Like most geeks, I’m all about keyboard shortcuts. The fewer trips my hand has to make to the mouse, the better.
If you’re on Linux, you’ve got the command-line. Mac users can take advantage of QuickSilver, but unless you wanna add all of your Program Files to your Windows classpath, you’ve gotta be creative.
Luckily, there’s Launchy.
Launchy is an open-source keystroke launcher. It quickly indexes your system then silently runs in the background until you call it into action using your keystroke combination you’ve defined.
Once it comes up, enter in the name of the application or website you wish to launch and it will take care of the rest. It’s become such a crutch for me that I find myself trying to launch it even if the system doesn’t have it installed. Oops.
Of course, Launchy is cross-platform so it’s not solely targeted at Windows users. This is just my preference. What about you?
PhillipGibb says
Nice, I shall give it a try. I use QuickSilver at the moment from Blacktree Software. But a change is good as a holiday 😉
Tom says
“But a change is good as a holiday.” Ha, haven’t heard that before. Dig it ;).
PhillipGibb says
🙂
I am liking Launchy, I like the fact that you can edit the text you type – unlike QuickSilver where you have to start again.
Micah Choquette says
After Snow Leopard came along, I found no real reason to have Launchy on the mac, when Spotlight worked just as well. However, back in my days as a Windows guy, I absolutely could not live without Launchy.
Go give Lifehacker a search for launchy. Guaranteed to find some good stuff there.
Tom says
A lot of the native solutions for Mac (or things like Deskbar for Linux) work well, too. Google Desktop was always overkill for me on Windows, but Launchy’s right in the sweet spot.
Ben says
Launchy rules. It’s become a crutch for me too. It’s actually capable of doing a lot more, including google searches straight from the launch bar.
Anything that keeps me from reaching for the mouse or trackpad is a good thing.
Tom says
Exactly. Hands on the keyboard as long as possible is a win.
Justin Samsel says
Been using Launchy for years and LOVE it.
dewde says
I tried to like Quicksilver but I just couldn’t get into it. Then Google came out with QSB. It’s lightweight enough for me, doing the basics and not much else.
I dig it.
peace | dewde
brett barner says
I’ve tried to get into Launchy before, and it just never took into my daily computing. I’ll have to give it a second chance.
Tom says
For me, it’s one of those things that I had to get used to using it. Once it’s found it’s way into my routine and it actually helps streamline getting stuff done, I’m sold on it.
Such was the case with Launchy.
Vince Marotte says
on my macs I roll Quicksilver
On my windows machine Launchy rocks!
On my Ubuntu box the native launcher is epic. I send tweets from it and all kinds of cool stuff
I haven’t dug into Launchy too much, like figuring how to drop Lorem Ipsum on the clipboard like quicksilver and Ubuntu
Tom says
I’m a big fan of the Ubuntu launcher. Would dig it if it was cross-platform ;).
Nick Shoemaker says
I think I’m going to have to give this a whirl as well. Thanks Tom!
Tom says
Sure thing!
Stephen Bateman says
Is it like spotlight? What’s the difference?