I'm so tempted to try FARR. However, I must shamelessly admit that I like a smooth, polished look and so, for that, I use Launchy 2.0.

DianaBoston

For PCs, Launch is defintely the best, especially when you get in to Plug-Ins(add-ins), that just make it more and more efficient.

For Mac, I've found that Spotlight works just fine, QuikSilver is really nice, but in my case was mostly unnecessary, really depends on what kind of user you are though.

cooltech786

Google Desktop also contains an app launcher, which is very similar to Launchy, but it is a bit faster, and searches in all of your files,emails ,browser history, and more...

SharmisthaDexamenus

Launchy OWNS!!! Similarly, I love Spotlight to death.

Pwnzord

VOTE: Launchy

ejel

If you are on KDE, I will recommend Katapult.

BinnyVA

I stumbled across this a few days ago and have since found Launchy to be indispensable. The timing on this discovery was perfect, as I wasn't exactly enjoying rooting through the old Windows Start Menu once again after growing tired of ObjectDock.
Launchy gets my vote, for sure.

On a side note, I'm actually quite surprised that RocketDock is on the list, and not ObjectDock. In my humble, personal opinion, ObjectDock is far more user friendly, has more features and customization options, and is overall quite a better program.
It sure kept me happy for the past 8 months, anyway. ;)

BittenReaper

Ok, I admit now that I am a Launchy convert. Thanks for that Lifehacker.

bachcottage

Quick Launch.

No, really, I am serious. Too bad it doesn't work under Ubuntu.

Peter Dahl

I love launchy, I use it to index all sorts of files so I can get to them easily. I like that it indexes directories so I can get to those in a hurry as well. I've used both RocketDock and ObjectDock, and ended up liking ObjectDock more, just for little usability reasons.

kineticarl

Enso

raasiel

dmenu
(Unix-like only)

It's index is already there (I think it uses locates database), so it's speedy and doesn't take up screen space.

You can't just invoke it directly, so check out the man pages. Here is an example invocation

exec `dmenu_path | dmenu -b`

No icons, just text based on what you type to look for.

mrproper

No one mentions nDroid :( I love this program. It launches programs and search files. It also allows for plugins to make your own Autohotkey script macros for your text string.

icefreez

Vista Start Bar with Start ++

Plus you can pretty much surf the web from your start bar with some tweaking.

Ender15

LaunchBar all the way.

MacSeven.com

Anyone know how to improve the Launchy reaction time? My shortcut is CTRL+Y (Z on your keyboards) and it doesn't even work every time. It sometimes takes a couple of tries and sometimes it opens but I have to click into the interface to be able to type the search :/

janbaart

@dave3: <---- correct about slickrun.

5h17h34d

I have to agree with Dave3; SlickRun is the way to go. As unobtrusive as anything can possibly be, Win+Q pops open a tiny entry box that already has the focus. Type in enough characters to distinguish the entry you want, press enter, and your defined app, or document, or whatever opens. Faster 'n greased lightnin.

EoRaptor013

Sapiens. Love it.

Mike Panic

@Alicemagic:

No, I've tried using QuickSilver through its keyboard shortcuts. The thing is, I found it completely unintuitive. By the time I figured out how to do what I wanted, I could've just opened the relevant application and done it. I suppose if you devote a week to fiddling with the app and learning its quirks it could be faster, but it just didn't work out that way for me.

Hell, I even started out on MS-DOS, having to learn command lines and batch files. I can find my way around a command line in Terminal. But Quicksilver didn't seem to have a rhyme or reason to how its commands are structured.

I suppose I need to locate a good tutorial online, but for the life of me I can't find one. Of course, now that QS development is pretty much dead, I don't see a point.

BluegrassGeek

I use Xmonad exclusively everywhere, and dmenu is the perfect fit.

cobrajs

@northwest: I found a link to a command line YubNub tool for Windows in the YubNub wiki. You can save it in C:\Program Files\Launchy\Utilities, or put it in your C:\Windows\system32 directory (so you can access it with Win+R or in the console) then put a link to it in your start menu.

