Productivity - Program Launchers (60)

The PortableApps Platform has been updated (a few times) since this was last updated.
I believe the current version is 11.2 (also there is a version 12 beta, I think its Beta 2)

Please update this listing!

ihateu: checker got it

Latest version (v15.0) now supports .NET programs, the first of which appears to be KeePass Professional (or 2.x).

https://portableapps.com/news/2018-05-09--keepass-professional-portable-2.39-released

If you understand the program well, you can create portable software that leaves no traces in the system.

Most recent version is 12.0.124

@AndTheWolf: Thanks. The version history however is not updated

You can find the version history here:
Windows version:
https://www.phraseexpress.com/download/changelog/

Mac version:
https://www.phraseexpress.com/mac/download/changelog/

Enjoy!

psmstart.exe may be essential to launch 64-bit applications (psmenu.exe doesn't start with either missing), but that doesn't change the fact that psmenu.exe is a 32-bit application.

Download links go to the wrong page.

Also, on extraction, there is no {app} folder. Files are in the root.

The latest update has killed it. At least on Win 11. It just crashes on start.

the same -it crashes on W7

"The latest update has killed it. It just crashes on start."

New version fixes problem of crashing on startup when you have an odd text zoom; I had 110% and now it does not crash.

Softpedia reports an update to v4.5.1.0 but the homepage is not available at the moment

@Ennovy: I was able to access the home page and verified that it was updated to v4.5.1.0 on 6 Nov 2023.

Thanks Andrew!

I couldn't run this on win2k; it hides in the system tray without a way to display it. I even tried using Process Explorer's Properties.Image.Bring to Front resulting in the msgbox: No visible windows found for this process

Tim I know this is an old post but I hope by now you have upgraded from Win2K after all it is the twenty first century. For me this software works as advertised!
MIKLO

@thehop

Thanks, those are interesting apps. I really find ShortPopUp especially useful.

@billon
Better trust the executable. Softpedia also corrected the version number:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Launchers-Shutdown-Tools/QuickWayToFolders.shtml

The version discrepancy should be noted -- the changelog at http://jacquelin.potier.free.fr/QuickWayToFolders/history.php stops at v1.3.4 ...

It should be noted that if you do not change the *default* settings for "Always show in system tray" (Preferences...>Miscellaneous), the program will add to your registry:
============================================================
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"MicroSys-Launcher"="***your path here***\Launcher.exe"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-981525854-1381673208-3913934247-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"MicroSys-Launcher"="***your path here***\Launcher.exe"
============================================================

Upon closing, Launcher seems to always check your registry. If the box IS checked it will make sure that the above is in your registry. If the box is NOT checked it will make sure that the above is not in your registry.

PStart is so much more portable, simple and focused to the task.

Portable Application Launcher includes all the features this launcher has plus many, many more.

Nevermind, I was not waiting long enough for the indexing to finish. It seems a bit longer with windows 10. Last 64 bits version work fine.

Yay, first official update in five years! Still my favorite launcher!

The best launcher ever. I've been using this for 10 years.

I'm having the same problem with another launcher, and horst explanation seems pretty accurate to me...

I have used this program for a long time and I really like it;
I have always used it to launch programs,
but recently I have been using it to launch shortcuts to folders
and 2 out of 3 times that I do it,it crashes explorer.

Has any one else had this happen?

Note: 2020-11-12, still 100% functional, VERY nice option at its size

- v2.26 (x86) is infact 86kb, if reduced to exe, its needed ini/chw files & help/readmes combined to 1 txt file.

- only 2 programs that "still function 100% as of posting date" exist:

- VNChelper, at 80kb is SUPER NICE, its hard to pick between Qsel and VNChelper, they differ only in UI & 6kb file size... but I'm going Qsel for same function and 6kb SAVED.

- Then Popsel are smaller at 74kb, which is from same author and is funcationally the same with no "window" section, just a minimalist "fly-out" menu like Linux's "flux or black box" menus

(all reducing size with same readme method and UPX compressed via lmza)

All 3: Qsel, VNChelper and Popsil are FANTASTIC byte for byte

^ Everything is fine.

