Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Free Software - Application Launchers

LaunchBar Commander Our Rating: 4 stars (Very Good)

customizable application launcher

LaunchBar Commander is a highly customizable application and folder launcher that enables you to creates custom docks that hold shortcuts to your favorite programs, documents or folders. In addition to regular shortcuts, it supports folder links that can display the content of a folder in a drop menu, with an option to apply filters based on file date and naming patterns, as well as command-line parameters for scripts and executables. The menus can be customized with icons, transparency effects, fonts and colors. Other features include drag and drop support, portable configuration files and more. LaunchBar Commander is not quite as easy to use as others, but it offers more flexibility than most.

Publisher DontationCoder
File Size3184 kb
Version1.108.01
Last updatedJun 29, 2009
LicenseFreeware
Windows2000/XP/Vista/7
RequirementsNone

Vista Start Menu SE

enhanced Start menu

Our Rating: 3.5 stars (Good!)

Vista Start Menu SE is a replacement for the standard Windows Start menu that provides a different layout and interface, designed to access all your programs faster without having to go through multiple menu levels. It displays all programs in a single view and provides cascading menus for other Start Menu entries. The reboot and shutdown options are conveniently placed along the top of the menu and combines the Run and Find dialog along with a Google search search option into a single input field. Vista Start Menu SE can replace the original Start menu or you can launch it from the system tray. A Pro version with additional features can be purchased.

Publisher Ordinarysoft
File Size1506 kb
Version3.151
Last updatedJun 27, 2009
LicenseFreeware
Windows2000/XP/2003/Vista x64
RequirementsNone

sTabLauncher

customizable application launch bar

Our Rating: 5 stars (Excellent)

sTabLauncher is a customizable application launch bar that provides quick access to your favorite applications, documents and folders. It provides a tabbed toolbar that can be customized by changing colors, images, transparency, animations, and many other options to make it blend in with your desktop. You can create as many tabs as you need and simply drag and drop items to create shortcuts in the launch bar. Other features include support for multiple monitors.


Publisher Sergio Santos
File Size1506 kb
Version2.2
AddedApr 14, 2009
LicenseFreeware
Windows2000/XP/Vista x64
RequirementsNone

Free Launch Bar

replacement for the Quick Launch bar

Our Rating: 4 stars (Very Good)

Free Launch Bar is a replacement for the standard Quick Launch bar, that adds additional functionality by allowing you create groups for your shortcuts enabling you to add more links without using up additional taskbar space. Rather than having an icon for each of your shortcuts, you can chose to create a shortcut group which will bring up a menu with all items in that group - you could have 30 shortcuts in your QuickLaunch bar but only use 3 icons to organize them. Free Launch Bar allows you to create multiple shortcut groups, each with custom icon and infotip description as well as an option to bring up the menu via keyboard hotkey. A paid version is also available which offers even more features. If you want to un-clutter your QuickLaunch bar, give it a try!

Publisher Tordex
File Size1730 kb
Version2.0 (history)
Last updatedApr 14, 2009
LicenseFreeware
Windows98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista x64
RequirementsNone

RocketDock

application launcher

Our Rating: 4 stars (Very Good)

RocketDock is an application launcher that hides along the edge of your screen and reveals an attractive, alpha blended and animated launchpad when you hover your mouse over the area. You can drag and drop shortcuts into RocketDock, assign custom icons and choose from different interface themes. The position of the menu can be customized along with the optional icon label font and auto-hide behavior. RocketDock includes more than a dozen skins and is also compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y`z Dock skins.

Pros: Drag and drop support; multi-monitor support; compatible with various skins; low resource usage

Cons: none

Publisher Punk Software
File Size6312 kb
Version1.3.5
Last updatedSep 13, 2007
LicenseFreeware
Windows2000/XP/Vista
RequirementsNone
Freeware
Freeware
Freeware

No comments:

Post a Comment