Application Launchers

CodySafe is a portable application launcher that enables you to manage, group, sort and launch programs from your USB drive. It runs as a tray icon and provides a Vista-style start menu from where you can quickly launch your programs, access documents, media files or explore the content of your USB drive. The program includes an application manager that makes it easy to add new programs to the launch menu, as well as integrated AutoRun virus protection (ViruSense), a drive space gauge and a handy Find-if-Lost feature that allows you to store owner and contact information to aid in recovery if you ever lose your drive. Other features include a built-in hotkey manager to launch apps and URLs, Autorun management and support for advanced script options.

Vista Start Menu SE is a replacement for the standard Windows Start menu that provides a different layout and interface, designed to access all your programs faster without having to go through multiple menu levels. It displays all programs in a single view and provides cascading menus for other Start Menu entries. The reboot and shutdown options are conveniently placed along the top of the menu and combines the Run and Find dialog along with a Google search search option into a single input field. Vista Start Menu SE can replace the original Start menu or you can launch it from the system tray. A Pro version with additional features can be purchased.

CoolKeys is a hotkeys manager that allows you to launch programs, documents and websites via keyboard hotkeys. You can also perform various system actions like opening control panel items, changing volume, restarting your computer, minimizing windows, changing folder views and more, all without having to use your mouse (or touch pad). Other features include the ability to add website URLs directly from your browser and Windows Explorer integration.

SE-TrayMenu provides you with quick access to your favorite applications, documents or Internet links from the system tray. It offers customizable layouts and color schemes that allow you to design menus in many different styles and sizes. You can add shortcuts via drag&drop or browse for item in your start menu or local folders.

Signo enables you to automate a variety of tasks and actions via keyboard hotkeys. You can insert text snippets, launch applications and websites, automatically replace text macros with designated text templates (e.g type #sig in any application and will be replaced with your email signature), capture screenshots and manage desktop windows, all with the help of keyboard or text commands. The program can be used to insert email signatures, frequently typed replies or sentences, automatically correct habitual typing errors, open your favorite programs, resize or hide windows and more. Signo also includes a RAM optimizer (MiniRAM) that can reduce memory consumption for selected processes.

LaunchBar Commander is a highly customizable application and folder launcher that enables you to creates custom docks that hold shortcuts to your favorite programs, documents or folders. In addition to regular shortcuts, it supports folder links that can display the content of a folder in a drop menu, with an option to apply filters based on file date and naming patterns, as well as command-line parameters for scripts and executables. The menus can be customized with icons, transparency effects, fonts and colors. Other features include drag and drop support, portable configuration files and more. LaunchBar Commander is not quite as easy to use as others, but it offers more flexibility than most.

Free Launch Bar is a replacement for the standard Quick Launch bar, that adds additional functionality by allowing you create groups for your shortcuts enabling you to add more links without using up additional taskbar space. Rather than having an icon for each of your shortcuts, you can chose to create a shortcut group which will bring up a menu with all items in that group - you could have 30 shortcuts in your QuickLaunch bar but only use 3 icons to organize them. Free Launch Bar allows you to create multiple shortcut groups, each with custom icon and infotip description as well as an option to bring up the menu via keyboard hotkey. A paid version is also available which offers even more features. If you want to un-clutter your QuickLaunch bar, give it a try!

sTabLauncher is a customizable application launch bar that provides quick access to your favorite applications, documents and folders. It provides a tabbed toolbar that can be customized by changing colors, images, transparency, animations, and many other options to make it blend in with your desktop. You can create as many tabs as you need and simply drag and drop items to create shortcuts in the launch bar. Other features include support for multiple monitors.

Advanced Launcher is a customizable toolbar and system tray launcher that can show several fully customizable toolbars at a time. Each toolbar button can either run an application (open a document) or show a multi-level customizable menu. Menus can also list the contents of folders (e.g. Programs folder from the Start menu or Desktop folder). You can create multiple toolbars and either place them on the desktop, dock them to the screen edges or minimize toolbars to the tray and access their menu by clicking on the tray icon.

QuickStart allows you to quickly find items in your Start Menu, Favorites, Recent Files, Desktop and History, that match a typed keyword. In addition, you can specify a custom directory, as well as file extensions to look for. Just type in the keyword and press enter to be presented with a list of items that match your entry - you can then select and launch the program, link or file by selecting it from the list.

Key Launch enables you to quickly launch programs and documents from your keyboard, y simply typing the first few letters of the name or a pre-defined alias command. By default, the program indexes your desktop, Start menu and Recent Documents, but you can extend the index and add other folder locations as well. To launch a command simply press Ctrl+Q (customizable) and type the command into the dialog.

Portable Start Menu is a customizable start menu that can be installed to an USB drive and acts as a customizable application launcher. You can quickly launch applications from a tray icon menu, close all running applications before ejecting the drive and also install a auto-run option that will launch the program automatically whenever the drive is inserted.

