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How to Create a Program Launcher
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Introduction
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Finding a program to run on Windows can be difficult when many more programs are installed and get cluttered in one place without grouping. Windows XP has four places to launch a program, but all with some limitations:
To cope with these restrictions, Vista adds another place to launch a program:
Windows 7 hides Quick Launch and removes Classic Start Menu. It adds a new approach to running a program:
Why not create a Program Launcher? |
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Do-It-Yourself Program Launcher ("DIY Launcher")
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To prevent many programs from cluttering in a limited space, grouping of similar programs in the same folder by their functions helps the user access to the programs, quick and fast. With this in mind, you can create a program launcher easily with a toolbar that comes with Windows, without the need to install any other programs. Create a Program Launcher in Two StepsThese are two simple steps, I and II, to build a Program Launcher using the toolbar: I. Creating a Folder Containing Sub-folders and Shortcuts
For example, you may right-click a program Notepad.exe, select Create shortcut, then cut and paste the program shortcut to the sub-folder Home & Office, and so on. Rename the shortcut if needed. (Note: A program shortcut can also be created in a single step by dragging a program to a folder while holding down Ctrl-Shift keys). The Launcher folder will then look like the screenshot here.  II. Linking a New Toolbar to the Folder
  Other Features Available to the Launcher ToolbarAfter setting up the Launcher, you can utilize other features available to the toolbar:
Other than programs, shortcuts to favorite folders can be added for quick access too. Applicable to: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7. |
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Related Products and Links
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You might want to check out these articles too: |
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Tags
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taskbar launcher, DIY, program launcher, favorite folder, favourite folder, shortcuts, desktop toolbar, taskbar toolbar, freeware taskbar launcher, create, build, application launcher, taskbar launcher, quick access, free launcher. |
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Comments
Is there any way that we can programmatically create the toolbar?
For years I have used Freelauncbar which I originally found in Gizmo`s old newsletters.Basically it does the same thing
This gave me the idea to add a toolbar for each drive C:, D:, E: ...
Now I have quick access to everything on my computer! :-)
As a big general THANK YOU! to Gizmo and this site's community, I'll contribute with something, relevant to this topic.
You have a desktop FOLDER containing shortcuts to your programs, "docked" to the taskbar. OK, so...
This is an easy way to create "The Poor Man's LaunchBar".
1) Drag the FOLDER icon to the edge of the screen, and release it.
A new toolbar!
Configure it as you like by right-clicking - auto-hide, always on top, small/large icons. Grab the dotted line and drag it to the top of the screen and adjust its size. Drag it to the desktop and see what happens.
Drawbacks:
you're stuck with the "icon + text"
unable to edit the text
no (usable) sub-folders
You can add some standard toolbars: Quick Launch, Links etc.
The drawbacks can be overcome very easily.
1. Open the first folder and set it aside,
2. Open a second or third folder or however many you need,
3. Drop the icons for the apps you want to launch on each folder,
4. Mark the name under the icon of the new folder and change it to a name that is more meaningful to you,
4. Go to http://www.iconarchive.com/news.html or similar sites and download whatever icon you need and place it in the proper folder (You can place it on the desktop as well),
5. Right click on the folder you want to work on and get to Properties\Customize\Change Icon\Browse and find the folder where you placed the icon you need,
6. Double click on the icon which opens a new smaller window. Click OK,
7. Back to the window on Step 5 and now click on Apply, and OK.
That's all. You now have a new folder with a meaningful name such as Music, MS Office, Images, etc. with meaningful icons that you can open to launch the applications you need.
8. Delete the first folder that you set aside.
Note. This approach should be linked to the
Two Free Portable Application Launchers
Posted: 05 Apr 2011 12:31 AM PDT
But I don't know how to do it.
Thanks a lot for all the help you all provide on this site.
not allowed in Windows7
I have used this method for years. You can also use this method for your files. I always save my files on D, never C. I named the folder Files on D and made a new New Toolbar pointing to that location. Quick access to my files and no shortcuts on the desktop are needed (which is empty by the way and clean).
Great to hear that you've used this method. I like my desktop to be clean too, showing nice wallpapers only, without a shortcut, not even a trash bin.
I did exactly this on my system. But I didn't like mousing over to open the menus. Instead of linking to the TaskBar, I hid the enclosing folder in Documents and dragged the folder for each category onto RocketDock. I have the same setup in XP, Vista and W7. I don't have to think about the Windows flavor when opening most of my apps. I also use keyboard based launchers but I find the trouble with aliases is when you are in a hurry often you forget the alias and don't know what to type. At least with icon based if you remember the category, your memory will be jogged when you see the icon.
I had a problem using this solution: it takes too long to populate the menu the first time it's used after a reboot. There's another way to produce a custom menu that doesn't exhibit the lag this one does. See http://goo.gl/1TIh.