Not your average program launcher.... best used with StrokeIt.

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED: https://youtu.be/-E35OMfL4A4

I wont keep reposting the same info see VNChelper and Qsel for other still functional options as of 2020-11-12.

BUT Popsel is the smallest, fastest and lightest on resources @ a mere 74kb.

It is from same author as Qsel and is functionally the same, BUT with no "window" section, just a minimalist "fly-out" menu like Linux's "flux or black box" menus.

Super speedy little guy, designed for the power user or IT tech with MANY small tools on USB looking for an ideal mobile launch platform that will run on a TOASTER as long as it has 640kb of memory to space

Can auto run apps, etc etc... I suggest a good look at the readme to get the most out of it

Now at version 2.58

@a: "Most content of this web site is or will be in english language."
No need to use Google translate or anything like that.

Lean and mean x32 tray menu launcher, let down only by the lack of further development (seemingly ended in 2010) and drag'n'drop support -- uStart is a single 78 KB executable, and IMHO it's on par with PStart. Recommended.

now at version 1.6 - released 2017 August 2nd

@Cornflower - I just visited the website and it seems to be working okay. Still, if they're having domain or site issues, it's good to have an archive.org link handy. Thanks.

For that particular effect then the best pointer would be: http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/vnchelper/

Note: 2020-11-12, still 100% functional, VERY nice option at its size

- v3.8 (x86) is infact 80kb, if reduced to exe, its needed ini file & help made txt not rtf file.

- only 2 programs, this small, that "still function 100% as of posting date" exist:

- Qsel, at 86kb is SUPER NICE, its hard to pick between Qsel and VNChelper, they differ only in UI & 6kb file size... but I'm going VNChelper for same function and 6kb SAVED.

- Then Popsel are smaller at 74kb, which is from same author as Qsel and is funcationally the same with no "window" section, just a minimalist "fly-out" menu like Linux's "flux or black box" menus

(all reducing size with same readme method and UPX compressed via lmza)

All 3: VNChelper, Qsel and Popsil are FANTASTIC byte for byte

I tried, unable to get captcha correct. Posted on https://sourceforge.net/projects/asuite/ instead. Tried Asuite contact again, still not able to read captcha correctly.

@PAFuser - thanks for trying. That's ... frustrating.

Hi, sorry for the delay, I am only now reading your message.

In any case, the error messages are those related to the non-execution of some asuite items ("Seems scheduler did''t run the item% s as expected by options. Do you want execute it now?")? has it happened again in recent months?

Meanwhile, I opened an issue on github: https://github.com/salvadorbs/Asuite/issues/86

Thank you!

Nice one! lovely application, very useful

Good news, this app is interesting is there a place to post features suggestions ?

Perhaps contact developer XuanYuan YuShun directly ?
Email: debuger@outlook.com

That's the best solution.
FYI, developer gives this answer related to keeping the enlargement of the window after reboot :
"I guess when the system shutdown, OS didn't give XVA enough time to save configuration files, so the windows size don't save correct, and I would optimize it in the next version.
You can use the temporary plan as follows:
1. Adjust the window size.
2. manually exit.
3. restart XVA."
It worked for me !

guess thats an advantage, if theres any, of using adaware.

I use LiberKey for years and I never had any problems. This platform is currently the best. There are jealous ...

I did a brief testing of LiberKey version 5.8.1129 (only the launcher, not the suite) and my first impressions are very good- it is a well-designed, flexible, solid program with a nice set of features.

Oh - forgot - with HoeKey you also get a little panel that lists all of the hotkeys you assigned. That's really handy.

This used to be one of my favorite programs back in the day! :)

It's now at version 2.0

Add string aliases, *foo=something to define, ~N=MsgBox|Some text:%{foo} to use.
Add SetBrightness command. e.g. ~N=SetBrightness||Absolute Value (0-100)|Relative Value (-100 - 100). Requires Vista or newer.
Remove RunAlias command.

I very quickly integrated this into the startup sequence on both of my main machines. Great to get multiple portable software up and running in a system-friendly way.

Thanks, webfork. Your comment made me realize that Splat can be used as a start-up manager... duh!

