Launchy is the best application launcher/productivity program I have ever used. Basically when I want to open something, I no longer open the start menu. I hit {Ctrl}+{Space} and a little window pops up. I start typing and Launchy starts matching to items in my start menu, my quick launch, my Internet favorites/bookmarks, and a special folder where I store Launchy specific commands and shortcuts.
Above is a screenshot of the index that I point Launchy to. These are places I normally tuck away programs or data I may want to get to at some point without going to the folder level and finding those items. In my D:\Launchy folder I keep items in the format below. If I have a Folder shortcut, I call it F_FolderName. The Visual Studio Project Solution is just the Project name.
So when I hit {Ctrl}+{Space}, I start typing gmp and Launchy finds the best match. Hit enter and it opens a highly used VS Project.
The format works for me and requires very little setup when I start working new projects or for other things I find I need to use a lot.
Twitter Integration - Update Status with Launchy
Launchy can be used for more than just application launching. At lifehacker, I learned how I can pull up Launchy and get it to do specific things for me. Quoting Adam:
Using Launchy, you can append text to files, schedule appointments, add to your to-do list, set reminders, and more—it just takes a little setting up.
To add twitter integration, I have a file called "tw.bat." It is a batch file that integrates with cURL and sends my updates for Twitter (and Facebook, because I have Twitter Integration) by simply hitting {Ctrl}+{Space}, Type "tw" hit {Tab}, enter my message, and hit {Enter}.
This is what the tw.bat file looks like:
@echo off
cd c:\
cmd /c curl --basic --user username:pass --data status="%*" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml
Echo Exiting...
To pick this up and run with it, all you need to do is put your username and password in and save this as a batch file. Tell Launchy what directory it is in and let it interact with .bat files.
http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/take-launchy-beyond-application-launching-284127.php
This is the link to the files from lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/assets/resources/2007/07/Launchy%20Batch%20Plug-ins.zip
This is the link to download cURL: http://curl.haxx.se/latest.cgi?curl=win32-nossl
How Do I Get It?
http://www.launchy.net
How Much Does it Cost?
It's free! If you like it and find it as productive as I have, I would donate to thank the author. How much? Well how much would you pay someone for something that increases your productivity tenfold? How much would you think the product should cost if it were not free? I am donating the author around $30 because it seems like about the cost of a product like this if it were not free. Donate here: http://www.launchy.net/#donate