Strikes me as a useful time saver. Itching to try it out.
Thanks Jojoyee for the simple idea. I am a programmer and see all problems solution as developing a program for it. I have more than 300 program including portable ones. To access them, I have used Launchy, FARR, Key Launch etc. also made numerous Quick Launch adjustments, but some how I could not feel satisfied as I need the grouping logic. I was going to make a new program for my requirement, but your idea helped me to get what I want for the mean time. Sometimes we miss the basic idea. Thanks again.
Anand
You're welcome. I have been using this DIY Launcher and like it the most for getting to the programs I want without resorting to a third-party program.
If you have NOT tried 'Fences', you ARE missing out.
Thanks for the tip Jojoyee. Windows can be so annoying i forgot how good it could be for the simple things.
Hi Jojoyee,
Thank you for this mini tutorial (really eye opener).
In past I used to use "jetToolbar" & "Objectdock Plus", but not anymore (why use memory & CPU process).
I just wander why our "New Toolbar" can not be "Quick Launch" (because I/we already use it)?
I find this tutorial:
A better start menu with Quick Launch
http://johnbokma.com/windows/quick-launch.html
Do you find any annoyance why we drop this idea, like you said about creating folders in "Start/All Programs"?
May God bless you efforts
Soli Deo Gloria
Basically Quick Launch and "Launcher" (created using New Toolbar as described in this article) are both a folder containing shortcut links.
Quick Launch is pre-defined or set up by the system using the folder "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch", which some average users might not be able to locate it easily. Worse still, this Quick Launch is now hidden in Windows 7. It's not an annoyance to me for this development since I find creating a folder "Launcher" with the New Toolbar for quick access is a better way.
Try the tool "Launchy" .. Simple nice one
Classic Shell may also be of interest to those who miss the classic start menu and/or the classic explorer buttons in Windows 7 :-
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7847/classicshell-adds-classic-start-menu...
i think you can do all of this by just editing the Start Menu folders...
Oops, Start Menu disappears from Windows 7!
I LOVE RocketDock, but it IS another program running in the background; also - though operational, the developer says it's not yet Win7-ready. Put this idea to use, and it's simple and very useful. Thanks!
One question: How can I add my own icons to windows, to be used for the folders?
You can right-click a folder (which you want to change its icon), click Properties, select Customize tab, click Change Icon, then select one of the icons in the window or browse to any other folder containing icon images.
For more icon images, see Related Links in Best Free Icon Editor and Replacer.
Don't you hate how the programs in the "All Programs" part of your Start Menu are buried within folders. If you'd like to make your own full list of programs without the folders, try this: Create a new folder in your "Launcher" folder (described in the article) and name it "All Programs". Open another explorer window and navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu (in Vista/Windows 7). Type this in the search box:"extension:lnk" (in Windows 7). This will find all the shortcuts in the start menu. Now you can copy them all to your "All Programs" folder or just pick and choose which ones you want. (To be thorough, additional program links may also be stored here: C:\Users\YOUR-USER-ACCOUNT-NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows)
Yes, it's very annoying. A trick is to click into Properties > Start Menu. Then click on Classic Start Menu > Customize > Advanced; then click cancel so that you don't switch to the classic start menu. The advanced window basically takes you to the start menu folder automatically.
Windows really messed this one up!
Plus they made the User Account Controller so sensitive that you couldn't even move a shortcut from one folder to another on the start menu without popup alert mayhem. Lets make windows so user friendly that it looks like a junkyard of shortcuts everywhere, and then not let anyone clean it up!
Here's a hella-cool trick for the techies using Windows 7:
In your "Launcher" folder (described in the article), create a new folder and name it this "GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}" (copy and paste everything in quotes). This creates a "GodMode" folder that automatically contains links to almost any Windows utility or system setting you could ever need. Although you can't add this directly as a toolbar, if it is within your "Launcher" folder it can be accessed from the toolbar like any other folder. Give it try!
Good trick.
As an alternative, press "Windows Key"+R, type shell:Common Administrative Tools into the box, press OK. This will open up a list of Admin Tools shortcuts under the folder of Administrative Tools, copy this folder and paste it under the "Launcher" folder.
Applicable to XP to 7.
For the desktop the is of course fences :)
At reviewed here http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/organize-your-desktop-stardock-f...
Absolutely. I've got like 160 programs installed, and with Fences I've been able to arrange what I need on the desktop in the appropriate categories (graphics, utilities, daily use, not so useful, etc) and shape the boxes and scroll-downs to accommodate almost everything. I can't see how this could be improved upon.
In Windows 7 you can also add a library, instead of just a folder, as a toolbar. This is useful because you can add any folders to a library, which will include all of its subfolders too. So, you could make a library of your favorite folders, all of which would show up on the toolbar, allowing you to navigate into the subfolders from the toolbar.
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