[www.opbarnes.com]

joelena

I have no idea what it is called but this morning when I turned on my Mandriva Linux KDE powered computer the menu has been updated and it looks and functions similarly to the Vista menu but with a couple extra tricks. Not sure if I like it or the old menu better. The old menu functioned exactly like a Windows XP machine but with some added features in the right click menus allowing me to easily add keystrokes to open any program.

We'll see if I keep the new one or if I go back to the old menu. That said the top 8 programs I use I have keystrokes for so I can get busy really quickly and easily. Mouse or keyboard - I'll use either but I don't like to switch back and forth to get something done.

Ctrl-Shift-O = Opera
Ctrl-Shift-T = Thunderbird
Ctrl-Sheft-t = Amarok

And so on...

busbodger

I scoff at these poll results. My view is anyone who votes anything other than Find and Run Robot hasn't tried it! :)

I require this program to be on any PC I use. In my opinion it stands not just head and shoulders over every other launcher in existence, but far above that. It can be as simple as you want, you just type in a little bit of what you want and bam there it is, or you can get very complex with it. I love some of the plugins. If I want to uninstall an app, say trend micro pc-cillin I hit the hotkey and type "un trend" and there it is. If I want to start or stop a service I type "sctl superfetch" (my favorite service to disable in Vista). There are a ton of plugins to do all kinds of stuff, but my main use is its primary function: starting programs. Definitely, its 10x the launcher any other one on the list is. I can't rave enough about how great it is.

Tekzel

Keybreeze. I'm a tad surprised that there seems to be so little love out there for this one.

Roy Jacobsen

Win+R ++

I use it ALL day long. Two things: if there isn't a easy to find run code, create a shortcut with the name you want and add it to your system32 folder (under the Windows directory).
Other thing: I love using it when I'm on someone else's computer. No digging through their ridiculous menus just to find word or excel. Just Win+R then "winword" or "excel".

ACF

Rocket Dock FTW!

evan_phi

I can't use numpad in Find and Run Robot.
Does anyone have the same problem?
Thanks.

malbec

There are also Launchers available for Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms.

The one I use is Launch Manager from Fantastic Bytes.

It's fast, stable and lightweight.

[www.fantasticbytes.com]

but there are also others.

sookyboo

I have really started liking the hi-five column these days. It is starting to look like the slashdot polls ! You insensitive windows clod! LOL

gcm

I dont mind the launcher on KDE 4 (KRunner). Launchy irritated me as I found it popped up *all* the time (even when using keybindings not associated with it).

cbiggins

katapult
gnome do
launchy
quicksilver
awn
rocketdock
dock

in that order

almostdvs

Launchy & cmd / run bar.

I use Launchy on my XP machine, and also have a folder with shortcuts for other things in the path. For my OLD Win98 machine Launchy is too big and I just use run/command prompt with shortcuts in the path.

johnsmith1234

Hey!
You forgot to mention the one I'm using:

Enso by Humanized!

overzero

Sorry for the many typos above, I clearly need to go practice at [play.typeracer.com] some more...

lina_zav

I voted Find And Run Robot (FARR!). It run files and programs quickly but is also advanced and customizable enough to replace many other small tools (like a process killer, text memo tool, bookmark manager and so on). It lacks the flashy looks that Launchy has. But that's ok since FARR can be skinned to a very minimal look - an input box and not much more. I think a good launcher should minimal. Because even very good looking flashy program become irritating to see you use it hundreds of times a day.

Anyway, FARR-developer Mouser explains better what makes it stand out from other launchers in this post: [www.donationcoder.com]

lina_zav

Uhhhh, I like my dock? I don't see the point in an additional app launcher; If i put a folder to the right of the runway on the dock, I can just click it and see the entire contents of that folder. Very handy.

smackswell

Why not just recode your keyboard to do the stuff for you, eg # for windows key f using AutoHotKey

#f run firefox
#n run notepad
#u run utorrent

ect. ect.

skilled1

I'm sticking with ObjectDock Plus for windows. I have tried QuickSilver on Mac and it has a pretty big learning curve from my experience, but I have always heard good things about it. I am going to check out Gnome Do on my Ubuntu machine.

d3a1i0

I have been using ObjectDock for quite a long time and it's been pretty good so far.

theMockingNoob

I switched from Launchy 2.0 to FARR (Find and Run Robot) because Laucnhy slowed down my computer to much with the background indexing.
FARR does not index your files, so it wont need as much resources, and searching is only a few seconds longer than Launchy's.
Also in FARR you can open the containing folder to, not just the file.
You can easily narrow your search to different file tipes, eg. .ppt, .docx
i think all Launchy users should give it a try.

