Launching applications in Windows
Jun 16th, 2007 by Jared SchwagerPeople who use Windows daily know that launching applications isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Instead of filling up half of your taskbar with Quick Launch icons, why not try something else? In this article I’m going to focus on a couple of my favorite freeware application launchers, which include Launchy and RocketDock.
Launchy
Launchy is my personal favorite application launcher out of the bunch. The basic idea behind Launchy is to use your keyboard to access your applications instead of your mouse. Using Launchy is as easy as typing the first few letters of the application you’d like to launch and pressing Enter. Launchy is not just limited to applications either. It is capable of finding files and even performing search queries on Google for you.
RocketDock
RocketDock is an application launcher which is very reminiscent of the dock in Mac OS X. Instead of using keyboard access, RocketDock allows you to launch applications in just a single click and in a visually appealing manner at that. Surprisingly, you can also choose to minimize your programs to RocketDock, eliminating the need to manage your open applications using the Windows taskbar.
There are many other application launchers available for Windows besides the two I’ve mentioned. A couple others I’d recommend are Enso Launcher($19.95) and ObjectDock(free).
Are you already using an application launcher? If so, which one are you using and why?
Check out Keybreeze. Its a free launcher for windows that has a lot more features than Launchy.
Robert, I took a look at Keybreeze. It almost seems to have too many features to be categorized as an application launcher.
[…] to any users who use desktop shortcuts to launch their applications, though I still recommend using differents methods for application […]
I use slickrun on Vista. I have it set up to hide completely, including no tray icon, until I hit win+z. Then a tiny little bubble appears, and I enter one or two letters of the hundred or so ‘magic words’, which are almost all only two letters to start with, hit ‘enter’, and off it goes! Websites, programs, word processor templates of all kinds, locations on my hard drives, everything is within easy reach with this little prog. You can also import and export magic word lists, so no need to ever redo the list if something goes wrong (nothing has gone wrong with slickrun yet). After a year and a half of using it, I feel handicapped when I use computers that don’t have it installed. I recommend highly!