Anyone willing to post a rar/zip of the portable version? Admin lock won't let me do an install...

kaobear

@tmuka: Indeed.

Hehehe...I used Launchy 1.25 to launch "Add remove programs" to uninstall it.

It launched is own doom!!!

I am so easily amused. :\

2.0 is super snazzy.

Woodwater

Launchy 2.0 seems to run faster than the previous version, and the new default skin is very cool!

tmuka

I cannot seem to find an option to add file type masks for ALL directories. I don't really want to have to go through each directory and assign my dozen or so file types.

yrhumbleservant

> Any signs of whether it's more reliable? I had to stop using Launchy because it kept getting locked into using 100% of my CPU cycles.

No problem here. A Windows reinstall may help.

teki

Any signs of whether it's more reliable? I had to stop using Launchy because it kept getting locked into using 100% of my CPU cycles.

DigitalAutumn

@Kubota: I really hope you meant 21mb... 21k is nothing unless you have <128mb of ram.

liamt

Umm, where did they move the hotkey setting? Alt-Space makes sense only if you don't use cmd windows. (I've settled on Ctrl-W since I never use that as a Close Window shortcut)

daddydave

I like how it has more search options than 1.25. I dunno if this was in 1.25, but I also like how you can add your own searches to it.

Destrox

This is pretty cool, but it is taking up 21k of my memory right now. Not fun when you only have 512mb of ram.

Kubota

OMG!! I AM EXCITE!

mt256

Last time I tried 2.0 Alpha, Explory was not working. It seems its still broken. That's a major feature for me (that alone makes it more than just a basic launcher) so I'll stick with 1.25 for now.

yriafelc

@Kubota: Go linux and get Gnome Do. Easier on system resources and looks better than windows IMHO...

bdragonmsl

@yrhumbleservant: Try *.*

Has anyone figured out how to keep the new version always on top when it's displayed? That option is permanently greyed-out for me.

DogHead

Alternative to Launchy, More Functionality: If you like launching applications, but wish your Launcher could do more, such as switch between Windows, close background windows, sense selected files in Windows Explorer and send them as outlook attachements, be configurable to search any website, browse folders, start your screensaver, and do much more than Launchy can do, check out DOMercury at [www.odierno.com] The development is very active and it gets new features all the time. There are even demonstration videos.

Dom

i had launchy running at 17mb of ram. I used a program called sweepram which essentially frees up memory leaks with in programs. I ran it and now launchy is only using 1.2mb of ram. Hmm........

alienhead

@joelena: I agree. I tried getting the Explory.dll out of the 1.25 release and dropping it into the plugins folder for Launchy 2.0 but that didn't work. Guess we'll have to wait for an official release of explory for 2.0.

dashifen

KUBOTA, I have few apps that use less than 1000k of memory, perhaps you mean 21M? My launchy is using 27MB... I don't know what the old one used, but for me this is definately worth it!

tmuka

@daddydave: It's on the first ("General") tab of the "Options", in the "User Interface" box.

I didn't realize how much I'd been using Explory until I upgraded and it's gone :(

joelena

Although I've never really tricked it out, I probably use it 50 times a day! I'm glad to see the new version if for no other reasons than to see the project thrive.

And even though I don't speak Polish, I'm super excited to see they've added Polish in the new version.

:)

bdeeley

Wow, 21MB is a lot. That's about 1/3rd of the VM size of Microsoft Outlook on my system. I thought that Launchy had stopped using the .NET Framework ;-)

jarmod

Yuck, no Explory. It's probably my most-used feature in Launchy, too. I'm holding out for now...

RocketSlug

@iain010100:
I beleieve it uses whichtever browser you have set as your default browser.

alienhead

Anyone know how I can change the default browser Launcy uses to firefox? When I type "imdb TAB John Holms" it launches IE. I'd rather not change my preferences for every app, just Launchy.

iain010100

I just installed 2.0 and for some reason, it keeps crashing on me. XP keeps telling me that it needs to close and asks if I want to send an error report.