Launchy is an application and document launcher that enables you to quickly access programs or files on your computer by simply typing the first few letters of the name. The program indexes your program shortcuts in the Start menu by default and you can extend the range by adding custom folder locations. Launchy remains hidden until you press the keyboard shortcut (ALT+Space by default) and then displays a simple input field (skinnable) for your query with almost instant results of items that match your keyword.

SideSlide enables you to create a custom launchpad for programs, documents and folders, using a mini-desktop that hides on the edge of your screen until you activate it with your mouse. In addition to shortcuts the program also offers reminders (with alarm) and sticky notes as well as clipboard capture. You simply drag shortcuts into the workspace, create containers to organize your content and completely customize the appearance with background images and colors. The containers and notes can be arranged in layers, shrunk/expanded and moved around freely by means of drag and drop. Other features include support for Launch Groups that allow you to start multiple programs at once, zooming in and out of shortcuts, image display and more.

Fast Launcher is an application and document launcher, that runs in the system tray and provides a compact toolbar with tabbed categories, that you can use for quick access to your favorite programs, websites, or documents. You can simply drag and drop items into the toolbar, and then access them by clicking on the icon, using a keyboard hotkey, or tray icon menu. Fast Launcher supports custom parameters for each items, and also allows you to launch multiple items at once.

RocketDock is an application launcher that hides along the edge of your screen and reveals an attractive, alpha blended and animated launchpad when you hover your mouse over the area. You can drag and drop shortcuts into RocketDock, assign custom icons and choose from different interface themes. The position of the menu can be customized along with the optional icon label font and auto-hide behavior. RocketDock includes more than a dozen skins and is also compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y`z Dock skins.

SmartStartMenu provides you with quick access to your programs and files. It integrates as a new toolbar into the Windows task bar, displaying a small search input box. Just type in the first few letters of a program or document that are linked from your Start menu, and it will instantly provide a list of matches from which you can choose. By default, the program indexes applications found in the common user locations, however you can also add other folders to the list to access the files contained in them in the same manner.

PStart is a portable start menu that can be installed on a USB drive or your local PC and provides quick access to programs and documents. You can organize your applications into custom groups and launch them by clicking on the associated icon. The program supports advanced launch parameters, scheduled runs and custom icons, and also offers an option to generate a autorun.inf file for use with CDs. PStart also includes a small notes organizer, a search feature and displays information about the hard drive space on your drive. Other features include backup/restore, customizable interface and an option to hide the launcher on the edge of your screen.

JetStart Free is a unique tool, that enables you to manage your Windows Start Menu more efficiently, and launch your favorite or recently accessed applications with just a few clicks. The program offers multiple ways to access your program: You can sort them into 5 generic categories, select them from a list of recently used or newly added programs or search for them by keyword. You can access shortcuts from a tray icon, hidden edge menus, and also create a floating toolbar that can be displayed by clicking the icon. JetStart Free also adds the ability to arrange the order of you taskbar buttons by dragging them into place. A Pro version is available that adds a few additional features, but the free version will suit most users just fine.

ObjectDock is a desktop toolbar, that acts as an application launcher, as well as a task manger to access currently running programs. It offers cool mouseover animation effects and displays thumbnails of open window to easily switch between applications. You can also drag and drop your favorite folders or programs onto the toolbar to add a shortcut for easy access. ObjectDock also includes a weather feature that displays current conditions for your US zip code, as well as access to My Computer, and analog clock display and more.

Guillotine enables you to quickly find and access files, programs and bookmarks, as well as web search results by simply typing a keyword into a small input dialog. The interface is about as plain and simple as it gets, limited to a simple space to type the keyword, but the features that make the program work are actually quite powerful. Guillotine can index folders of your choice, as well as browser bookmarks and Outlook contacts, and reveals instant results with items that match the keyword. Furthermore it includes a variety of online search commands, that allow you to search for a keyword in popular online resources. For example, as search for `keyword` would use your local folders to return results, but adding the command `u` to it (`u keyword`) would return results for that keyword from YouTube, with other commands available for eBay, Craigslist, MySpace and various other sites.

Responding Heads enables you to launch programs, commands and actions via voice commands spoken into your PC microphone. The program uses the MS Speech recognition engine and is very easy to configure. It places a small animated head on your desktop that confirms that spoken commands and adds some animation to the process (this can be turned off). Responding Heads supports program launching, e.g say `Open Mail` to run Outlook Express, as well as several system and keyboard commands, text-to-speech conversion, and even typing of pre-configured keystrokes. Responding Heads is very easy to set up, and worked well during our review.

Mayk is a file launcher that can hold up to 54 icon shortcuts to your favorite applications. You can simply drag a program, document or folder into the interface and the shortcut will be created for you. While not in use, the interface hides along the edge of the screen, and appears when you touch it with your mouse pointer. Other features include support for custom icons and categories, grouping of programs to be launched simultaneously and access to various system commands and folders.