Current PortAL version is now 1.5 as of 22 Jun 2015.

Although I am not the developer, I've been doing some user testing for him and I might be able to help some of you with issues.

veyselcelik: I looked at the message you posted and that comes up when the configuration file has an error. You might try restoring the default file and see if the message goes away.

Proteanic: The app icons are appearing just fine in my configuration. You may want to go out to the Obsidev/GUIPro Issues section of GitHub and report the problem - the developer may be able to resolve your problem. Personally, I find that explicitly pointing to the icon in the config file usually takes care of any issues of that sort.

A friend of mine wanted to try PortAL but couldn't get it to run. The current version of PortAL needs the Microsoft Visual Studio Redistributable package installed to work (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784) but the developer has agreed to compile the necessary binaries into the installation package so that users should not need to install the Re-distro package in the next release.

The developer has added the ability to create user-defined variables inside the configuration file, which has been a big convenience for me. He has also created some cool new skins which can be changed within the PortAL tag in the config file, along with the ability for users to make their own skins. A local help file which explains how to configure PortAL is not included in v1.5 but will be included in the next release. Until then, you can find configuration help here: https://github.com/obsidev/guipro/wiki/PortAL-Configuration

I discovered a few issues during user testing which will be fixed in the next release. My user testing notes can be seen here: https://github.com/obsidev/guipro/issues/13. The developer is very responsive - feel free to give observations, report bugs or make comments in the obsidev / guipro issues section of GitHub.

@ Shadeclan: Thanks ... and updated ;)

Shadeclan: Thanks for the data. See response in forums.

Interesting, effective, but slow.

An option to limit folder recursion might help (you can say %PrettyRunDrive%\portableapps -- for instance -- but the scan subfolders option is going to make PrettyRun go to a lot of unhelpful places, whereas if you could restrict it to just one subfolder down, it might be faster.

The MP3 tag search is also quite slow.

It's not the most intuitive to set up, either.

FindAndRunRobot (from www.donationcoder.com) has a similar philosophy to this but is much, much faster (despite also taking a similarly non-indexed approach) and has a lot more functionality, too.

Pretty Run changelog hasn't been updated since v6.1.0.17 (http://www.pretty-software.com/prettyrunhistory.txt)...

Avoid-ware.
Installs adware and spyware in background.

I wouldn't call the the launcher "rudimentary". It works great and I actually find it better than other menus.
It is only supposed to be the underlying code though, with the Launchpad extension coming soon.

I like to try and download free software. In this site i can take many free software. Thank you...

Still available from Softpedia. Tested, works as expected. Shame about the lack of Unicode support, but still extremely handy.

Website is a 404 error.

PAFuser: thanks, updated

@PAFuser:
http://se-soft.com/lang/en/

Unfortunately the website and download links are not accessible: "403 Forbidden" and "404 Not found" errors.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120509004406/http://www.download.irohde.de/launchv3

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Launchers-Shutdown-Tools/Portable-Application-Launcher.shtml

This is THE BEST portable launcher I have found so far with tons of features and customizations. Sadly, it looks like development has been discontinued. The website is down and there hasn't been an update since long :(

This looked cool, but its not what I thought it was. the description is (partially) accurate, you can't move icons around via drag and drop, doesn't support custom background images, and only one window.

The download link gives an File Not Found error. There are now two separate zips, one for 32bit and one for 64.

jessharpur: updated, thanks for the note

Also, if anybody is still interested, I've tracked down the (hopefully) original example configuration file to this address: https://gist.github.com/JackieKu/437200

@webb. Good work and interesting points made by yourself and the developer. Now we know why no documentation exists on SF. More might use this if a detailed overview was available describing what it does and its usefulness compared to similar apps.

@webb: excellent work!

Would it too much to ask you to repost the author's reply to KuShellExtension official forum topic -- which I have just added?

BTW, author's binary repo includes both 32 and 64-bit Mingw and VC2013 versions, up to release #37 (dated 2014-05-27)...

I added the commands famulus and "famulus ini" to manually add/edit commands and settings (and use the mouse less). This is a great find. Thanks, dmg.

