Program launcher SyMenu integrates Nirsoft, Sysinternals and other programs
Program launchers come in two shapes: those that integrate what is already available on the system, think Launchy for example, and those that bring with them programs that you can use directly.
SyMenu falls in the second group of program launchers as it offers to launch local programs but also integrates lists of programs that you can download and use from then on.
The program itself displays a small widget on the screen that you can move around freely. A click on it displays options to run programs from it and to load tools it makes available.
It is possible to hide that widget if you don't require it as you can also use the shortcut Ctrl-F1 to open it at any time or use the system tray icon to launch programs.
It is advised to open the configuration on first start as you can use it to customize the program's functionality and add programs to it that you want to start faster.
Note: SyMenu requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0.
This is done with a click on the SyMenu icon and the selection of Tools > Configuration. There you can add items directly to the start menu or select Item Manager > Get New Apps SPS to display the list of programs that you can download and integrate this way.
SyMenu supports a variety of items, not only program links but also document and web links, Windows commands and links to folders.
Those can all be opened once added to the app. One interesting feature is the option to set items to auto-start when you run the program.
The new apps manager sorts applications in three different tabs:
- SyMenu Suite - Lists popular portable applications such as CCleaner, Bandizip, Defraggler, DosBox, IrfanView or TeamViewer.
- Nirsoft Suite - Lists the majority of Nirsoft applications.
- Sysinternals Suite -Does the same for Sysinternals programs.
Each program is listed with its name category, release date and size. A click on a program displays additional information including a description and dependencies.
Add allows to to download it from the Internet or from a local location. The program handles downloads and unpacks the application automatically if you select Internet as the source.
The selected program is added automatically to the start menu so that you don't have to do this manually.
One thing that is missing right now is an option to add multiple programs in one operation. Each program needs to be selected individually at the moment. It may be faster to download all Nirsoft or Sysinternals programs directly and use the batch importer that SyMenu ships with to add them all this way.
It is possible to download program collections right from the Symenu website. Currently, only the popular programs collection and the Nirsoft collection of tools is provided this way.
Closing Words
The inclusion of Nirsoft, Sysinternals and the popular programs collection makes SyMenu a handy program launcher for Windows. While it could use better integration of that, for instance by allowing you to download multiple programs in one go, it is a handy program regardless of that.
For me, as of this moment, this is the best suite arround. Liberkey stopped adding new tools a while ago and updates are very slow… Symenu on the other hand has a much bigger software base, a better business model IMO, integrates Nir and Sysinternals suites and is updated regularly. I only wish it could be easier to navigate the ‘manage apps’ window, instead of 2 tabs -one for Symenu suite another for Nirsoft suite- you only need 1 centralized tab for all you serches and I would add a couple more filtering options bcoz we are talking about 1500 applications and not the standard 300. I will give 5 stars when the GUI ‘is upgraded’.
Hi.
SyMenu is now able to bulk download more the programs from its own suite as well as from NirSoft and Sysinternal ones.
Is the fifth star coming? :-)
Nirsoft offers it’s own Launcher that can include all SysInternals Suite of programs.
It’s called NirLauncher, and it a bit hard to locate on the NirSoft web site.The latest version is 1.19.25. The launcher only includes NirSoft utilities, and the ability to add SysInternals utilities.
Here’s a direct link: http://launcher.nirsoft.net/download.html
I’ve been looking for a good and decent portable program launcher. Still looking for it…
I’m not using anything .Net
Why don’t you use .Net programs? They are not harmful and any Windows OS has at least .Net framework 2.0 already installed since Windows Vista.
Your statement seems a preconception.
Give a try to SyMenu, it is a really good software.
powerpro is great (but not portable): http://powerpro.cresadu.com/index.html
The first sentence on their site says it is a “Start Menu replacer.” What if you don’t want your Start Menu replaced but just augmented?
It is not replacing the actual start menu physically, that remains accessible.
Great article Martin, and a nice find. This is very interesting as I am familiar with and use SysInternals and NirSoft software. I rarely try out new to me and unknown software because of all the “crap” out there now but this product looks like it is worth the effort.
Well once again jumping on this site pays off wonderfully well, I was about to get around to all Sysinternals utility’s when I started the command prompt rundown, of course if I can only get there first. I already downloaded all Nirsoft’s networking utility’s when I heard of them having problems with Anti-Virus programs.
@CJEarner KLS-soft’s Windows System Control Center do look pretty cool, I had their E-mail backup program in the bookmarks, guest I’ll try this out today too, Thanks.
Thanks for the Tutorial Martin
That looks interesting. I’m currently using KLS-soft’s Windows System Control Center as a similar solution.
Symenu seems to have a better UI but WSCC has a bulk download capability.