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If you're a keyboard junky or have mouse phobia, a good application launcher will vastly improve your Windows Vista experience. After trying out several launchers my number one pick is [Launchy][1].
The first thing I did on installing Windows Vista was scour the web for a good, keyboard-based application launcher. Okay, technically that's not true, the first thing I did was download Firefox and disable IE *then* I went looking for an application launcher.
For the uninitiated application launchers are a means of avoiding the start menu and being able to launch application without taking your fingers off the keyboard. There are a number of them available but Launchy does what I wanted and offers a quite a few extras to boot. It's also free and open source (GNU GPL license).
Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes. For instance, hit the default hotkey combo, alt-space, and then type "fire" and Firefox should pop up, press return to launch the app. If you wait a few seconds before pressing return Launchy will display a list of alternate choices for your abbreviation.
But Launchy can do a lot more than just launch documents and apps, here's a quick list of tips and tricks for extending Launchy:
* Search Google (Type in google, then tab, then your search query and press enter. a new window/tab will open in your default browser)
* Other sites you can search include Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, Netflix and more.
* Browse your computer (Type in c:, then tab, then a folder or file, hit tab, and continue)
* Index your Firefox bookmarks, including keyword searches
* Index your music (Directory: My Documents, file types: .mp3 .aac .ogg etc)
I should note that on Vista I had some issues with the indexing features, but following the [advice in the Launchy forums][2], I was able to get it working.
Launchy is free, but if you like it and want to support future development you can make a donation on the [Launchy website][1].
[1]: http://launchy.net/ "Launchy"
[2]: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1657774&forum_id=451016 "Running Launchy under Vista"
[1]: http://launchy.net/ "Launchy"
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