5 WAYS TO QUICKLY LAUNCH PROGRAMS

ON WINDOWS

Do you still launch programs on Windows by hunting down a desktop

shortcut and double-clicking it? There are better ways – Windows has

several built-in tricks for quickly launching applications.

Even if you know all the built-in tricks, you may want to try out Launchy

or another third-party launcher – some people swear by them. They offer

more features than the Start menu search built into Windows.

CONTENT

Taskbar Keyboard Shortcuts

Start Menu Search

Custom Shortcut Key

Run Dialog

Launchy and Other Third-Party Launchers

Taskbar Keyboard

Shortcuts

On Windows 7, you can press the Windows key along with a number to

quickly launch the corresponding application on your taskbar.

For example, WinKey+1 launches the first application pinned to your

taskbar, while WinKey+2 launches the second one.

If the program is already open, pressing this shortcut will switch to it. If

the program has multiple windows open, pressing this shortcut will

switch between them – it behaves just like clicking the taskbar icon.

Start Menu Search

You can use the Start menu’s search feature to

launch a program with just a few key presses. First,

press the Windows key on your keyboard.

Next, start typing part of a program’s name – you can start typing immediately after pressing the Windows key. Typing a program’s full name, such as Mozilla Firefox will work, but you can also type part of a program’s name to launch it even faster.

For example, you can press the Windows key, type fir, and press Enter to quickly launch Firefox. (This may not work if you have another application installed with fir in its name.)

Custom Shortcut KeyIf you launch an application frequently, you can assign a custom keyboard shortcut to

it.

First, locate the application in your start menu or on your desktop, right-click its shortcut, and select Properties.

1st Step

2nd Step

Click the Shortcut key box and type your desired keyboard

shortcut. Press the keyboard shortcut you

define here to launch the application from

anywhere in Windows.

Run Dialog

You can also use the Run

dialog to quickly launch

applications. Open it by

pressing WinKey+R.

In the Run dialog, type the name of a program’s .exe file

and press Enter to launch it. For example, type Firefox and

press Enter to launch Firefox or type chrome and press Enter

to launch Chrome.

Launchy and Other Third-Party LaunchersLaunchy is one of the most popular launcher applications for Windows, and it’s free.After installing it, press Alt+Space anywhere in Windows and the Launchy window will

appear (you can change this shortcut in Launchy’s preferences, if you like.)Type a search and press Enter to launch an application, open a file, or visit a website. It’s smarter than the Start menu in several ways – for example, typing ffx into Launchy will match Firefox.

It also includes other features, such as a quick calculator and plug-ins for searching your bookmarks.

Launchy also works on Windows XP, where it’s even more useful – it brings the quick application search feature found in Windows Vista and Windows 7’s Start menu to Windows XP users.

5 Ways To Quickly Launch Programs On

Windows

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