Productivity - Program Launchers (60)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 :(

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

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)

@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

website seems to be down

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

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

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.

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)...

^ Everything is fine.

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.

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... :(

@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:)

As of 2016.08.01 Windows 10 is not officially supported:
http://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuDownload.aspx

As the last comment is nearly four years old, I think it's needless to mention that SyMenu actually supports Windows 10. In my case the application even reached the "autostart-status", which is really a coronation for an app. Furthermore, since eight months I am contributing to the large Program Suite as SPS-Publisher. During this time I made the experience of a respectful athmosphere under the people behind SyMenu, which I could talk to so far. Except the developer of course, keep away from this crazy guy...btw hello Gian my friend and greetings to Italy ;-) So, all-in-all in my personal opinion this application is really worth a try and I'm sure it even get's better from day to day!

Now at 8.01.8833

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.