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Best Free Program Launcher
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Introduction
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| Program Launchers try to provide a more efficient way of running programs than by using the Windows Start Menu or having your desktop littered with icons. The approach adopted varies from product to product and ranges from dockable windows to tray icons through to keyword typing. None of the solutions is perfect; each has its strengths and weaknesses. The suggestions will be divided in five subcategories: keyword search, keyword command, panels, menus and docks. |
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Discussion
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Keyword Search
With Launchy you can not only launch applications but also -- using the same keyword philosophy -- launch your preferred media player with a specific MP3 file; invoke your preferred desktop search tool while entering a search term of your choice; or have your preferred browser open on a specific bookmark or page from the history. The possibilities are virtually endless. Version 2 of Launchy is less stable than v1, and many users prefer to retain the final version 1 iteration! But alongside Launchy, the other contenders fall down on configurability or indexing performance.
Keyword Command
Panels Coming to the panels class, there are a lot of good choices, including FSL Launcher, Fast Launcher and 8Start. But 8Start comes out on top in many key areas like footprint and functionalities. Menus In the menus class, readers suggestions have led me to change my mind and suggest as the best solution Free Launch Bar: this is an extremely stable piece of software that will give you exactly what you want from it. A good contender is JetStart, but the free version is limited to 5 pre-set general categories. Docks Finally, the docks class. These tend to be graphically interesting, often featuring a configurable background shape on which appears icons for applications, documents, shortcuts or controls. They can usually be persuaded to stick themselves to a screen edge or some other location. They're often a bit like toolbars, but prettier. I have to admit I'm not an enthusiast of these type of launchers, so my tests may be limited by my lack of imagination or insight into their good points. Two specific programs of this type are worth a look. I can say that a good choice is RocketDock. It is well supported, has a small memory footprint and can probably do whatever you'd expect from a dock. It's very configurable, with good options for visual style, behaviour and docking position. Another excellent choice is Magic Formation (thank you Anonymous reader!). It sits somewhere between panels and docks in function but is included here because it's visually more dock-like than panel-ish. It doesn't require installation (although I have yet to check if its truly portable). Its default behaviour is to display a circle of icons around a colourful centre circle when a circle gesture is performed with the mouse anywhere on the desktop. This means it's there when you want it and not when you don't. (Although as I use a graphics tablet rather than a mouse, I occasionally find I get it by accident!) New icons can be added by dragging them to the centre circle. Documents can be dragged to application icons too. By default, the circle of icons contains shortcuts to favourites, My Documents, the desktop, My Computer, the command prompt, calc.exe, notepad.exe, mspaint.exe and the volume control, but any or all of these can be modified. The program allows the selection of any one of up to 25 pages of icons. If I had to choose a launcher of this type to use, this one would definitely be my choice. MagicFormation is a real grower, and has already notched up a Lifehacker recommendation. Congratulations! Both are winners. Other software suggestions: |
The only viable alternative is 
In the keyword command class, the clear winner is |
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2.5 
Open Source Freeware (includes program code) 
Windows, Linux, Mac OS X 
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Editor
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| This software category is maintained by volunteer editor oblivion. |
- Article type:
Comments
Has anyone tried this??:
EVERYTHING - WWW.VOIDTOOLS.COM
The portable version is less than 300 kb in size and does not need to be installed.
Everything is is not a launcher per se but can be used as one. Everything runs real smooth and will search your ENTIRE computer as you type, in a fraction of a second, without having to create massive search indexes like most other search utilities. The trick is to use the existing NTFS file index. I can't imagine why Microsoft don't include this as standard in Windows...
I have tried all apps recommended in this thread and Everything is superior in every way. Do give it a try.
The main drawback of "Everything" program is that you need to remind the name of file, as the real indexing services like MS or Google desktop index _content_ of files, so you can search not just by name of the file but also by its content. But for search by names Everything is very nice. Especially because it can display search results through web-interface, so it can be used in LAN on the file server.
P.S. And of course this program is for another section of TechSupportAlert, not for launchers ;)
I can see the appeal of Everything to you in this respect, but -- to echo what Anupam says -- its primary function is a filename search tool not a launcher.