Anyone else getting something similar?

Canoman

More searches? Add your own? Holy Dash, Batman. They just released version 0.95 if anyone is interested. Fixes a host of bugs and adds some new functionality. Sure you have to pay for it, but it's not much right now and the developed responsiveness canNOT be beat.

www.trydash.com

dekay46

I love Launchy! I've nearly got an Icon Free desktop thanks to it, which makes it fun when anybody else tries to use my workstation and are like "Where the hell is everything?"

However, as others have mentioned, its unfortunate that you have to uninstall v1.25 in order to install v2.0. I'm finding that I have to re-teach Launchy all the quick shortcuts I had been using for such a long time with v1.25. Like fx=Firefox tb=Thunderbird dw=Dreamweaver etc, it forgot all of those, but with some patient guidance it is re-learning.

LastVigilante

I love Launchy. Couldn't live without it.
Jeez, I put a lot of time into configuring ver 1.25. I hate to start all over again. Maybe I'll wait.

Plus I heard rumors that the hot key in 2.0 isn't configurable. Since I use Ctrl + space, maybe I'll wait.

gpzbc

@MitchMan: Not sure about whether the trial version is full-featured as of yet but for $20, it's worth it. You can use it on 3 separate machines plus you get an additional license for free. The newest update kicks ass and is worth the $20 by itself.

And Dash is only using 5 MB of memory on my box.

jarhead

@dekay46:
Have they made the Dash trial download a full-feature download yet? Last time I tried it was severely feature-limited and not very useful.

As to the developer's responsiveness, his last post (in the comments on the download page) was over 3 months ago.

MitchMan

Gnome Do = similar on Linux.

On Windows I prefer Find and Run Robot. Only eating up about 7k of my memory. Sweet!

Jim

Any news on the linux version?

a0peter

Perhaps it's coincidental, but application launcher Dash [www.dash.com] just upgraded to 0.95. The changes are substantial - fuzzy text matching to launch programs, support for Google Apps, integrated auto-suggest in web searches (really neat) and more. It also feels slicker and more reliable.

tolleranza

So they removed the 'ALL' directory settings, which is a terrible move. I'm at an office where we have several servers, with many folders I need to pull things from. I can't believe they did that.

gvf

I wrote a short guide on getting the latest Launchy to search Gmail. It's pretty handy I must say.
Basically your adding the Gmail search URL to the Weby plugin.
[broughton.tumblr.com]

mistr_e

I am pretty excited for the new launch as well. It does seem to be much smoother. TMUKA is right the new skin is kinda nice. Cheers!

technotolitan

@LastVigilante: There must be some crafty way to migrate the settings. Maybe decompose the 1.25 (xml?) settings file, and then use autohotkey to inject those settings back into 2.0.

jarmod

I just upgraded and then downgraded again. Old version was using 17mb of memory and new version was using 34mb. I also like the look of the old one better.

gfrobe

@gpzbc: The hot key *is* configurable, just as before. I also use ctrl+space. Alt+space is such a bad default, imo, when you consider that Launchy's audience is full of keyboard ninjas -- people who frequently use alt+space for window control.

jarmod

I would like to use Launchy, but it also used way too much of my CPU all the time, even on my brand new computer, so a Windows reinstall would be irrelevant.

LessIsMore

@jarhead:
The trial download is still feature-limited, despite the developer's 9/17/07 promise in the comments section that "The next update we make to the trial version is going to be non-restricted." He has not fulfilled his promise and I am not rewarding his lack of follow through by paying him money to try his product. Especially when Launchy is an excellent free alternative.

MitchMan

@Kaobear: I'd help you out but I don't know if it's OK to post a link to the extracted software here, even though it is freeware. Anyone else want to chime in?

Jeff (through bugmenot)

kaobear

@Canoman: Yes... I'm getting the same crashes in Windows XP.

Are there any known issues about this? Could there be conflicting software?