Asszem

@muteboy:
there's a web search plugin, type your search, hit tab, type search web, hit tab again, and type google. If you need help come talk to us in #gnome-do on freenode. We're in there all the time. -- --Alex Launi

TabithaMalkoth

Launchy gets my vote.

A close second is the one that comes default in Ubuntu. It's not the one in the poll, but it's definitely better than Launchy.

dkong1026

What? No Nexus (multi-level dock) or WorkShelf? This is a cause for a first post! As I was reading through the comments I had to wonder if either or both of these apps passed under the average LifeHacker's radar. Both of the programs above are at [www.winstep.net]

RoseDreamJ

I've always loved Launchbar, because of its SOLID reliability... it has NEVER EVER EVER crashed once EVER once and I've used it every day for 2 years...

Luigi193

@fritzk3: I love Lifehacker's policy against self-promotion (you can link to your website on your /commenter/ page, which is plenty as long as people are aware of it), so your comment made me look at Dom's comment history. Sure, s/he mentioned it twice on the call for contenders (admittedly one time too many) and once here, but it's highly relevant to these threads. It's certainly not true that s/he "shills" it every time.

joelena

you can also Tweet from GNOME DO, its a simple "add on" and voila, hit your key combo and start typing then hit tab, it'll have Tweet in the right hand box then smack return and your tweet will been up in seconds on your feed.

And if we're giving Rocket Dock a mention then why not mention Cairo Dock or Avant Window Manager for Ubuntu (and possibly more GNU/Linux distros)

dougaitken

I use both Launchy and RocketDock on Vista.

I was using Launchy 2.0, but it was s-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-w on Vista. I finally regressed to Launchy 1.25 and not only does it run a LOT faster on Vista, but I swear my entire system speeded up. I'm thinking 2.0 was eating up way too many system resources or something. Whatever it was, just dumping 2.0 in favor of 1.25 really made a huge difference on how fast my system runs.

RiotNrrd2001

The only thing I envy about Macs: Quicksilver. Yes there's Gnome Do, and Katapult, but it's just not the same. Linux just doesn't get as much integration with apps as Macs do. (This is mostly because there are so many more choices and I like a highly customized desktop, but that's beside the point).

theNitwit

@Dom: Must you shill your launcher every time you post here? It gets very tiresome.

fritzk3

What does "best" mean here? Best at attracting votes? This poll does not seem to be about the "best application launcher", but about the "most popular application launcher". No?

I've actually never seen a really objective and careful side by side comparison of these apps -- the analysis/comparisons made here are a good starting point but are much too superficial to properly inform voters/users.

Going back to the poll : there are absolutely no precise evaluation parameters and participants experience or expertise (with computers in general and with the different apps in particular) are not taken into account. So the only thing it can measure is... popularity and highly subjective preferences. Hence, for the results to be interpreted correctly, the pole title should probably be *changed*. Please, consider changing it.

That said, I will tell you what my favorite launcher is.

It's not Launchy or RocketDock… Nope. I'm using FARR (find and run robot). After comparing all the Windows candidates, I found that it's a superior product. I won't go into a detailed analysis here, but it's QUICK, very robust, doesn't need an index (although it can use one if one installs locate32) -- and so it finds everything, anything, anytime --, it's easy to use (beginner mode), expandable (advanced mode) with lots of options (ranging from basic to very advanced), light on resources, very flexible/configurable, etc. And it does not only Launch but can do lots of other things which are oh sooooo convenient. See the list of plugins: [www.donationcoder.com]
FARR (Find and Run Robot) deserves much more credit than what it's getting here - a mere 3% !!!! I personally don't care if it does not become popular, but I do care about that kind of result in a so called (misleadingly) "best in class" kind of contest.

