One of the most popular application launchers for Windows has been updated to version 2 yesterday and I think that this is an appropriate moment to see what has changed since my first review of Launchy which dates way back. First time users of Launchy who happen to not read the instructions might be a bit puzzled at first because even though Launchy is started after installing it it is not visible on the system.
It becomes visible if you press ALT + SPACE and old users will immediately spot the new look and feel of the software. It finally supports Windows Vista and Firefox unicode bookmarks to mention only two of the new features.
So, what can you do with it ? First of all, you can launch applications with Launchy 2 which is the main purpose of the program. Just type in the first few chars of an application and hit enter once the software is displayed that you want to start. As a basic example, to start Spider Solitaire you simply enter Spid and launchy displays Spider Solitaire on the right side of its interface.
That’s usually much quicker than clicking on Start > Programs and finding the folder of the application that you want to start. It even beats clicking on shortcuts on the desktop if you get used to it.
Instead of opening and hiding Launchy 2 users can now opt to make it stay on top and at the same time change the transparency level of the bar. I prefer the old fashioned keyboard shortcut whenever I need Launchy but some users could very well integrate it into their system.
Launchy can open bookmarks in your favorite browser as well and use shortcuts to search in Google and other websites. A Google search for instance would have the following commands. Type Google, hit TAB and enter your search string plus return at the end.
Your default browser opens showing the search results for that query. Best of all ? You can add your own search queries to Launchy with ease.
Thanks to Download Squad for letting me know about the update.
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7 Responses to “Launchy 2.0”
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[...] then you also need to go to the website each time. To make things easier though, you can use Launchy, an excellent application launcher, and great script from Lifehacker together for some lightning [...]
I still like SlickRun better: http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/
It does not have as many features (a lot of which I consider just bloating and unnecessary) as Launchy but it’s customizable, very small and ultra fast…
Woot update
Yea this thing is a massive help and saves no end of time.
@Steve: From what I can tell, it seems that SlickRun doesn’t automatically index existing shortcuts (or even files and folders) – that can be a huge drawback (even adding shortcuts to RocketDock turned out to be a hassle for me).
I’m sure SlickRun is a great app though (no fanatic fanboyism here, move along).
Thanks Martin,
I have not used any such tools till now, but could be useful someday. :)
Thanks for sharing..
On my desktop, I always use Google-Desktop and hitting CTRL twice to do basically the same thing as Launchy. But on my laptop, I’ve never wanted to use google desktop or anything that uses a lot of IO and possessing power in the background so Launchy is awesome!
Now I just need to get something like this for Linux that’s still pretty. Super+R brings up a run dialog but there’s no drop down autocompletion :(