Find and Run Robot (FARR) - Super File Launcher

Posted on June 1, 2008 at 5:12 am

My definition of a launcher is a program that you use to launch applications or files quickly from anywhere, anytime that you want to. There are many good application and file launchers around but Find and Run Robot (or FARR) is definitely one of the coolest that I have found.

How Find and Run Robot Works

FARR works out of the box and is pretty simple to use. To trigger FARR, you just need to tap the Pause Break key on your keyboard (love that they choose a cool yet unused key to use!) and start typing the first few letters of the application or file name that you want to launch. FARR will then list down results that match all the letters typed, automagically.

You can then press Enter to launch the first result on the list (which is the most probable) or press Alt + the number of other application that FARR has returned. By default, FARR search for the applications/files live from famous Windows directories (Desktop, My Documents, Start Menu etc.) but you can always add your own directories too.

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Find and Run Robot Features:

There are a huge array of features and tricks that FARR can accomplish. Here are some of my favorites:-

Works out of the box!
Adaptive scoring system - besides all the magic, you can add your own scores to multiple search directories to influence FARR. Therefore, it will return your most desirable application/file on top of the results list.
Use minimal system resources (with the option to increase it for faster search results!)
Right click on a search result to influence its score e.g. ignore this application in the future, view context menu.
Browse to a directory quickly - for example, if you type c:\pro ; FARR will return c:\program files plus all the subdirectories!

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List histories of recently launched application and files.
Quickly filter for files of the same type in a directory - C:\Program Files\.exe will return only executable files inside Program Files.
Default aliases - you can type “define” plus word to search for word definitions from a selection of Internet dictionary, “imdb” plus movie name to check out your favorite movie review and more!

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Custom aliases - for example, you can create an alias for all your computer games under “mygames” alias. Therefore, when you type “mygames” on FARR, it will list down all your favorite games in an instant list.

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Overall, FARR is a fantastic application and file launcher for both computer beginners and experts. Moreover, there are a huge number of open-source plugins that you can download to extend the functionality of this program. If you are looking for a super application and file launcher that gives you more control without compromising Windows system performance, FARR is your best bet.

Download Find and Run Robot

This is a guest post by Syahid A. from TechMalay

Tags: launcher, application launcher, file launcher, program launchers, find and run robot, farr