@loner - How many times do we have to tell you, don't flood the comments section with irrelevant comments. Use the Forum please.

For those interested, I continue to use Famulus on Windows 10, both Home and Corporate editions.

Really good for me ! Freeware, Open Source, Light, customizable... I like it for my portable applications. I'm waiting impatiently the gui editor. Thanks Chao !

Responsive and light on resources. However, there is no one-click feature to easily remove entries from the interface.

My Win XP installation has toolbar problems - the toolbars take upwards of 15 seconds to initialize and often need to reinitialize during the day; probably some strange conflict with my antivirus software. To compensate, I've been looking for a good application launcher that allows me to group / subgroup the shortcuts and I think I've found it with Tray Launcher.
It takes very little time to initialize on my system and the menus always come up instantly, unlike some other application launchers I've tried. The skin functionality is attractive - I liked the "Office" skin particularly - and creating custom skins or changing existing skins appears to be very straightforward, although the documentation is somewhat incomplete. The provided menu editor does take some getting used to and the hotkey functionality seems to have some issues (I'm using HotKeyP and there may be some sort of conflict) but otherwise, this is just what I've been looking for.
If you try this program and are also having problems with the HotKeys, set up a hotkey or shortcut that simply calls the app. This duplicates the "ShowMenuAtMouse" functionality.
As of 01 Jun 2012, the documentation needs a lot of updating but the creator of the app is very much on top of maintaining it and has told me that he will be revising it soon.
Tray Launcher is a work in progress but is already a solid and attractive app and is very much worth using, especially if you're having the same problems with toolbars as I do.

This is a fantastic launcher that I've grown perhaps too dependent on. Really speeds up launching programs. If you like to type, this is the program for you.

I beg to differ. This launcher is diabolical.

It's a shame Colibri's development has stopped, it's an amazing product. The dedicated Google Group is still accessible and has a few valuable tips, if anyone's interested:
http://groups.google.com/group/colibri-talk

Also not mentioned at the site is the fact that Colibri is now OSS (source is hosted @ https://github.com/catch22/colibri) and has been looking for a new team for more than a year (http://stillmaintained.com/catch22/colibri)...

That is a good hint 1way. But is there a trick to make it launch a web address?

Sure Homer. For portability I use Browzar for private trackless surfing, put this in your .bat file: browzar http://www.1way.ws If you want to use Internet Explorer use: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" http://www.1way.ws (I'm using XP, if you use a different OS adjust the path to IE accordingly, the downside is the link then becomes OS dependent.)

Thanks 1way. It works well provided that the browser is in Porta'Menu's foder.

@CB13RY: from my quick checking, it seems that if you run the portable version once, it creates a 'Settings.ini' file in the application folder; you can edit this file with any text editor to change the paths included -- I was able to change from absolute path to filename only...

BTW, current version is now 2.3 -- please update.

@Midas: Updated, thanks.

Been using this app for a few years and it's great. I work part time at 3 different jobs and have a list created for each office. Run the appropriate command line first thing in the morning and all the programs/files I need for the day are loaded and ready to go.

A good simple alternative to Splat if you are only interested in launching programs.

You can create separate lists for programs you want to launch together, e.g. one for office work, one for graphic design, etc, etc. You can create a list of all your favorite programs and make them start with Windows. Does not remain open or resident in memory once all programs are launched.

Altogether a very useful program.

Tested and works in Windows 8.1 x64 too.

Very useful and simple tool for launching programs, opening folders, URLs, etc. with a shortcut. Launch lists use a text file so it's super easy to modify lists quickly and easily with the default txt editor.

For those in the same case where 8Start cannot launch anymore :
- You must uninstall the very last windows update KB4512508 and suspend windows updates.

Not the big deal, but you can still have it working for a few months.

Also, check LaunchBar Commander from DonationCoder, it seems the best alternative.

Last detail :
invalid procedure call error is brought to almost all VB6 apps since the last Windows 10 Update KB4512508

With some luck, there will be a fix and 8Start would come back to life then, but when ?...

https://support.microsoft.com/fr-fr/help/4512941/windows-10-update-kb4512941

KB4512941 is out on 30th of August and fixing VB6 issues, should fix 8start start up as well.

