Launchy

Launchy ScreenshotRating: 55 Star Rating pick 

Version tested:  1.0

With Launchy you can search for installed apps rather than browse for them manually in your start menu.

 

Launchy is invoked/dismissed by a hotkey (alt+space by default). It is pre-set to index your start menu links, but can be customized to index any location on your hard drive for any type of file.

For example, I typically tend to put a lot of files that I am working on on the desktop. I therefore set launchy to index the desktop (and all sub-folders recursively) to the types of files that I want that I typically deal with (xls, csv, jpg, mp3, exe, zip, rar, etc.)

I used to use a very similar program called Find and Run Robot, but I find that this one (a) is more customizable and flexible, and (b) has a much better look and feel overall (it also has tons of skins).

More Launchy Skins

This is a very interesting launcher that takes very little system resources to run. It is a must if you, like me, have a ton of installed applications and a lot of files that you work with.

 

Go to download page for latest version. The program home page.

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25 Comments so far

  1. Byru on October 30th, 2006

    I use it for some time now. It is really great app :) Quick and smart!

  2. Hylo on November 23rd, 2006

    Great App.
    Always wanted a keyboard shortcut to launch firefox, certain files etc.
    Launchy seems to provide this and more

    Thanks very much

  3. Sachin Arora on January 7th, 2007

    Very cool application. Thanks for the introduction.

  4. Nandu on January 9th, 2007

    There’s another one like this.. It’s called Ava Find.. Try it also… It’s not freeware.. The only limitation in trial version is that u can’t do stuff like delete, rename etc.. But it’s pretty good..

  5. Igg on March 28th, 2007

    I use Colibri (also freeware), which sounds very similar. I don’t think that you can set folders to index though… I may have to try Launchy.

  6. Siegfried on May 14th, 2007

    Thanks for a great website. Looks like the FastStone Capture program is now shareware with 30-day trial.

  7. Paul on May 30th, 2007

    Check out Keybreeze. It’s probably the best application launcher for Windows — more features and more settings than Launchy.

  8. Christine on June 22nd, 2007

    How do you download it??

  9. FWservant on June 22nd, 2007

    Click on the link where it says “Go to download page for latest version”. This will always be the last row of text in any review.

  10. [...] Launchy: everybody needs a good launcher, and Launchy is my favorite. Pressing a hotkey will prompt a [...]

  11. Apatt on November 5th, 2007

    Try Find & Run Robot. Similar to Launchy but with more features:

    http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/index.html

  12. [...] Launchy: everybody needs a good launcher, and Launchy is my favorite. Pressing a hotkey will prompt a [...]

  13. [...] Launchy ????????????????????????? Key Launch ? [...]

  14. [...] Another noteworthy program launcher is Launchy. [...]

  15. [...] new, quick ways to launch programs aside from clicking on icons or shortcuts. Programs such as Launchy, for instance, as well as keyboard-shortcut programs, and now gMote’s screen gestures. Here [...]

  16. Ali on February 17th, 2008

    Enso is an awesome replacement for launchy

  17. [...] new, quick ways to launch programs aside from clicking on icons or shortcuts. Programs such as Launchy, for instance, as well as keyboard-shortcut programs, and now gMote?s screen gestures. Here are [...]

  18. [...] so those of us who have tried indexing, search-box style launchers (such as Launchy) may not be looking for a new icon-based launcher, but we at Freewaregenius are always on the [...]

  19. [...] Launchy ?? ??????????????????????????? Key Launch [...]

  20. [...] on indexing launchers such as Launchy: these typically scan the start menu; once you modify the program shortcuts in the start menu [...]

  21. [...] function: this is an indexing "search box" style launcher similar to my favorite "Launchy" that can be accessed by hotkey or through the system tray icon. And while it works fairly [...]

  22. Burque on July 21st, 2008

    In the interest of those who may prefer something else, SlickRun has replaced Launchy on all my machines. Although it may lack some of Launchy’s features, it has many of them, and for my purposes it works much better (i.e. I launch programs and web pages with it.) It is very customizable, and doesn’t do one thing Launchy has done–eat up 90% of system resources when the the machine is left unattended for several days (which is frequent). Memory for SlickRun (sr.exe) use as I write this is 7.8MB.
    Both are fine programs.

  23. TheFix on July 31st, 2008

    I’m finally giving this one a shot. It seems like everyone is recommending it.

  24. ??Windows???53?????? : ??2.0 on July 31st, 2008

    [...] Launchy ?? ??????????????????????????? Key Launch [...]

  25. [...] Launchy?????????????mac???quicksilver?????win?????????????????????quicksilver? [...]

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