There are obvious disadvantages, the most immediately obvious of which is that you need to know the name of the executable or link you're looking for. If you're a bit disorganised -- like me! -- you might know that you want to run a program of a particular type or in a particular category but forget its name or know you have several options but want a list so you can choose between them.
To an extent, then, it's a bit like Launchy without the shiny chrome, and it does what it does very well. But the fact that it CAN be used to launch programs doesn't make it a real member of this category, in the same way that although OpenOffice.Org Writer can be used to write program code, it's not a natural member of the Best Free Programming Editors category!
Well explained oblivion. I wouldn't have been able to explain like this... that's why I just left a small note :D.
It was thinking out loud, in some ways, because it was intuitively obvious to me that Everything didn't belong here, even though I've also used it to launch programs from. (I like Everything a lot. It's still not a launcher!) So I explained it to myself, and typed my explanation!
Well, that worked, and it was good :D..
"Everything" is a file search tool and not application launcher. It won't be included here. It is covered in the file search category.
I like Everything due to its lightning fast filename search feature, though I agree it is not a Launcher, per se. And Launchy is a good tool, though I don't really use it much.
That said, we can integrate Everything with Launchy (and perhaps other launchers), to get the best of both worlds:
http://lifehacker.com/5274774/integrate-everything-search-tool-and-launchy
http://sites.google.com/site/chaosplaceorg/tools/traylauncher
Not the best choice for beginners, but I really like Tray Launcher. Really low resource usage and easy to create skins for.
If Launchy finally fixed this problem, ignore the following, but...
Its fatal flaw [if you have a lot of folders] is that it won't auto-
index folders. It forces you to manually add each @!$%ing folder, one
by one. Congratulations if you're diligent and patient enough to do that because otherwise it is great.
I've been using sTabLauncher for a while now as a replacement for H-Menu, which is no longer being supported by it's author, but I have to admit H-Menu is by far the best program launcher ever created. Completely stable. You can have 8 launch bars (1 in each corner of the screen and initiated at the click of the mouse or mouseover or shortcut key), with as many program or folder shortcuts as needed. Say, 30 or more shortcuts in each bar-- that's 240+ programs/folders/files you can launch. If you have that many programs, your computer probably takes a month to load... In the ten years I've been using it I have never used all the launch bars.
Anyway, sTabLauncher won't dock to the sides, and I am always moving the launch bar out of the way, which is becoming annoying. I tried the HIDE COMPLETELY option once and it took reconfiguring the .xml file to get it back again. Geesh. I like the concept of sTabLauncher, but I need it to stay out of the way of the other windows AND did anyone notice, that when you use the Show Desktop feature of windows sTabLuncher disappears. Geesh.
I have tried every single luncher available I can find and H-Menu still comes out on top in the launchbar category IMNSHO.
I would like to find a replacement for sTabLauncher. That's unfortunate, because it is a good, intuitive program. I have contacted the author and he is unwilling to add a side dock feature.
PowerPro is better, but it's not for beginners.
Have you guys forgotten about the "basic" keystroke launchers which are the most powerful in the Internet. "Slickrun" and it's customized "Promptu". And also forgot "Blaze app launcher" which is kinda good. I'm still in a confusion on what to use. Launchy doesn't work on my comp ( it doesn't show the icons ), FARR is tooooo complicated, sTab....docks.. blah,blah,blah.... is not what I'm looking for, I'm looking for keystroke launchers. I would like some advice .
I used to use SlickRun myself and have already planned to investigate its current status and see if it's suitable for inclusion. I used to have some problems with it moving itself off-screen, even when it was set to be locked to a specific location on the desktop, but that was a long time ago and (probably) on Windows NT, so I probably owe it another look!
(For the interested: http://www.fiddler2.com/SlickRun/ )
Promptu appears to have been written by a SlickRun user who wanted something similar but more features. It seems to be in active development. I shall investigate that in more depth too.
(For the interested: http://www.promptulauncher.com/ )
Blaze looks interesting but a less obvious member of the category; Lifehacker says it's a launcher much like Launchy but that also embeds task automation facilities. It also seems to require .net 3.5 which might make it a bit heavyweight for some users.
(For the interested: http://blaze-wins.sourceforge.net/index.php )
Vijay, if you can be a bit more detailed about what sort of advice you need within this category, I expect we'll be able to help!
