Launchy saved my sanity!
Apr 15th, 2008 by Jonathan
I spend a great part of my day on the computer and need to access a number of different programs during this time. To speed things up, I have put all the icons for programs I use regularly on my desktop and have further arranged them in groups for quicker access.
This works very well, because I just need to hit “Show Desktop” and double-click on my desired icon to open the program I’m looking for. It’s quick and efficient and works well…
That is… until Windows screws up and decides to rearrange all the icons on the desktop!
It happens every now and again when Windows changes resolutions. Being on a laptop and playing a game or two occasionally, the chances of this happening have become quite high and it’s got me pulling my hair out having to rearrange my icons every 2nd day!
Enter, Launchy.
I experimented with a few pieces of software which saved your desktop icons position so that it could be restored when Windows bombed out, but found Launchy while doing this and was intrigued, so decided to test it out.
Launchy is a keystroke launcher and is absolutely fantastic!
Pressing Alt+Space brings up Launchy and then you just start typing part of the name of the application you want to launch and as soon as it comes up (it searches as you type), press Enter and voila, it launches.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you are, it is much faster than any other method of launching programs! No menu foldout delays, no searching for the right icon, just pure efficiency.
It can be used for cataloguing and launching of a variety of different media as well, not just shortcuts! Checkout http://www.launchy.net for more.
PS I hardly use the Start Menu anymore and have removed all the icons off my desktop (so Windows can have its way with my Desktop to its digital heart’s delight).