APO USB Autorun enables you to add autorun functionality to your USB drive. It automatically searches for the standard autorun.inf (as used with CDs) and executes it. This simple, but very handy functionality allows you to create an autorun menus in the same way you would for a CD and use it with your USB drive, or launch playlists, html pages and any other type of file as soon as the USB drive is inserted. In addition to the autorun functionality, the program also allows you to quickly access the files on the USB drive(s) from the tray icon menu.

qs Hotkeys allows you define custom keyboard hotkeys that are triggered when you press the Wondows key (the one with the Windows flag on it). It comes pre-loaded with shortcuts for several system function like Control Panel, Volume, My Documents etc., and you can add your own hotkey commands as well. The program runs in the background, and pressing the Windows key for 2 seconds will display a virtual keyboard with your current hotkey mappings. You can drag and drop an application on they keyboard or use the right click menu to add new hotkeys.

A-ToolBar is a useful internet and desktop tool brings you 50 useful tools , that are accessible from an attractive toolbar, that runs at the bottom of your screen or in the system tray (when not in use). It includes tools for any type of Internet user, including Search throughout 40 different search engines at once, Language translator, Free SMS message sending, Latest news, Spam remover, Links manager, Applications manager, Agenda with world clock, Clipboard history, Password keeper, Password revealer, Weather forecast, Backup utility, Currency converter, Quotes (stock symbols). For more advanced users, it also includes several networking utilities: Ping, Trace, DNS lookup, Port scanner, Finger, WhoIs as well as webmaster tools to submit and rank your site: Submit url, Url info, Link popularity, Position analysis, Keyword density. Very nice, easy to use, attractive.

MedalFolders is a simple folder and application launcher that allows you access your favorite folder and programs from a menu in the system tray. You can drag and drop the shortcuts, folders or applications onto the list, and they will automatically appear in the tray menu. Simple and easy to use.

Unlimited Menus allows you to launch your favorite folders, files and documents, as well as programs and system commands, using a simple menu that is accessible from the system tray. You can customize the list of items, and also maintain multiple menu lists, allowing you to switch between them as needed.

AppPathZ allows you to launch any application from the Windows Run menu. By default, Windows lets you do this for any program that resides in the registered system paths (e.g notepad etc.), but not for programs that are located elsewhere on your computer. By using AppPathZ, you can review and edit the list of existing commands, and easily add your own commands to launch any program or document of your choice by typing the configured name at the RUN prompt. The program is more suitable for advanced users.

PS Hot Launch enables you to to quickly run or open your favorite programs, applications, documents, folders and web pages. You can also quickly send an send mail to a specified address, by simply clicking on the icon. The program allows you to define keyboard hotkeys for each entry (e.g Win+F3 etc.) or you can also access them from the system tray icon. PS Hot Launch allows you to organize your shortcuts into folders and custom categories for easier navigation and efficient use of the tray icon menu. Supports drag and drop.

TrayBar is a small and handy application launcher that runs in the system tray and lets you access your favorite programs and files with a couple of clicks. You can completely customize the menu, select the applications, documents, web sites to include and also organize them in sub-menus. Furthermore, you can pick a custom tray icon, and the program integrates into the Windows Explorer right click menu to quickly add new items. Additional features include support for command line parameters, batch launching and window states (maximized, minimized, hidden) for each entry.

Tray Commander is a multifunctional utility that lets you run your frequently used programs, files and more directly from the system tray. It adds a single icon to the tray which, when clicked, displays a customizable menu that contains the shortcuts you selected. It offers commands to open and close your CD drives, reboot, shutdown your system, run any of your favorite applications, launch any selected screensavers. send emails to specified recipients, open folders and more.

LaunchIt NOW! allows you to maintain a small, desktop-like window with full-size icons to launch your favorite programs, folder, documents or URLs. It runs in the system tray and is always just one click away or can be called via a hotkey. The program is fully configurable and customizable on a per-user basis and it offers full Windows Shell integration. A great way to have fast access to your frequently used stuff!

Born To Run is a program very much like the Windows Run dialog. Since it`s a standalone application, it can be run from anywhere on your desktop, with almost any key combination, unlike the Windows Run dialog, which can only be run from the Start menu. You can also only type the file name (without the extension) for 17 common extensions. You can set a list of your most used files, foldes, or Internet resources and to launch them automatically at specific time intervals. There are many little tricks and options, make sure you read the included Readme.txt.

Hidden Menu is a customizable toobar menu to launch your favorite programs. When the program is not in use it hides off-screen, saving your valuable desktop space. However, as soon as you move your mouse to the bottom right of your screen (other locations can be configured), it pops up, allowing you to launch your favorite programs, files, web sites and shortcuts. Hidden Menu is very easy to configure (supports drag and drop), and can be customized in several ways(icons, size and location etc.). It comes with a stylish, black interface with mouseover effects. Additional features include optional locking of entries, windows parameters, customizable size and much more.