------------

PS : If was using a Mac, I'd be using Quicksilver, and if I was using Linux more, I'd be using Gnome Do most of the time (if there's no way I can run farr with wine). But, on Windows? I wouldn't trade FARR for anything else. Even if you paid me - yep. IMO, it's that good.

armandog

It is very weird that almost nobody mentions the Windows Vista Start menu. I just press the Windows key and start typing the application I want. It works perfectly.

copiloto

WHAT! no one mentioned ObjectDock!!! its way better... you can do much more with it than with RocketDock, its much more customizable.

Chewy_Solo

I used to use Launchbar, because of the abbreviations, but now I use Quicksilver for aesthetic reasons.

xxloverxx

I gotta send out some love to ActiveWords. Tell it the hotkeys you want, and it launches apps, opens files, navigates to your favorite website, opens folders, and of course its main claim to fame: it replaces text (like AutoCorrect in Word, but in ALL apps, even e-mails and IMs). Couldn't live without it... I press two keys and instantly my name, address, zip, phone, email and Web addresses all spew forth. If you type as bad as I do, ya gotta love it!

wordwhiz

ObjectDock Plus is a tabbed application/file launcher. And you can add widgets that call up flyout menus or weather forecasts or time and calendar or search boxes or the start menu. And you can find hundreds of skins for it.

cavalierex

@gotroot801: @BluegrassGeek:

The only way I can think of Quicksilver not being useful is if for some reason you're launching it through the dock by clicking on it instead of activating it through a keyboard command. I hope that's not the case for you guys... for I've seen a few of my friends do this before. Either that or you hate keyboard shortcuts and prefer to do things with a mouse in general and if that's the case, you probably will never come to like Quicksilver no matter how useful it is.

Alicemagic

Vista Start Menu and the Quick Launch Toolbar. If I have to do a search for it for more than 30 seconds, then I obviously don't use the said application more than once in a blue moon, and off it gets evicted from the Computer.

Damage

I agree with some of the other comments here. Why would you use RocketDock? The same functionality is provided by the Windows Start menu and the taskbar. RocketDock is eye candy, it is not a 'launcher'. In my opinion, the purpose of having a third-party launcher app is to streamline the launching of applications. That's why there are shortcuts built into an OS, so you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard. Constantly moving your hand to the mouse to perform actions and to launch applications results in a loss of productivity. RocketDock still requires you to use the mouse to launch apps. I tried it for a while and found that once you get over the oooh and ahhh of the interface, its worthless.

mdives

i dig objectdock. i've not tried others but havent had any reason to. its got a multitude of different backgrounds and finding cool icons is easy. i havent noticed any performance issues with it either. i honestly had no idea any others were out there, the only reason i found out about objectdock was because i used windowblinds on my old xp machine.

nikkomorocco

I think the way these "hive five" double-votes are set up, each one is going to generate a long string of "Why isn't XXXX in the list?" comments. It'd be better if this second vote included every app that got mentioned in the "call for nominations". The article could still just briefly describe the top five.

Gnome-Do isn't working well on my 2-week-old Ubuntu install (it takes minutes to appear?!!?), but I'm loving the Gnome deskbar. It doesn't beat Launchy, but it helps me miss it a little less.

joelena

Wait, whats wrong with Dash Command, aside from the price tag?

Bushido

@dave3: The vote for the best application launcher was public, your fellow readers love Launchy.

Jason Fitzpatrick

Spotlight all the way!

I used Quicksilver back in the Tiger days (not so long ago :-). But with Leopard Spotlight is just as good for my needs. I never used Quicksilver to act on files anyway.

I still use Quicksilver though. But only for controlling iTunes with shortcuts. Thats all.

onemoreday

Without doubt it's ObjectDock for me, by far the prettiest and fastest interface for Windows I've seen - live thumbnails for open windows rather than just app icons with the inferior RocketDock. Objectdock has a light memory footprint, it's completely customizable to my own needs (loads of different skins), all my apps available on-screen, icons of my own choice, zoom, auto-hide, calender, clock, battery and start-menu applets all in one place. I cannot fault it - perfect!

modernape

I love RocketDock and Launchy equally. But, since I consider Launchy more of an application launcher than RocketDock I voted for Launchy.

marksman7328

I think the reason people didn't suggest Object Dock is because the free version isn't as good as any of those and its paid version isn't worth the cost... =/ Guess I'll Try Rocket Dock and Launchy (MUST LEARN TO SPELL BETTER. lol) Again.

what the Ph15h?

