DLS Presents: URLauncher keyboard launcher for Windows (open-source)

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity

Before Windows 7 came out, I used to love Launchy. I'm a keyboard-centric kind of guy, and a keyboard launcher fits in perfectly with my workflow. Launchy wasn't the only app I tried; I think I went through just about every major keyboard launcher for Windows and quite a few minor ones as well (including several AutoHotkey scripts).

And then Windows 7 came out, with its shiny new Start menu. No longer did I have to fire up Launchy to run a program quickly; in fact, the new Start menu was often faster than Launchy.

So, for a while, I was sated. I just hit Start, typed Excel, hit Enter, and everything just worked. Then, something started nagging at the back of my mind ... what about URLs? We're all about the Web these days, ... so what if I want to quickly launch a URL? What if I want to quickly search Google or IMDB, and I can't be bothered to Alt-Tab through 15 open windows until I hit my browser?

While I can use something like Start++, it's not always reliable, and it simply doesn't fit well with how my desktop is laid out. The text is too small, and my Start menu isn't in the normal position, so the whole experience is kind of awkward.

So, today, I have set out to make a small launcher of my own. I rather like the result, so I thought I'd share. I called it URLauncher, because it's aimed at getting to websites and executing searches quickly. You can download and use it for free, and the archive includes full source code.

URLauncher can:

• Go to any Web address using your default Web browser
• Save you typing the http://www and even the .com, .org, or .net
• Perform instant searches with Google, Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia, and more
• Run any YubNub command instantly using the same mechanism
• Understand and calculate complex mathematical expressions (instant calculator)
• Execute user-defined aliases with the full power of AutoHotkey (for advanced users)

And it's a single file, so it's very portable. To see how it works and what it looks like, continue reading after the fold.

Continue reading DLS Presents: URLauncher keyboard launcher for Windows (open-source)

DLS Presents: URLauncher keyboard launcher for Windows (open-source) originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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