I’m pretty sure people can already guess that I’m a fan of ways to avoid using the mouse. A long while ago I was on the lookout for a Windows-based keystroke application launcher, in the same vein as QuickSilver for MacOSX. I had started out with Colibri, but found myself not quite satisfied with it. That’s not to say that it’s a bad product, I think it is a good product. It just didn’t seem ideal to me.

My search continued until I came across Launchy. What I found was a very light weight, very quick keystroke application launcher that I’ve been using for over a year now. On my laptop with 1GB RAM it uses only 9MB. And when triggered, uses only 2% of the CPU to load the launcher, then returns to 0%.

As with any launcher it indexes your Start Menu programs folder, but it goes beyond that. You can choose to index as many folders as you’d like. For those folders you are indexing, you can choose what file types to index e.g. .lnk, .mp3, .exe, etc. There is also an extensive library of skins for further customizing Launchy.

The way I’ve chosen to customize my indexing was to create a special folder with links to my frequently used documents and Access databases. So rather than launching the desired application, then going through the process of locating the file I want to open, I initiate the launcher, start typing the name of the document and hit enter. Simple and clean, and saves me a bunch of time clicking through various menus and windows.

A feature that sets Launchy apart from other application launchers is that it’s portable. There is a setting on the Advanced Settings screen where you can mark it as an application on your USB drive. Love that capability.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part about Launchy. It’s released under the GPL.