MSB

@Woodwater:

Version 2.0 doesn't seem to pick up "Add or Remove Programs" :( -- is there something I'm doing wrong??? Being able to index the contents of Control Panel was one of the things I most liked about Launchy.

launchyfan

not happy with this, the reason i used launchy was because it was simple, lightweight and was very usable- for me 2.0 is slower, lost more functionality by adding useless things and making a new unecessary skin which takes up more ram. Back to 1.25 for me

darshil

I like the update, however they removed the manual reindex option from the right-click menu. I used that quite a bit when I installed some new apps. Anyone know how to run a manual index?

xious

Oh no! No Explory? I didn't realise until I installed 2.0 :( This was also my most used feature of Launchy.

Neither did I realise that it erased all of the 1.25 settings. Fortunately, I didn't have many settings anyway, but come on...!

The new default skins seem a lot nicer, and the fade-in/out effects are a nice touch. The panel also seems a lot more intuitive, with everything in one place. It reset the launch keyboard shortcut, so I had to find the online manual - just to launch it! (I'd forgotten it was Alt-Space, and I use Ctrl-Backspace)

IanOliver

@Andrew Heiss: [www.amazon.com] gp/search/?keywords=%s

OzTardis

A couple of tips. Uninstall old version first if you have it. Setup doesn't do this & leaves old dead plugin DLL's behind. As for losing config, you could try setting portable mode in old ver first, backing up config.ini in Launchy folder & then restoring after upgrade. This may work.
Control Panel applet launching was handled by Controly plugin in 1.x which is another pending upgrade to 2.x (along with Explory).

OzTardis

Must be something wrong with me. I find it easy to click on icons.

Capone

The Launchy web site needs some help. The download link should be big and obvious. But instead you have to click through a couple expando tabs to find a link offsite (buried in a paragraph of text) to a cluttered SourceForge download page.

btw, I love Launchy.

cpeterso

@DARSHIL: You may want to look at Keybreeze, which is quite a bit faster and more memory efficient than Launchy. It's loaded with features that Launchy doesn't have, such as macros, text insertion, and notes and reminders.

andrewl85

@MSB: Glad I'm not the only one. I haven't seen anything on it. For now, I'm going back to 1.25.

Canoman

Does anyone want to post the search query and URL for Amazon in Weby? I just added the Gmail search query that was mentioned earlier here, but accidentally overwrote the Amazon query. Oops! Thanks!

Andrew Heiss

Unhappy with the Launchy 2.0? you will want to give DOMercury a try. It fixes all the shortcomings mentioned in these commments.
[www.odierno.com]

Dom

I upgraded and I like it. It works worlds better in Vista than 1.25 did.

The Launchy website says that the Controlly was yanked from 2.0 at the last minute, but I think it should be available again soon.

Besides that, no problems. And huge improvements in Vista.

gpzbc

My launcher of choice is Find and run robot, FARR, [www.donationcoder.com] .

But what I would really like to see is an extensive comparative review of the many launchers available, including a detailed feature matrix. Done properly that could give even more speed to the ongoing launcher evolution.

lina_zav

Has TapTap been integrated into it yet? If so, that'd be AMAZING! I'm tired of running TapTap seperately :(

dale3h

Hahaha. I just got Launchy two nights ago. Let's give this version a whirl.

-specialk

kalebdf

For a second I thought Launchy added the "Polish" language.

I really really miss explory =(

Dooga

@OzTardis: Thanks!

Andrew Heiss

@Dooga:
Oh wait explory is integrated now, into the program! Woot.

Dooga

Still prefer Colibri: [colibri.leetspeak.org]

oneiros

Here is the changelog:

[www.flexbeta.net]

shane_mckinley

@kaobear: I installed it on my home pc, configured it, zipped the launchy folder, emailed it to my work email, unzipped it and now run it in portable mode. No admin pop-ups and working fine :-)

johnwin

Does wiping the configuration file mean that I will have to wait for Launchy to re-index my directories after I install the new version? Or does it keep the index and just reset preferences for appearance, keyboard shortcuts, etc?

