then Address
- The word Adress followed by a URL box should appear, you can alter it’s size and position if your taskbar isn’t locked
- You can get rid of the title “Address” by right clicking on a blank area around the box and clicking “Show Title”
NB: If the above doesn't work your taskbar may be locked. If it is: Right click on the Taskbar, select “Lock the Taskbar” to unlock
The Chrome or Firefox browsers allow searching from the URL bar, so if you have either installed as your default browser you can then just type anything in the URL address and either get the website or the result of a search.
As of writing the default search provider is set by IE not the default browser’s settings. To change the default search provider in IE 9:
- Load Internet Explorer and click the down arrow to the right end of the address bar.
- A history drop down will appear with a magnifying glass icon at the bottom (Bing search) and an ‘Add’ button to the right.
- Click on Add and Internet Explorer Gallery Add-ons page will load: Click the search category.
- You need to add the relevant ‘search provider’ (NOT accelerator) for your chosen search engine.
NB If you want Google Search Add-on then I found it necessary to change the locality to United States (English).
