If you browse the web a lot, you are probably very happy for the use of tabs in your browser. But if you are sick of launching your browser, getting your homepage loaded and then entering the address you want to visit in order to hit a desired address, there a couple of other options:

1) Hit the start key and "start" typing. The search field that get focus by default will take your web address and open it in your default browser.

2) Right click on the taskbar and choose properties. On the toolbars tab you'll find "Address" as an option. Click that and a web browser address bar appears in the taskbar where you can type the address you wish without even having to hit that Windows key! If you do this, you'll probably want to click and drag on the task bar to resize it to at least double height.

3) Hit Win+R for the old "Run" dialog, this will take your address and open it just as the start menu's search field will do, but I prefer the former.

4, 5, 6, 7... Shortcuts, scripts, sidebar widgets-- what ideas do you have to share?