Rhayader

@Dom: I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop pushing your application launcher. Looking at your post history it seems you like to jump into every application launcher article LH posts and push your app.

Stop it. It's annoying.

Explory is built in now - just to get it running you gotta start with an actual backslash instead of a tab-key press. Definitely taking some getting used to Looking forward to Controly making a return. I used that for a lot of Control Panel stuff. The updated runny plugin accepts batch commands directly. Now I have "nstop","net stop","$$" in the columns in runny respectively.

jivemastert

Find And Run Robot still far eclipses Launchy in terms of intelligent design and functionality.

zman818

Hi,

I've been beta testing Launchy v2.0 for the last months and I've read a few erroneous comments above, so I thought that I should register and give you my comments:

1.- Explory IS included in this release. IT is NOT a plugin anymore (so there is no need for a explory.dll). Instead its functionality is integrated directly into Launchy itself.
Actually, its functionality has been _greatly_ improved compared to 1.25.
Try this:
Type c:\
The "\" IS very IMPORTANT. When you type it Launchy goes into "explory" mode and you can start browsing your folders. Use TAB to auto complete your selected folder.
Another cool way to get to "explory" mode is to select a shortcut to a folder (for instance "My documents") and hitting TAB. You will be able to navigate to any folders contained inside the folder that the shortcut points to.
Finally, this new version removes a big limitation of the old explory, which would only show you a limited amount of files within a folder. Now it shows you all the files in the dropdown!

2.- Memory issues: Launchy 2.0 takes more memory. In my case it went from 12 MB for version 1.25 to 19 Mb with 2.0.
However, this is not because of bloat. The reason is that it now uses the QT toolkit, which uses up more memory. The advantage though is that Launchy is now crossplatform and will soon work in Windows, Linux and OSX.
Also, it allows its skinning engine to be much better. I particularly like the new fade in and fade out effects. I think that unless you have very little memory, this should not be a big issue. Otherwise, either use 1.25 or get more memory! ;-)

3. Controlly: It was present in the last beta of v2.0, but Josh, the guy who makes Launchy, removed it of the final release becasue it was causing crashes for some people. If you want it, I recommend that you install the latest beta from:

[www.launchy.net]

save the controlly.dll from the installation folder (C:\Program Files\Launchy) and install the final version again.

4. New features: I've read claims that this new version does not add new features. That is totally not true. Other than the much improved explory, the weby and runny plugins are great ways to customize how you search the web or how you start your programs. Give it a try, I bet you'll discover that they are very, very useful.

5. Be careful with your settings. You will lose your old settings when you install. It is unfortunate, but with all the changes it is understandable.

That is all! I hope this info helps people decide whether they should upgrade to this version or not! I really think that it is much better than the previous version and totally worth the update.

Cheers,

Angel

amadawn

Explory is there, it's just built it instead of a plugin.

gibblets

@xious:

launchy r

This is new to Launchy 2. There are three arguments that can be passed to Launchy 2 in this way. Just type "launchy ", and you will see them on the drop-down list:

1. exit
2. options
3. reindex

demetris

I just used DOMercury (as ugly as it is), to remove Launchy.

erifneerg

@xious:

Some crucial bits were lost in my previous reply.

Try this:

launchy TAB r ENTER

This is new to Launchy 2. There are three arguments that can be passed to Launchy 2 in this way. Just type "launchy TAB", and you will see them on the drop-down list:

1. exit
2. options
3. reindex

demetris

Nth-ing Find and Run robot. Much smaller footprint in my memory and blazing fast.

Chris

The most exciting feature of 2.0 to me, as mentioned by @amadawn, is the fact that it lays the foundation for the Mac and Linux versions (to be released early next year). Launcy is the only Windows app that I miss in OS X!

