Prefer the "address bar"!
17/01/2014
Not only is it more effective, but it also protects your privacy: it is better to use the address bar rather than the search areas of your browser.
Example of search areas on Firefox
The address bar gives direct access to the desired website. It's faster, and in this case, only the server of the visited site records your visit. Note: it is unnecessary to add http://, and www is most often optional.
The search areas first submit everything entered to a search engine. This engine:
- records interest in the given topic,
- displays a list of links whose order depends notably on associated advertising investments,
- then memorizes the link chosen to the site associated with this search.
So much valuable information collected, in addition to those stored in cookies, that the company providing the "free" search engine records to commercialize... Moreover, the requested site may be ignored (or censored) by the search engine.
In this regard, everything is done to encourage users to have a search engine site as their homepage or, worse, to install a pseudo address bar, the famous "tool bars" offered. As a result, every browser opening is carefully recorded!
Yet, opening the browser on a blank page is possible and even recommended. It's so much faster, discreet, and effective!
Those who are very observant will notice that in the example of the search engine used to illustrate this article, there is now a https://. The s implies, among other things, encryption of information exchanged with the search engine. Are they so valuable?