The name AwesomeBar should give the idea that there's a lot to expect from Firefox's combination address bar. This is certainly true, but there is almost always scope for improvement and AwesomeBar HD is a free browser extension that can be used to add a range of extra options to the browser such as custom searches and improved history searching.

Start to type a search term into the awesome bar - or the address bar as most people still call it - and a series of blog-style tags will appear. These cover a number of categories such as shopping, travel, weather, etc, and can be used to narrow down your searches to make it quicker and easier to home in on the information you are looking for online.

To perform a news search, for instance, type your search term and click the News link. This will automatically create a custom search for you and limit search results to news stories. For each category, you can also opt to limit searching to a particular site, such as CNN or BBC. These search labels do take up space, but this can be avoided by reducing them down to icons or removing unwanted categories completely.

AwesomeBar HD also makes improvements to the way in which web history searches are performed, so it is easier than ever to track down a web site you know you have previously visited. The add-on monitors how frequently you visit web sites and presents the search results in the most appropriate manner.

Important: AwesomeBar HD is still classed as "experimental" and easy removal of this extension is not possible, so it's designed for advanced users only.