It appears that you can't. It's a simple launcher that parses your Start Menu. Can configure some websites as well, but that appears to be it.

links broken

Site and download links have been removed by author.

Portable JauntePE 0.6.6 Beta
- web site: http://www.portable-jauntepe.com-about.com/
- download page: http://www.portable-jauntepe.com-about.com/download.html
- direct download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/jauntepe/files/JauntePE060Nightly.zip/download
The link above download the file JauntePE060Nightly.zip and if You unzip it and see changelog.txt:
- gui's file version to 0.6.4
- runtime's file version to 0.6.6
Author is Redlar.

Seems like this doesn't work any more in Windows 10. Although apps portablised using it in previous versions of Windows still seem to work OK.

JauntePE downloaded, just want to try it) I am a fan of portable apps!!!
I have experience Molbox, but this is no longer supported. Then he switched to Boxedapp. These programs are very cool!

It certainly got a lot of press as an impressive tool but I was unable to test it.

There's a "laptop mode" on this one that doesn't use the numpad but it still refuses to use anything except the F10 through F12 keys and those are currently mapped to something else.

As I've also said to the originator of this program - very useful but the language is really bad (like when was Window's (plural) = Windows) - or is it a way to not infringe on any copyright issues?

Trend Micro blocks the download link, listed as 'malicious'. anyone else have this problem?

Links are dead... :(

It looks as if Lupo's UniExtractor (1.6) is having troubles with the latest Launchy executable v2.5.

"Signature detected: Inno Setup Setup Data (5.3.8)
This is not directly supported, but i'll try to unpack it as version 5306
; Version detected: 5308
Unpacking failed. This version is not supported."

This is how I fixed the problem...

I use Lupo's Universal Extractor - get the latest (v1.6 R8) updated Jan, 23, 2010. One problem, 'InnoUnp' is only @ 0.28, so you will need to get the latest 'innounp.exe' and update the \bin folder. This will do the trick, 'Launchy2.5.exe' can be extracted.

Lupo's Universal Extractor (Universal_Extractor.exe)(1.6 R8)
...http://www.lupopensuite.com/db/universalextractor.htm

Inno Setup Unpacker (innounp029.rar) - (0.29)
...http://sourceforge.net/projects/innounp/files/

During the setup you can select portable installation. Delete unins000.exe and unins000.dat.
Launch Launchy.exe

Here is version 2.0:

http://tinyurl.com/yd3flhb

Hmm, could we have a new contender in the program launchers category and give Executor some competition?

Will give this a try.

Okay, just took a look at the features list. It doesn't offer hotkey support to launch programs like Executor does. But the program is quite powerful, just not as powerful as Executor ;)

Nice neat utility. I can keep an eye on the CPU usage and see if it seems excessive.
Needs to have a similar display for HDD activity.

New home: http://sourceforge.net/projects/winbar/

Look at Glint as an alternate, it shows CPU, disk and more

@Billo255: that note was implying the "Download" link. We'll have to wait and see if anyone comes up with an alternative URL...

@Midas - Thanks but still confused. I was thinking the note meant that it was being hosted by PFC but the download link goes off into limbo the same way the weblink to the authors site does. (or at least it did when I clicked on it a few days ago).

All those dead links never pointed to TPFC -- you can check the tooltip on mouse over, the explicit linking to TPFC is just a database device to launch the original URL. TPFC usually doesn't host any files...

@Napiophelios
Entry updated.

Thanks smaragdus :)

Doesn't run for me on Win10. Launches, locks up and I have to force close to get rid of it. That's from a clean run.

website seems to be down

Portable version can be downloaded from:
https://windows-7-in-a-box.en.uptodown.com/windows/download

Current version does not take into account user might have set high DPI in windows (like me) and then calculates its framesize incorrectly (can't see all buttons)

Softpedia has a review on their site.
http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/ToolBox--Review-75011.shtml

Latest Version 2.78 includes:
* Better support for URLs dropped onto ToolBoxes
* "Open With" now has a button to easily a program to open a file with
* Various cosmetic fixes for computers with higher DPI settings
* You can also, "Alt-click" to bring up the shortcut properties, there's a new icon library manager with drag & drop support for easy customization.