I can recommend Executor as a basic keystroke launcher.
Enso is never updated these days (I think the last update was in 2007), are there any alternatives out there?
If you are at a loss for launchers, you might try taking a look at some of the comments in Best Free Start Menu Replacement (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-start-menu-replacement.htm#com...) Some members have confused launchers with start menu replacements, which is understandable since they are so close in what they provide as far as an application goes.
Greets,
I use 'System Scheduler'. Great App, also allows the user to define mouse gestures to run stubborn programs, or if you want a program to perform some complex maneuvers.
Highly recommended.
Thanks, but this is not the right category for System Scheduler. Program Launcher is something different. Scheduler will be mainly used to perform automated tasks on a given time... whereas program launchers are used to launch programs fast, and in easy way.
Perhaps consider newest version of
Microsys Launcher Free Edition (it's a menu launcher. Can be configured to portable mode if you are so inclined)
I have been trying out so many program launchers my head is spinning. But in the end, the one that works best for me is Stablaucher. By far the easiest to use, and stores very many shortcuts and links. I tried the dock type and they are very cute, but mostly just eye candy. The keyword search type work fine, but what if you cannot remember the name of the program you need? Then you cannot even type the first letter. So in the end for me, it is Stablauncher.....it just works.....http://stablauncher.com/
sTabLauncher is my second choice, after my favorite, FaRR (in fact, they complete each-other).
The latest version uses .NET FX 3.5, which is way larger than the previously required version 2, so the program needs space, but it doesn't occupy much memory at all (when running). Maybe a bit slow on old computers. The price for customizability.
These said, I vote for it to be at least mentioned. It is exactly the kind of simple, customizable, nice, categorized (but not too eye-candy or resource-hog) launch-bar that I was looking for.
This is a simple solution and it works. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-build-program-launcher-taskb...
For me the the vital things about any launcher are, SPEED, and low resources. Having well over 60 apps to maintain/access ( video/graphics origination) Rocket Dock is the only FAST one to work for me. I set it to hide, and zero delay--run it along the top of the screen---very intuitive---LaunchMate was good but crashes with lots of links.
PopSel and QSel, both by Horst Schaeffer,
http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/win.htm
Both truly portable.
i have tried several program launchers and keybreeze can do a lot more than most launchers mentioned here
http://www.keybreeze.com/
MouseExtender kicks butt over those mentioned above. It's my new program of choice.
I used to use sTabLauncher, which I would still recommend over the rest.
I find the regular docks like RocketDock to be absolutely pointless. They only allow quick access to a very small number of items, which is what quick launch is for imho.
You obviously haven't used docks extensively then. Docks offer way more functionality over Quick launch. Docks offer thumbnail display mode of open (but minimized) windows (long before Windows 7's windows thumbnails were around), and have plugin/extensions like KKMenu which offer the Mac's 'stacks' feature, not to mention several other docklets that offer functionalities that windows quick launch doesn't offer.
Krento
website: http://users.telenet.be/serhiy.perevoznyk/krento.html
A sleek looking app launcher
Try the free nexus dock,its very versatile.weather docklet cpu and ram docklet.
Unfortunately, Nexus dock is so loaded with bling that it is both a CPU and RAM hog. While I don't mind a bit of RAM usage, I do mind docks/launchers that hog the CPU. I have Objectdock, Rocketdock, and RK Launcher all running (on different sides of my monitor display) with less CPU utilization than Nexus dock alone.
8start is now at version 1.9
I prefer using AutoHotkeys to create customized launchers.
Slick Run is an awesome alternative to Launchy. Best part: It actually works.
Launchy is far too buggy.
Wholeheartedly agree with you. I've used it for about 2 months now and it has replaced all the launchers mentioned in this piece. Slick Run is truly awesome. It uses "magic words" that you set up.
I found another program launcher called Radian.
It seems very useful
It can be found at: http://radian.davidberlin.co.il/
I found that Signo, although also a hotkey manager, is a great tool to launch applications as well. It can be found on the kerkia.com web site.
I use se-explorer. it's not so nice like MouseExtender for example but very handy and includes functionality of shortcut manager
Did you mean se-traymenu?
