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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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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; 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.
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. 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. Finally, the docks class. I have to admit I'm not an user of these type of launchers, so my tests are limited. But I can say that a good choice is RocketDock. It is well supported, has a small memory footprint and can do whatever you'd expect from a dock. Another excellent choice is Magic Formation (thank you Anonymous reader!). MagicFormation is really incredible, comes from nowhere and has already notched up a lifehacker recommendation. Congratulations! Both are winners. |
The only viable alternative is 
In the keyword command class, the clear winner is |
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Please rate this article
Slick Run is an awesome alternative to Launchy. Best part: It actually works.
Launchy is far too buggy.
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?
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!
Another great prog is Executor
http://home25.inet.tele.dk/mb/executor/index.html
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
Please, add any suggestion to the Related Products and Links section.
Thankx!
*koff* thinked = thought
Shame on me
nonsense! brilliantly done.
editoed
My favorite launcher is Appetizer ( http://app.etizer.org ). It's fast, lightweight, looks great and I can carry it around on my USB key :)
found some dock applications
Appetizer
http://app.etizer.org/
Sliderdock
http://sliderdock.wikidot.com/start
and some multiple product launcher
Lacuna Launcher
http://appsapps.info/lacunalauncher.php
Utility Launcher
http://www.jfbpage.com/
I stumbled upon Fences [:)] and I too love it; its now my default desktop, primarily because one double-click and my screen is free to display photos or anything else.
It can be used as a launch app: setup one instance, however you want, except for quick start items (or items you'd like to be quick start). For those, start a second instance containing only the items you want to be quick, one-touch, launch. Then on the 2nd quick link fences' properties page, check 'Don't include this fence in double-button hide and view'.
This fence is now on your desktop all the time, ready to launch away. Need your other programs? Double click, and instantly, all your other fences show-up. Stop using a program? Click the icon, drag away, and delete (or put into another fenced area).
Yep! Good program. Thanks to whomever!
BearPup
Is there a text launcher which works in any window, like in notepad, web browser etc? You wrote some text anywhere, like "ffox", and firefox is launched ...
PowerPro can do that and it's free.
Autohotkey could do this for you. Just put the following in a script and run it:
:*:ffox::
Run C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe
return
I don't know anything like that. xStarter - which is shareware - should be able to do that, but it is not a program launcher.
Hey I would also have to say that Stardocks ObjectDock is better then rocket dock. It seems to work better, smoother, and has more flexability. While they are both very similar I was trying both and found that rocketdock seems to hesitate a bit when you mouse over it as object dock does not, plus there is a bit more customisation with object dock, perhaps not in the skins, but the effects and in the options menu.
New dock on the block
http://xwdock.aqua-soft.org/
XWindows Dock
Its free, seems to work pretty well though I haven't had much time with it, missing so far is drag and drop onto the dock.
Object Dock Plus has tabbed docks (very useful), and can incorporate both your system tray and Start menu into the dock. Other than that and creating as many docks as you want and a few more customizations, its not that different from Object Dock free version.
I find Rocket Dock to be more responsive, but I like to use Object Dock.
actually, I found that RocketDock was more responsive than ObjectDock, and that the website to get more docks or icons for RocketDock was far more easier to navigate and faster to load than ObjectDock's site, which was very important to me, ObjectDock also advertises a paid version of ObjectDock which makes it seem unclean, and the only advantage I saw ObjectDock having over RocketDock is that there seemed to be more settings to tweak in ObjectDock than RocketDock
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