Look out, Launchy
Launchy
(Credit: CNET Networks)If you're familiar with Windows application launchers (aside from the "Run" button), you probably already know about Launchy, a simple utility that finds and runs/opens programs, file, music, Web searches, and bookmarks. Launchy has earned a big fan base because of its simplicity and efficiency. However, two new free launchers have their sights set on Launchy's user base.
Executor is slick and endlessly keywordable.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Yesterday, the tech site Lifehacker featured Executor, a free release from Martin Bressman that expands upon Launchy's run functionality. Executor has a slick interface and is a no-brainer for keyboard maniacs. All of your favorite software, movies, and music can be started with easily customizable keywords.
FARR looks simple, but works quickly.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Another popular program on the rise is the Find and Run Robot (or FARR) from DonationCoder.com. Although FARR is styled more like a search tool than a launcher, once you find what you're looking for, FARR lets you start applications, send e-mail, and perform quick Web searches. It uses adaptive caching to learn which programs and files you use most, and it's also been extended with free add-ons for services like Google Maps and compatibility with alternative browsers like Opera.
Do you use a launching application, or is the good old Windows Start button and Run functionality good enough? Tell me about it in the comments.
finally i settled for keybreeze, it consumes about 6-7 MB at most and lets you save notes, assign keywords, create macros, schedule tasks etc. i use the macro function for logging into websites, so no need for a password manager :D
though it isn't bug-free, but of all others i have tried,i like keybreeze the most.
Launchy is still better than these, but there is another app that I liked even more. Dash Command is small (3 Mb RAM) and it is the fastest. It has fuzzy matching so you can mistype and still get what you want, and can do multi-items, like "Email somebody@mail.com Hello there!", it can add new commands really easily and has a ton of features no one else has. It has literally more than 200 built in commands. The only problem is that it is a commercial application, so you have to pay for it. To me, it has been the best investment I have made in software for my PC, just the price of pizza. Dash has impressive ergonomics, which all of the others lack, and that's the detail that makes it for me, it works the way I want. Oh and you get great support.
As always free is nice, but you get what you pay for. Get Dash Command if you can afford it, it is head and shoulders above them all. (And no, I do not work for them nor do I get anything for saying this, I just love the app)
Dropped to something new yesterday, after shunning ti for years.- and that is the Start menu. Just the most critical apps are kept there like Cygnus free Password Corral, Frink calculator/database and so on. Now I can do that kind of thing without minimizing my current, say, Evermore Integrated OneOffice or Mozilla Firefox/Thunderbird. Do the squiggle and get back to business. Basic to this is the fact that I sorted all my work into folders with short names.
In the days of yore there was an acronym GIGO. It remains the scourge of computers. What goes in comes out. Especially with the magic ability of current pieces 'tis hard to keep the Gee Whizz!! out of it. Methinks one needs to cut the clutter and the haloes. Still cannot see how a launcher will be faster than this.
Oh yes, Evermore's home edition will, I believe, be something like US$ 14.95 per year in the near future. Try the 30 day free trial download. If ever there was a dead ringer for MS Office, this is it. With a difference and better! The 'Word','Excel' and 'Access' apps are fitted into one binder under one file format. Spread tables literally cut & paste into word docs.
Talk about fast and efficient! And it comes in Linux too! And I'm not getting paid for this. It's written in Java and beats the heck out of Open Office. This is not advertisement. This my own opinion. I could not afford MS Office and bumped into Evermore on a shelf, then at half price to MS.
Any program I use frequently enough I have an icon for on the desktop or in on the Quick Launch toolbar for easy access. People are complaining about some of these launching programs using up resources, but why waste ANY resources with those programs at all when they aren't needed, for the most basic usage of a mouse, clicking on stuff.
Some people are saying it's easier to keep everything one uses most more organized, but anyone who is already an organized person doesn't need a program like this because they already have everything they need easily accessible, and anyone who isn't organized might get confused by these types of programs.
I don't know if I've gotten my point across or not, but I felt I just had to say something about this useless type of program.
Working as account manager I have so many work to do, that to the end of the day I ??n hardly remember my name. So my boss often rowing because of my unturned computer. So in this Vista Start menu I have found unexpected help ? timer ? I adjust it and It's turning off my comp right on the time I leaving the office.
As for usability ? I also like this program because of my weak sight - here I can maximize the type so I can see what I?m doing? And the power buttons are also very convenient ? shortcuted and signed down of menu
Working as account manager I have so many work to do, that to the end of the day I ??n hardly remember my name. So my boss often rowing because of my unturned computer. So in this Vista Start menu I have found unexpected help ? timer ? I adjust it and It's turning off my comp right on the time I leaving the office.
As for usability ? I also like this program because of my weak sight - here I can maximize the type so I can see what I?m doing? And the power buttons are also very convenient ? shortcuted and signed down of menu
Ken
On the top right quarter of the taskbar I have my open program notifiers and they are grouped by category to save room.
The entire bottom row of the task bar is for IE links so I have one click access to my most used web sites even if IE is not already open.
This setup has worked so quick and easy for me over the last ten years That I am totally perplexed when I see someone else's screen for the first time and I see them with task bar locked and no quick launch bar. They then poke around the desktop and the start menu etc looking for programs to run. They will click on each program on the task bar to minimize them and get access to the desktop icons when they could simply have clicked on the quick launch bring desktop to front icon. Then when they get to the desktop it is cluttered with every icon and folder imaginable. My desktop has one Icon on it. The recycle bin. and it is almost invisible. I love a good, well designed program and some of the launchers might be cool if you need them, but I prefer to eek every iota of functionality from my O.S. before I dload yet another program.
Here is a good blog question. favorites aside what is the first program you dload when breaking in a new PC? What is that one program you can't do without and reach for first? For me it is the Web Ferret.
- by dwebb5 August 20, 2008 7:40 AM PDT
- 18 comments?
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (36 Comments)