Look at any user’s desktop and there’s a good chance you will see it littered with shortcuts to commonly used programs. That’s fine but if you have too many it can take quite a while to find what you want.
Many folks address this problem by using an application launcher. Commonly these employ a dockable toolbar containing shortcuts to various programs on the PC. The toolbar can usually be hidden so it doesn’t take up desktop space.
I’ve never been keen on these things as often they achieve little more than what’s available from the Windows Start menu.
However, I’ve found an application launcher that actually really works. It’s called Find&Run Robot.
It doesn’t use a launch bar approach but rather allows you to locate an application by simply typing its name into a query box.
You rarely even have to type the full name; mostly all you need do is just type a couple of letters. Find&Run Robot instantly displays any program that contains the letters you typed in.
Its power lies in the fact that it’s lightning fast. It works on a find-as-you-type basis. Let’s say I’m looking for Excel. When I type the letter "E" I instantly see all programs whose name contains the letter E. There are quite a few as you can imagine. If I then type in the second letter "X" the list shortens immediately to only those programs that contain "EX". By the time I type in the "C" the list is down to one program, Excel itself. Double clicking then executes the program. The whole thing takes less than 2 seconds.
I’ve seen a few programs that work like this but Find&Run Robot works the best of any I’ve tried. To start with, you can bring up the search box instantly using either a hotkey or by clicking the tray icon. Second, the program search area is totally configurable. Even the scoring system that determines the list order is configurable. Third, it’s only visible when you need it and that’s the way it ought to be.
Users of Microsoft Desktop Search don’t need Find&Run Robot as they already have the same capabilities direct from the search box.
Find&Run is free but only available under a rather strange license system, see item 1.8 above for full details.
Freeware, all Windows versions, 1.57MB
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/index.html
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