@Johnny Pneumatic:

I think the bias *is* unjustified, because in my experience there are very few free software programs that are as good or better than a commercial program (Adium for the Mac comes to mind, or Pidgin for Windows. Firefox too.), and many inferior but free products are lavished with praise in large part because they are free. In the realm of launchers, I think $20 or $30 is not too much money to spend if the quality is noticeably greater and if you're using it constantly day in and day out. Of these, my favorite for the Mac is LaunchBar. It's similar to Quicksilver but more stable and less configurable (and in my opinion, less configurable is often better). DragThing is also very good if you're more mouse-oriented. For Windows I mostly use TrueLaunchBar. It's basically a highly-configurable (but well thought-out) version of the QuickLaunch section of the task bar. And I use Dash Command, which is very similar to Launch but a little more powerful. My favorite free tool is Butler (for Mac). It does both keyboard and mouse-oriented launching. It's likely to go commercial but for now it's free and of very high quality.

So that's about it. Basically, I find all the free tools in the poll lack something - maybe stability, or polish, or ease of use - all things that tend to get more attention in a commercial product.

Rhywun

No one mentioned Katapult? No one at all? wow.
Apparently when people around here hear 'Linux' they think it means Ubuntu and GNOME...

Jarek

No one happened to mention ASuite. ASuite is the launcher that the PortableApps.com Suite uses, modified of course.

spaztastic

I find it easiest to create a folder called "My Bar" and drag into it all of those desktop icons that are automatically created when installing new apps. Then I add "My Bar" as a custom toolbar just to the left of the system tray. Now I can add/delete application and folder shortcuts at will.

TechNTools

@Rhywun:
"the readers' bias against commercial software"

You say that like such a bias is unjustified!

If software is free, the creator made it to explore an interesting idea, to share their clever solution to a common problem, or to altruistically help a bunch of other users.

If software is commercial, the creator made it, at least in part, for financial return.

Let me be clear, there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to extract a return on your labor.

But in some sad cases, programmers realize they can extract unjustified returns by cutting corners and exaggerating the effectiveness of the software. With free software, there is no such incentive, because everyone can simply try the software and see for themselves how good it is.

Now, a lot of commercial software overcomes this hurdle, a lot of commercial software is far and away better than any free alternative. But the incentives at play are enough to justify an initial bias.

That being said, a bias is not a dogma. I (and probably the other commenters) would really like to hear which commercial launchers you recommend, and what features they have that make them top your list.

Johnny Pneumatic

~~~~~~~~~~
for those who dont like the keyboard get StrokeIt(for XP), it is the most advanced mouse gestures program for windows and its free for personal use, to me its more important than launchy
~~~~~~

metalmarious

[Windows Key + R] for me. I just create a \path directory on every new computer I set up & add it to my environment. It contains shortcuts to my frequently used stuff, e.g. "ff" for Firefox, "docs" for My Documents, "tunes" for Foobar 2000, "n" for Notepad++, "wget" for wget, etc.

I've tried several of the others, and honestly, they seemed to involve more work than time saved compared to the low-tech approach I've been using since Windows 95.

RareButSerious

@BluegrassGeek: I'm in the same boat regarding Quicksilver. After hearing Mac users talk about how it would change the way I used my MacBook Pro, I was really disappointed to find that it made things much more complicated for me. In the end, I found that dragging the Applications folder to the dock and right-clicking worked far better.

gotroot801

I prefer ObjectDock over RocketLauncher. ObjectDock does the exact same thing, and uses about half as much memory doing it. I don't know why, because the main criticism of ObjectDock is that it is bloated and a RAM hog...I think they must have updated it in the last few months, making it what it is today.

monkeywithacold

@aj_robins: Agreed! We are comparing apples (er Macs) and oranges (er pc's). A separate "high five" for each platform would be more meaningful.

@Bubarubu: Agreed! I run Dash Command (didn't make it, but would have made the top 5 if there had been a competition for each platform) and SideSlide (barely even mentioned! :-( ) together. SideSlide (a la Rocketdock) handles the load of my launching (with out having to remember key commands) while Dash handles everything else.

mrthermister

Why are Vista Start and Spotlight only honorable mentions when I know so many people voted them?

burnblue

Shortcut keys > application launchers.
WIN+R for the things that don't have shortcut keys.

mDuo13

Wow - these five are all at the bottom of my list of ten or so launchers I've used on Windows or Mac. Oh well. Plus, this really should have been split by platform. Then at least some Mac program other than the over-rated Quicksilver would have been able to make an appearance. I guess the readers' bias against commercial software rears its ugly head once again.