Launchy is a spectacular launcher as well. Unfortunately it insists on building the index every time it starts instead of keeping a quick-reference database and performing small updates when necessary. Guillotine is also worthy of mention.

The interface menu shortcuts are better than scrambling through the start menu, desktop shortcuts, and remembering run commands. I don't consider myself a novice user, I just like the convenience of having everything in one place. Great application!

Xtort.net website is gone -- XP SysPad used to be at http://www.xtort.net/xtort/xpsyspad.php; redirected to SoftPedia.

weird thing! but i like it and it works without problems.
you have to get used to it to realize that it works properly: e.g. right-clicking means "closing".
some of the functions are quite useful the others can be disabled ;-)

Okay, I can't figure out how to access the .exe launcher function (is that the Z'Menu in the setup dialog? what is Zero-Zero-Menu?) nor the browser search bar or Google search bar. I discovered I could type into the system monitor box, but it doesn't launch a search... unless this app only supports Internet Explorer. The active browser is Firefox.

The Z'Panel (I assume that's what appears in the top left corner of the display) is very difficult to activate, especially when I'm using dual monitors and the mouse pointer pops too easily over to the second monitor, which is on the left in my setup.

I'm not sure what Swazz Z'Star is, either. It appears to do nothing when I select it.

Also, the command line won't stay in the directory I change to. I'm running SWAZZ portably on WinXP SP2. My portable drive is F: today. If I tell it to cd back to the C drive, it does that but pops right back into the F drive... so I'm at the F command prompt instead of C, no matter what I do.

It helps to read the Readme file packed with the application. :blush:

So that takes care of everything above except the difficulty of activating the menu (not Z'Panel) on a dual monitor, and the command line directory problem.
(WinXP Pro SP2)

once the icon in the tray is clicked, the menu is there all the time instead of fading away.

is there any option to automatically hide it after a number of seconds?

website down

Emka: thanks, updated

Somebody know if there will be a program update?

Gmacri: looks like the last release was the "final" one. You might try emailing the authors.

No Stealth
it creates this folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\StackDocklet

@Cattleya: probably because latest version was released in 2007 -- but since it is GPLed, feel free to update it, if you can... ;)

Aha, the Midas challenge... 1st prize?

I really wish I was a man for the job -- but to each, his own... :)

1st Prize: undying recognition from TPFC and the Internet at large? 3:)

@webfork: problem solved;
This is what happened, I had a version of PStart from 4 years ago running on my PC at the D-drive.
When I installed the newest version of PStart on my E-drive I replaced the old version of PStart on the D-drive at the same time, however only the menu of the E-drive was working.
After your last comment that I should work, I completely removed PStart from the D-drive and reinstalled it again.
Now everything works fine, I think that some remains of the old Pstart menu was interfering..does not matter anymore, I got what I want..!!
Great, thanks a lot Webfork...
_joepie_ makes a deep bow for WF.. :)

The program does indeed have minor problems on Win7: I frequently have to restart in order to get to the "Panel" view. Based on developer activity to date, we are unlikely to see an update to fix this.

The best launcher I've never used. It works very well in Windows 10, and only in 769KB.
I've love it very much.

I use RKLauncher. I THINK it picks up where Y'z left off. It's still being developed as far as I know, but it hasn't been updated since I started using it a year ago. It supports relative paths too, but doesn't use them by default.

This could be a nice 'Pendrive Menu' but I've had problems with lost menu data.
Also, it would be nice if, when set up with 2 or 3 different menus, you don't have to jump from the left to the right or top, bottom or the corners, to access a different menu. Perhaps using 'CTRL' or 'ALT' or 'Shift' etc together with the mouse might give the menu a bit more flexibility.

Mainly though, I would say sort out the stability problem of lost info.

Oh, just another thing.
When you try to get to the 'Hidden Menu Homepage' from the 'Info' tab within the program, you get a web site, [http://home.i-cable.com/lokinwai/], which seems to be Chinese.