I denna artikel som du ska fyndresumén, granskar, screenshots och nedladdninglägen för 10 olika Windows applikationlaunchers. Om du inte kan finna en, gillar du i denna listar, mig har också inklusive anknyter till 5 6 (tack Vince!) mer på det mycket nedersta.
| Känt | Prissätta | Klassa (x/5) |
| Rusa befaller | $19.95 | ** |
| Fynd och körd robot | fritt | **** |
| Launchy | fritt | ****½ |
| nDroid | fritt | **½ |
| SlickRun | fritt | ***½ |
| Rusa barkassen | fritt | ***½ |
| Start++ | fritt | **** |
| ToolBox | fritt | **½ |
| Den riktiga barkassen bommar för | $19.90 | *** |
| Utsiktstartmeny | n/a | ***½ |
Rusa befaller
Rusa befaller antagligen var det värst av tangentslaget baserade applikationlaunchersna som jag har använt. Är här min två största klagomål - 1) är den på ”rean” för $19.95, som är prissätta för ”pre-frigör” version. Det går att kosta $50.00, efter det har lämnat pre-har frigjort har arrangerat. 2) Det var mycket, mycket instabilt i utsikt (se den nedanföra sist screenshoten). Rusa befaller arbeten på segern 2000, XP eller utsikt och använde inte för många resurser (om 14MB, tills den kraschade - därefter sky-rocketed den till 200MB, för jag dödade den). Det finns en försökversion, men den presentera-begränsas: befaller begränsade beställnings- användare endast 5, rengöringsduk befaller, befaller ingen vinande eller e-post, och du kan endast använda som byggs i bildläsare. Jag kunde inte få musiksärdrag för att fungera alls, men det kan ha varit en begränsning av försökversionen (?). För det fullt lista av särdrag, ser denna sida. Mitt förslag? Hoppa over det. Det finns för många bättre applikationlaunchers med de samma (eller mer) särdragen, för mycket mindre (fria) pengar.
 Barkass befallabetalningspåminnelsen |
 Barkass CCleaner |
 Docs och sparar Scanning ställer in |
 Krasch krasch, krasch. |
Fynd och körd robot
Fynd och körd robot (FARR) kan inte ha den glättade looken (vid standard) av några av de andra tangentslaget baserade applikationlaunchersna, men det saknar bestämt inte i särdrag. Och om det finns ett särdrag som inte är inklusive vid standard, kan du antagligen finna addon att inkludera den saknade funktionsdugligheten. FARR hade ett mycket litet minnesfotspår i utsikt - om 7MB. Det indexerar ditt sparar, bokmärkear, mappar, föreställer och naturligtvis, applikationer. Om du är stillbilden genom att använda en äldre version av Windows, är du i lycka - FARR-arbeten på Windows 9x, 2000, XP och utsikt. A detailed (and always up to date) feature list for FARR can be found here. Like most of the DonationCoder.com software, FARR actually includes a list of its “competitors” in the help file, which isn’t something you see a lot of software packages include.
 Default View |
 Launching an app |
 Advanced Visual Preferences |
 Search Behavior Preferences |
Launchy
Launchy is an open source keystroke based application launcher. It was designed to work on Windows XP, but there’s a .dll file available to get it to work (probably) in Windows 2000. It also worked perfectly in Vista (from my experience). Launchy is probably the most popular of the Windows keystroke based application launchers, and for good reason. It’s stable, uses minimal system resources (about 10MB in Vista) and has an extensive list of features (for the full list see the Launchy Readme file). There are also a number of very useful Launchy plugins for extra features, and skins if you don’t love the default look.
 Launching an app |
 Search Google |
 General Preferences |
 Default Plugins |
nDroid
nDroid is another keyboard based application launcher. To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t my favorite. There are a bunch of plugins that extend basic functionality, but several caused frequent crashes. Actually it crashed a number of times with the default installation too. Unlike some of the other application launchers, it also indexes your desktop, documents and favorite websites (though most do index bookmarks/favorite websites). One rather unique feature is that it can replace your Start Menu ‘Run’ option, though if you’re using Vista, you might be better off with Start++ to enhance the Run menu. One big positive is that it uses very little memory, and can even be set to “Not-Always-Running” mode, which means it’s launched by the hotkey combo, and exits right after launching an app.
 Launching an app |
 Search Google |
 General Preferences |
 Default Plugins |
SlickRun
SlickRun is a keystroke based application launcher. It resides just above the clock in your system tray (by default) and since it display the time and date when not being used, you can remove the time from your system tray to recover some space. Type help into SlickRun and you’re taken to the online help files, which are actually quite helpful. One of the neat features included in SlickRun is SlickJot - a place to store brief notes. You can add text to SlickJot by highlighting it and dragging it to the SlickRun window. You can also search through the clips using the built in find tool. Notes are automatically saved.
SlickRun has a very small memory footprint - only about 5MB at any given time. To add additional functionality to SlickRun you can install MagicWord Packs (found on the homepage in the MagicWord Packs section).
