Launchy is an open source program designed to help you to launch programs on your computer. If you have a large number of programs installed on your computer, keeping track of the shortcuts on the desktop and elsewhere can become a big problem. With Launchy, you no longer have to depend on shortcuts–Launchy runs in the background and doesn’t clutter your desktop.
Launchy is activated by a hotkey (Alt+Space by default). You can configure the hotkey according to your choice by going into the application’s options and going to the “General” tab. You can choose any hotkey combination you want to show the application.
Once you launch Launchy, you will be displayed with a search box. To launch an application, all you have to do is type a few letters of the app’s name and Launchy will guess the application you are trying to launch. Press enter and the application will be launched. If you want to hide Launchy, hit Esc or Alt+Space or the configured hotkey.
Launchy, by default, only searches applications installed on your computer. However, it can be configured to index other files and folders also.
You can also change the skins of Launchy if you do not like the default look. To change the skin, right-click anywhere on Launchy, choose options and skins. You can also download and install skins from other websites. DeviantArt.com offers some good skins for Launchy.
There are also plugins to make Launchy even better. Plugins are located in the “Plugin” folder in the installation directory. To configure plugins, right-click on Launchy, select “Options” and then open the plugins tab.
Launchy is very stable and if you use it for sometime, you will realize what a wonderful and productivity-enhancing tool Launchy really is. If you use Linux, don’t feel left out. Launchy is available for Linux also.