Would be great to have one that was portable. Working on a project now were I basically need an app launcher that will run from a CD. I'm sure most of these may, and I found one called ToolBox that is exactly what I want, except that I can't change the program settings if I set it to read-only. Unfortunately for the rest of these launchers, they all used exact paths not relative paths so using them on a USB or CD would not work. Anyone have any ideas?
Appetizer may be what you want. It is designed to ruin from a usbkey. I'm using it with Autorun so that it starts asap i minsert my usbkey. It then autostarts a number of apps I want to run.
http://app.etizer.org/
A portable start menu which uses relative paths and automatically adjusts for drive letter changes is PStart, available at http://www.pegtop.net/start/
It can also create an autorun file for itself.
I found another Launcher. It is called "MouseExtender"
You can find it here at
http://me.codeplex.com/
Mouse-over effects like Win7, nicely designed.
Looks like the icons cannot be re-ordered, or can it?
On compact view, up to 10 icons can be displayed in a row. Would be much better if it allows grouping of icons, say putting office software in a row, then security software in another row, etc.
Does not remember the last position of the program windows.
Though a small program, it's still a gem.
Looks interesting and certainly well laid out with a neat interface. Please note that it requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
This Launchy is a load of rubbish. It will not run Word no matter how hard I try. I either get word pad or some radio software. Even creating a specific menu item and laboriously threading in the file address, it still did not work. Yes, Evedn typing "winword" did not do it. Utter tripe.
Launchy use what you type to search through file names in selected directories and within selected file extensions.
Being the filename of Word winword.exe, if the .exe extension is selected for the Programs folder in you settings, Launchy will find it. It is possible that the first time you search typing "word", Word will not be the first choice of Launcy, but if you'll scroll down the list you'll find it. If you'll launch Word, Launchy will remember it and the second time you'll type "word" you'll see Word as the first choice.
Find and Run Robot (FARR) free from donation coder.
Been using Launchy for over a year now. It joins Total Commander as an app I would not like to be without.
One thing that isn't made clear in the product description is that it 'learns'. Although you may have to type 'firefox' initially, before long 'f' is sufficient.
Found this listed for a software award:
http://myeasyshell.com/
I don't use launchers so I have no idea if its good or not. It does seems to have some good features.
I've tried it and it is awesome.
But, it is too in an early stage (see the version number) to inlcude it in the article. But I personally reccomend it to who wants to try something really different (except perhaps Enso)
I like it a lot too, Wish you could change the ugly colors / font
Launchmate is what I've used for years.
http://launchmate.sourceforge.net/lmdwnld.htm
It supports drag 'n drop, multiple categories, auotohide (if you want), change of screen resolution, named shortcuts, gradient colours...
It even works in Vista.. docks to top, left or right.
Stablauncher is a very close second- and in fact can accommodate more shortcuts more effectively. However it cannot dock to the sides of the screen.
Its GUI is far smarter, one particular bug- it 'disappears' after resume from hibernate, leaving a process running.
Both accommodate folders too.
There has been an attempt to update Launchmate to v4, but that seems incomplete.
Vote for "ToolBox v2.85" from cylog.org to appear in this list.
Note "convert path to relative" ability.
It's awesome for portable/encrypted drive etc.
I like "runme" which is quite handy. ( http://www.ksoft.nm.ru/runme.htm )
It works well with XP but unfortunately not good with Vista.
Bump - Didn't realise you could still add new comments!
The key issue here is usability. In my opinion, dock launchers such as RocketDock, ObjectDock are pretty gimmicky, their popularity comes from mimicking the Mac OS X Dock: style over substance IMHO.
I was giving up hope that I would never take to a 3rd party app launcher, or that they offered me nothing that the regular Window's quick launch bar, start menu and desktop didn't. Then I found sTabLauncher, and I love it!
The real limitation I find with apps like RocketDock, is that when running a full screen window, you either haven't to have them on top and thus obscuring some of the screen, or hidden away, in which case what do they really offer over standard desktop icons or quick launch bar? There is also the limitation of space, you can only fit so many icons into each dock.
sTabLauncher allows you to have an opaque, completely customizable named collection of colour coded tabs, which obstruct only against the outer boarder of a window. You can have, for example, Internet, Music, Office, Security tabs which pop up (or down) when you rest the mouse cursor (or click on) the area. In effect, it's like having many "pop up docks" for launching different types of apps, or folders.