Rhywun

Check out how to use Gnome do as an ultrafast file manager using the file plugin..[digiwanderlust.blogspot.com]

FreemanJebberz

@rickdob
Based on your review, I just downloaded and tried KeyBreeze. Not bad, but it seems like the high-maintenance sister of Launchy. It may use less memory, but the setup is more complicated, too many hotkey options, and seems to be less supported than Launchy. Yeah, I could use KeyBreeze, but I don't see a compelling reason to switch.

I feel like it's a program for early-adopters not willing to let go of something... Like an old-school WordPerfect user. Yeah, the burn-the-retinas blue screen was cool, and yeah - the keyboard shortcuts were nice but it lacked functionality and didn't challenge itself to grow/improve. I feel the same is true with KeyBreeze.

fishlips20

@aj_robins: To say this article isn't relevant because it focuses primarily on Windows users makes it sound like you're not aware that the VAST majority of computer users have a Windows OS.

amishsniper

+1 Find and Run Robot

Recently converted long time launchy user. FARR seems to meet me needs better here's why:

* I'm not into skins, i want a super minimalistic look, and was able to best get it with FARR + a little reshack. Check out the shot below.
* Integrates with my favorite desktop search tool: Locate32
* Tab windows built in
* Allows direct access to the network connections and other system stuff.
* Integrated process killing.

[screencast.com]

The only thing i don't like is it does not automatically learn your preferences you have to set weights to change the order of the suggestions.

math0ne

I think in terms of potential GnomeDo has the most, but it needs to be seriously expanded on with new things. I want an Open With Command :/.

The ability to customize WHAT type of Files like what Launchy does would also be awesome.

HaloZero

Maybe we need to vote on our favorite launcher per operating system. I'll start it off: OS X - Quicksilver =)

mountainbiker

Keybreeze continues to get no respect from LH, maybe this is because the LH writers have not given it enough time in review, although in all fairness a minimal review was done in April of 2007, but since then the launcher has increased in functionality. It is currently using 2 1/2 times less RAM than Launchy on my computer.

rickdob

@joelena: Launchy 2.0 does have more support for custom searches, but I've had mixed success. One recurrent problem is when I try to search for a phrase and get results for "this%that" rather than "this that". Also, I guess I don't fully understand how to set up custom searches, because half the time they don't work right for me. Yubnub is nice because there are times when I'll try a search I've never used before and it'll be in there already.

@GregH: Quick launch icons are definitely the way to go for commonly used apps. But, what about that little used app buried in your start menu. It's easier to type a few letters than search for it. I also use Launchy mostly for frequently used documents. Typing 'alt-Space bud' brings up my budget spreadsheet quicker than any other method. I know there are many more sophisticated uses, but I find I use these simple functions many times a day.

northwest

Please, do not forget newer application launchers, like slimKEYS (which does far more than launch apps, find files or open web addresses).

slimCODE

I have to say I love RocketDock the most. I also use another similar dock called "Rk Launcher" and I use that for like Folders that I need to access quickly instead of having everything all jumbled up in my main dock which is at the bottom of my screen above my task bar.

Overall, I love them both!

ma5t3rw1tt

I've tried Launchy and Find and Run Robot before, but I keep coming back to Slickrun. Launchy has some nice features I wish Slickrun would copy, but overall I just find I don't like it.

jef396

oops, that "15 applications" should be "10 applications"

GregH

there's only so many key combinations i can remember man. quicksilver is cool, but my memory is shot. i tend to go for apps that don't require me to think as much. sapiens and/or spotlight are a-ok.

ultrasur1

I have to ask: what is the benefit of an application launcher? They are obviously very popular, but I don't get it.

I use WinXP, and just use the start menu. I set the icon size to small, and have ~10 application icons showing up when I hit start. I really don't use more than 15 applications on a regular basis, so I'm not sure where the time-savings come from?