 Default view and location |
 Search with Google |
 SlickJot feature |
 Right-click Menu |
 SlickRun Library |
 SlickRun Options |
Speed Launch
Speed Launch is Microsoft Office Labs recent entry into the application launcher uh contest. Rather than index all of your apps, it requires that you drag the app (or a shortcut to it) to a small circle that floats on your desktop. From there, you give it a name, and from then on you can launch it using that name. It requires the .Net Framework 3.0 (surprise surprise), but it’s not a half-bad app launcher. The MegaSearch feature actually includes search results from 3 search engines - not just Microsofts (Yahoo and Google are included by default).
 Default view |
 Auto-complete |
 Weather lookup |
 Speed Launch options |
 Speed Launch Target |
Start++
Start++ is a Start menu addon for Vista. It extends the Run box and the command-line with customizable commands. Some of its features include: viewing Wikipedia entries, launching/playing music files, and running programs with elevated (administrative) privileges. There are a number of plugins available for Start++, though I was unable to get the Twitter plugin to work (uses PocketTweets). All in all, this is a pretty neat addon for the Vista start menu. If you use the Vista Start Menu as your application launcher, you may want to take a look at Start++.
 Weather feature |
 Wikipedia feature |
 Google feature |
 Play Menu |
 Command Startlets |
 Start++ Gadgets |
ToolBox
ToolBox is an application launcher that started as a 16-bit Windows 3.1 application. No, I’m not kidding. It has of course evolved a lot over the years to include many additional features, including: multiple application launching windows, shortcuts to almost everything (files, urls, folders, drives), support for any icon size, a fully customizable user interface, and it can
monitor drive sizes and operating system up-time. You can create multiple boxes and customize each one to your liking. It can also be used on portable USB drives and even on read-only media such as CD-ROMs.
 Custom ToolBox |
 Default Folders ToolBox |
 ToolBox Application Settings |
 ToolBox Window properties |
True Launch Bar
True Launch Bar isn’t a keystroke based application launcher, rather, it’s a replacement for the Windows Quick Launch Toolbar. Think of it as the Quick Launch Toolbar on steroids. Though it isn’t free, there is a 30 day fully functional demo (though it has some annoying nag messages). Setting it up takes a bit of work - there are a lot of options and settings, and if you try to use the settings page to create new menus, it can be a bit confusing. There’s a great Flash demo that explains how to use the “wizard” (and provides a good overview of the app). True Launch Bar works with Windows 9x/ME/2000/NT4/XP/Vista.
 QuickLaunch Replacement |
 Custom Launch Toolbar |
 Access TBL Settings |
 Right-click Menu |
 General Options |
 Menu Appearance w/ Preview |
Vista Start Menu
Not really much to say about the Vista Start Menu. Since the introduction of Instant Search, not only does it index the vast majority of files on your PC (depending on your specific setup) - it’s an application launcher in and of itself. As usual, the How-To Geek has you covered with excellent tips on speeding up or disabling Windows Search indexing in Vista and speeding up the Vista Start Menu Search by limiting results.
 Vista Search |
 Partial Filename Matching |
Some other Windows application launchers that I didn’t include above are: keybreeze, Key Launch, Executor, Skylight, ObjectDock and RocketDock
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I think the Dash review is very biased. I have tried all the launchers and Dash is probably the best. The problem with the review is that is was based on an old trial version which is not fully compatible with Vista and had many limitations compared to the retail version.
I don’t have any relation to the Dash product or the company that makes it but I feel it is not a fair assessment. In my own tests Dash is the fastest, smallest and more feature rich of the bunch, it supports plugins too, plus their customer support is outstanding. I will contact the Dash people to see if they would be interested in providing you with an updated version for review.
The reviews for the rest of the apps seem right on.
Another Dash user here.
Jason’s comment is spot-on, I also feel Dash has been slightly misrepresented. It’s unfortunate that the trial version is old and Vista-incompatible, but newer builds of the work wonderfully with Vista. Dash does all sorts of cool things the others don’t, like inline calculations (my favorite feature), quick definitions, and translations. For me, Dash was worth every penny.
http://humanized.com/enso/launcher/
Enso Launcher is now freeware.
DOMercury is another neat Application launcher. Similar to much hyped QucikSilver on Mac, DOMercury has 3-panes. User can do a lot more than just launch the programs. It is customizable, the developer is very responsive.
Check it out here
Ladron said it already: Enso launcher is now freeware and in my opinion it should show up in this contest, too.
I use the Enso launcher and some plugins for a quite long time now and was really comfortable with it…but ok, after reading this post (and a few others from your blog) I now use launchy in parallel…lets see which program survives
My crunch issue with program launchers is one the reviewer didn’t even mention: directory and file format building.
I gave up on Launchy because it demands one do it manually, a royal PITA [Pain In...].
Does anybody know if any of these Launchy competitors auto-index ones hard drives for directories [and, less importantly, file types]?
http://www.8start.com
My little contribution of free application launcher, feel free to try 8start Launcher, it is skinable!
SuperLauncher should be mentioned. SuperLauncher launches applications with hotkeys or one click of the mouse but the twist about it is that you add new shortcuts by drag and drop. You simlpy drag and drop applications, websites, files, or folders, and wizards guide you through adding hotkeys or one-click shortcuts.
I use it and I totally recommend it.
You can find SuperLauncher here:
http://www.pcwinsoft.com/superlauncher/download.asp
Best,
Alex
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