Specifications

R&D
54
JUL 2011 maximumpc.com
MAXIMUMPC
A
B
Make the Start Menu
Obsolete with Launchy
Forget about clicking—Launchy lets you start programs as fast as you
can type
–Seamus Bellamy
FORTUNATELY,
LAUNCHY HAS
BEEN HELPING
WINDOWS
USERS GET
BACK UP TO
SPEED SINCE
2007.
FROM WINDOWS 95 right on through to Windows 7, the Start Menu
has always been just a wee bit short of perfection. Requiring
users to seek out content through an endless series of nested drop-
down menus and folders with company names you can’t remember
having ever seen before, it’s a user interface element that was de-
signed to make our lives easier, but in actuality slows our workfl ow
down to a crawl. Fortunately, Launchy has been helping Windows
users get back up to speed since 2007.
For those of you not familiar with this fabulous free utility,
Launchy is a Start Menu alternative that provides you with wicked-
fast access to every fi le, bookmark, and program on your PC, using
nothing more than a few keystrokes. Once you’ve installed and con-
fi gured it, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.
1
INSTALL LAUNCHY You can snag yourself a copy of
Launchy’s .exe fi le at www.launchy.net. As of press
time, Launchy comes in two different fl avors: a stable
version (version 2.5) and a beta (version 2.6). While we’re
all for progress, this how-to is supposed to stress how
Launchy can improve your PC productivity, not slow it
down to a glitch-fi lled crawl, and we’ve heard reports of
instability in the beta version. With this in mind, we rec-
ommend downloading the utility’s stable version.
» It’s worth mentioning that while Launchy works like a
charm with Windows 7 32-bit, it can have issues with Win-
dows 7 64-bit. In our experience, you can install Launchy
on a 64-bit system and index everything your PC is rock-
ing without any issues, but should you try to launch any
64-bit applications through the utility, you’ll be rewarded
with a hot, steaming plate of fail. So we recommend you
avoid Launchy for now if you’re running a 64-bit OS, or you
can check out the Launchy forums, where members oc-
casionally post 64-bit versions of the Launchy software.
Now, with the fi ne print out of the way, we can get down to
the nitty-gritty of getting Launchy up and running.
» Once you’ve downloaded Launchy, open it up and
begin the installation. You’ll be asked to jump through
the typical hoops that come with any software installa-
tion, including identifying the folder location, agreeing to
Launchy’s software license, and choosing whether you
want to see a shortcut added to your desktop as part of
the installation process.
With hundreds of nested
folders and files, finding
things in the Start Menu can
be a nightmare.
2
CONFIGURE LAUNCHY By default, Launchy will index the
programs in your Start Menu automatically, making it possi-
ble to locate and start any of them with just a few keystrokes.
For example, if you want to start up Firefox, you can do so by typing