Can someone help me out with this? I feel like I'm missing the point :)

GregH

I am just starting to use Gnome-Do, just wondered if using it is any quicker for starting apps than a key combo? ... of course it means less clutter on the toolbar as I always end up hitting the wrong icon :-) +1 Gnome-Do

neergrm

Since I spend most of my computer time on Windows at work I have Launchy installed on it and my Windows laptop at home; it gets the most use.

I prefer to use my Macbook when at home for personal use but have never tried Quicksilver, I'll have to give it a look.

I also have a Linux box (Ubuntu) that I play with because I'm a geek ;) I'll take a look at Gnome-Do for that guy as well.

@detoys:

As far as Launchy is concerned, it has an option to auto-hide and all I have to do is press Alt+Space to bring it up and launch an application.

When I was in college one of my programming instructors didn't have mice because going to the mouse takes a lot of time and tons of clicks if you don't know how to get around with just a keyboard. With Launchy I just hit the shortcut type in the program, site, file, etc I want to run and I'm off. No navigating menus or folders.

jod806

vista quick launch /start menu search. The quick launch finally has shortcut keys to launch the items (Win+1,2,3)

rothgar

Launchy 1.25 works great on XP but not so much Vista. And Launchy 2.0 works great on Vista but not so much XP. It is great that you can still get both.

I love Launchy!

gpzbc

I just downloaded/installed Launchy 2.0 a moment ago, and it's been a pleasant surprise. The only modification I made was to change the alt+space shortcut, since I use alt+space+n/c to minimize and close my windows; but other than that, I'm rather happy with it. The only thing I can think of which would give RocketDock a slight edge over it imo, besides being a Mac-OS-style app dock and the hiding of minimized windows, is perhaps if I were to store mundane program shortcuts on the RocketDock; in that case, I probably wouldn't remember their names for use in Launchy, and would have to resort to RocketDock...

Descent

On Windows, I just use pinned start menu items and the quick launch bar.

On Linux with GNOME, most programs I run are commandline, so I have gnome-terminal started by Ctl-F1. Other GUI applications I run from the "Run" dialog - Alt-F2.

jtimberman

nDroid

Drastikos

@Swizzler121: Launchy 2.0 has a bug in the catalog re-scanning - it scans every 10 minutes no matter what you set. The developer has been chasing a phantom RAM-hogging bug (you just shouldn't >10,000 items) and doesn't want to release updates too frequently. It seems like he'll have a release soon that will fix that bug.

joelena

Spotlight? Where are you?? I'm sad...

Sometimes I feel I'm the only one who uses it... Although, it isn't surprising. Spotlight was slow as as a program could get in Tiger, so most people probably got used to Quicksilver (as I did). Runs great in Leopard though.

macmizzle

@northwest: Can't you roll your own yubnub search(es) with runny, or bookmark keyword(s) if you use Firefox?

joelena

Linux-User haven't only one choice. KDE4 brings krunner, which is in fact none other than another quicksilver-clon, built wihtin kde itself. It's the replacement for the former execute-dialog (which is also a simple launcher ^_-).

Ok, KDE4 is actually not really useful, but 4.1 is in sight and will be stable enough for most endusers.

Tempura

The OS X dock is a great launcher in it's own right, and RocketDock emulates it most closely.

I am addicted to RD.

JazzmanSA80

muteboy, to search google in gnome do:

type your query + TAB + TAB + arrow down. It's a bit of a pain, but I don't know how else to do it.

puntai

@Swizzler121:

Please try slickrun, you won't be disappointed.

dave3

launchy was cool... until it started hogging 50% of my CPU almost constantly! now I just use good ol' shortcuts.

Swizzler121

I use an AutoHotKey script. Here's a snippet of my script:

#!o::
Run, "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /recycle
Return

So to open Outlook I hold down the Windows and Alt keys, then press the letter O. Same thing for Firefox, but with the letter F instead. N for Notepad++, I for Internet Explorer, etc. Nice and simple.

jharbert

The main reason I use Launchy 1.25 as opposed to 2.0 is because of the yubnub plugin. It makes it really easy to run searches on a wide variety of web sites. Until someone updates that plugin, I'm sticking with 1.25.

northwest

Wow, again slickrun is ignored.

lifehacker must have some vested interest in launchy. There's no other reason why it gets so much attention and the far superior slickrun is consistently ignored.

dave3

Gnome's deskbar applet.

georgedonnelly

After using RocketDock, Launchy, and Gnome Do, I would have to say that Gnome Do works the best hands down.

mikaelsnavy

I don't know what I'd do without Quicksilver on my Mac, and I'll definitely be checking out Launchy and RocketDock on a Windows machine sometime soon.