Craig

Why is that version 1.25 uses 22mb of memory for me? Amadawn says above that 1.25 uses 12mb and 2.0 uses 19mb so 22mb seems really high for me. Is there anything I can do to reduce that?

gfrobe

@amadawn: Thanks for your post, amadawn! That cleared up a lot of things for me and I just re-upgraded to 2.0. The "integrated" explory is working for me as you described and that's all I cared about.

dashifen

@Craig: just use Quicksilver for mac!

qrius

I love it, but it's too bad I have to redefine my catalog...

qrius

same problem as @DOGHEAD

"Has anyone figured out how to keep the new version always on top when it's displayed? That option is permanently greyed-out for me."

alfredoabambres

Everyone's beating up on Launchy pretty badly. I love Launchy and I couldn't imagine my life without it. With the exception of the missing Controlly, Ver. 2.0 is an improvement for me....especially on my Vista machine.

And 20 mb of memory hardly seems like a big deal. That is what it is there for.

I give props to the creator of Launchy for making such a fine piece of freeware.

Anyways, that's my two cents worth.

gpzbc

I've got *.xls indexed in my My Documents folder (which on my office network is linked to \\[server]\users\[username]), but when I pull up one of my commonly used Excel files, Launchy sees it in the index, but doesn't do anything when I go to launch it. Excel doesn't even start.

Anybody else have this issue? Word is doing the same thing, after just testing that as well.

Skadus

launchy used to work very well but in 2.0 it consistently uses up all CPU resources. Weird!

ahefil

I really like Launchy, I used an older version for many months and I really like the its aesthetic and the incredible capabilities of its plugins.

But ANDREWL85 is absolutely on the money, KeyBreeze is clearly the superior choice for anyone with any sort of concerns about memory.

KeyBreeze goes about things in a different way (in many ways, I feel, a better way) but does more or less the same things whilst shrinking away to nothing whenever you're not using it.

The only problem with KeyBreeze is that you need the pro version to get some of the high-end plug-ins.

dbeech

@Rhayader: Yes, but it seems you also have to set-up your directories from scratch again along with all your preferences - as if you'd just installed Launchy for the first time.

IanOliver

I tried 2.0 but noticed that RAM use doubled. But the more important fact is how much it was taxing the CPU. Bloody thing's a pig. This is looking more like over-rated bloatware. I'm back to 1.25, and checking out alternatives.

philosopher_dog

@MitchMan:
Unfortunately for people who want to try it out, the demo is not full-featured. As far as responsiveness of the developer, they've been working hardcore on 0.95. While I'd prefer more, smaller releases, this last one was huge and included a few things that I'd specifically asked for in the forums. The dev team might not always talk, but they sure do listen.

dekay46

MicthMan: As others have noted above, the 2.0 version of Launchy is a complete rock-bottom rewrite in QT, and they wanted to get things in a solid state before releasing (I also was part of the beta testing team). I'm sure now that the main 2.0 release is out, there will be smaller, more frequent, incremental releases/improvements. In fact, I'm sure the developers of Launchy would love to hear everyone's feedback and comments, positive and negative, as they really are a committed bunch. Just visit [sourceforge.net]

As for the naysayers, I think it's great that many of you have found an alternative launcher that works for you, but please be respectful of those of us who are die-hard Launchy lovers. Thanks!

xnexus744

Hey guys. Got a ridicules problem. By mistake I changed the transparency (opaqueness) of launchy to 100% and now I cannot find it :-)

Tried uninstalling but I still cant find it.

Anyone know how to solve this?

Merry Xmas

jonasbolin

I did the same thing, made it invisible...
Just go to your C:\Doc&Setting\USER\Application Data\Launchy and in the Launchy.ini file, set "opaqueness" to 100.
You don't have to close and open the software, just type your hotkeys once or twice.
Cheers!

AlexChabot

Check out this thread on the sourceforge forum to get back the missing controly plugin for Launchy 2.0. I was looking for the same thing and this worked for me:

[sourceforge.net]

gogobobo