Maybe it's just how my mind works, but whilst I sometimes forget the specific name of a program I'm wanting to access, I'm usually able to remember what it does, and then visually locating it's icon within a reasonably small collection of icons is quite easy.. but everyones' minds work differently I guess!
A lot of the find as you type launch programs seem to be pretty buggy. Launchy versions 1 & 2 both seemed to crash and never work again after about two minutes.
Of the lot of them, Find and Run Robot seems to work best on my system, even if it is a bit complex. Plugins available for it also offer some pretty neat options, like typing in tz to bring up the current time in all the world's time zones.
"sTabLauncher is the neatest and most useful desktop launcher I've found." +1
You totally missed perhaps the best of them all ... Executor...
Yes, I'd like to ask the editor to re-evaluate Executor. It can do everything Launchy can, and it can also assign shortcuts to applications (which I think is very important and Launchy is currently missing that).
Yes, it is the best.
I've not missed it, I've used it for three months before deciding not to include it. The reason is low indexing speed and poor indexi accuracy. I think it is worth to mention it in the Related Products and Links section, but as I've said in a message I prefer to let you readers add items in that section.
Will you look at sTabLauncher please? I find it more useful, and flexible than the panel/dock type launchers in this article.
http://stablauncher.com/
I Know sTabLauncher and I've used it quite a lot when it come out. The Docks class - in my opinion - suite best, but anyway sTabLauncher cannot beat the power of the other contender like RocketDock. But it surely deserve a mention, so I invite you to add it in the links section.
I'm sorry but I strongly disagree. It's hard to define "power" in the context of app launchers, probably the most powerful programs are the keystroke launchers, BUT only to those you are comfortable operating that way.
The key issue here is usability. In my opinion, dock launchers such as RocketDock, ObjectDock are pretty gimmicky, their popularity comes from mimicking the Mac OS X Dock: style over substance IMHO.
I was giving up hope that I would never take to a 3rd party app launcher, or that they offered me nothing that the regular Window's quick launch bar, start menu and desktop didn't. Then I found sTabLauncher, and I love it!
The real limitation I find with apps like RocketDock, is that when running a full screen window, you either haven't to have them on top and thus obscuring some of the screen, or hidden away, in which case what do they really offer over standard desktop icons or quick launch bar? There is also the limitation of space, you can only fit so many icons into each dock.
sTabLauncher allows you to have an opaque, completely customizable named collection of colour coded tabs, which obstruct only against the outer boarder of a window. You can have, for example, Internet, Music, Office, Security tabs which pop up (or down) when you rest the mouse cursor (or click on) the area. In effect, it's like having many "pop up docks" for launching different types of apps, or folders.
Maybe it's just how my mind works, but whilst I sometimes forget the specific name of a program I'm wanting to access, I'm usually able to remember what it does, and then visually locating it's icon within a reasonably small collection of icons is quite easy.. but everyones' minds work differently I guess!
sTabLauncher is the neatest and most useful desktop launcher I've found. As you might have guessed it uses tabs to locate and launch programs, which works superbly. It's tabs take up a tiny portion of the screen, but they will pop up showing only the program icons for each labeled section when the mouse cursor is hovered over them. This makes it preferable in that not only is it extremely unobtrusive, but it allows you to store many more program launch icons than with other docks (where you can quite easily run out of space or get overcrowded), and it does this with greater accessibility and visual clarity than start menu/panel launcher type apps. Try it, unless you a staunch keyword app user, you will want to ditch your existing dock, panel etc launcher setup!
http://stablauncher.com/
Tried sTabLauncher and it's quite appealing, helpful for grouping many launch icons when the space is limited.
Another alternative I like, build a launcher without installing any program.
With NET 2.0? No thanks.
I think Fences is fantastic, it allows you to organise and categorise apps on your desktop; rather than through using these silly dock thingys
I don't consider Fences to be a true 'launcher'. It's more of a desktop icon 'organizer' than anything, but since it doesn't pop-to-front, or bring my icons to the forefront like real program launchers do, it's use is rather limited as far as I'm concerned.
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