Disquisition

@freezejeans: I've used AquaDock and ObjectDock. I found AquaDock to be unstable whereas I have been using ObjectDock for over a year now. I don't know how RocketDock & ObjectDock compare, but I can recommend ObjectDock.

In regards to favorite Windows Application launcher, (1)launchy is quite handy, (2)____Dock helps remove desktop clutter, and of course (3) command prompt.

ReDoNKuLouS

@aj_robins: fully agreed!

qrius

Why do I have to pick one? I have RocketDock and Launchy running together. RocketDock has an icon for all of my active projects--papers, classes, etc. That journal article I downloaded two weeks ago because I knew it would be central to the lit review of the paper I was working on? I don't remember who wrote it off the top of my head, and since I name those PDFs with author and year, that means Launchy won't get me there easily. I know, I can use Explory to get there, but that's a lot more work than I want to do. RocketDock means I need one click to pull up the folder and scan it for the article I need. I use Launchy for everything else. :)

Bubarubu

Other: None

I've tried various flavors on both Windows and Linux, but I always end up uninstalling.

What do people use these for and how do they keep them both out of the way and at hand when needed?

detoys

Because this poll covers multiple, single-platform-only launchers, it's not terribly relevant. For OS X-only users, it's useless (there's only one choice). For linux-only users, it's useless (there's only one choice). It may be useful for windows users, since they have three choices.

That said:

Launchy for windows
Quicksilver for OS X
Gnome Do for linux

aj_robins

@PenguinPhjil: I agree

Rumel

RK Launcher was excellent portable launcher, requires some tinkering to get it to work. If you combine it with a U3 flash drive (more tinkering, reflashing the drive) you can get it to auto run when you plug the stick into any computer.

I might have to give rocketdock a try.

SixFifty

I love both Launchy and RocketDock but on Vista I feel that RocketDock is more superior since I have already have the start menu which works almost similar to Launchy. On Windows XP I would vote for Launchy any day.

Keith Dsouza

It is just seeing how many people use what os and what they are familiar with. Bad Data they all do almost the same thing, if all were cross platform it would be a much more accurate representation of the data.

daybringer

I used Launchy on Windows, now on Linux I use Gnome-do. I wish it did Google searches built in though. Anyone know how to make it?

Don't know which is the best.

muteboy

I still don't "get" Quicksilver. I've tried it three or four times and it just hasn't clicked with me. Can anybody explain how this is useful?

BluegrassGeek

RocketDock... because you don't have to type anything.

@dorylomorphs: RK Launcher is no longer being developed and I don't believe it works (well) in Vista.

prospero

Launchy is going to win, just because there are more Windows users, not because it is the best app.

Although I am not a MAC user, I am certain that I would be in love with QuickSilver. The mere fact that Launchy and Google Desktop launcher is based on QuickSilver is flattery.

This is an uneven race from the starting blocks.

fishlips20

Executor (www.executor.dk) al least deserves a honorable mention :)
No kidding, the developer is really fast in his response to bugs and feature requests. Try it out!
For me it beats Launchy and FARR easily, it's just over a year old but i have the feeling it'll be bigger one day :)

Calvin

DOMercury mainly suffers from the fact that being much newer than most of these applications, it is largely unknown to most.

Dom

Does Win+R get a mention?

PenguinPhjil

I run rocketdock off a thumb drive

AndyW

So many awesome launchers, High Five to the rescue again. I was going to try ObjectDock (still might) but Launchy & RocketDock seem to get lots of praise...thanks again, LH crew!

freezejeans

@gcguster99t: considering that there are a heck of alot more users on pc than mac.. yeah

Personally I prefer RK Launcher over RocketDock

dorylomorphs

Holy Smokes! RocketDock is beating Quicksilver right now. Can that be possible?

gcguster99t