Launch Windows applications with keyword shortcuts using Executor

Posted on October 20, 2007 at 10:39 am

The new craze these days has been for applications that allow you to quickly launch your favorite applications in Windows with simple keystrokes, rather than clicking all over the place. Some of the most popular application launchers are Launchy, 8Start, and ObjectDock. All of them have one purpose in mind: access your favorite programs, web pages, or tasks quickly and intuitively.

The program I’m going to be writing about today is called Executor, which is basically a super version of the Run command. This is also similar to Launchy. The really cool thing about Executor is that you can setup keywords that are assigned to specific tasks. So, for example, you can setup the keyword "rs" to have the computer automatically restart. You can also setup keywords to launch a program, open a particular web site, or even perform several tasks at once like opening multiple programs at once, etc.

For Vista users, you can also specify that a program always run as an Administrator via a keyword. You can also do cool things like drag and drop shortcuts, files, folders, or favorites onto Executor to add them as keywords.

Here’s a list of a few more of the really neat features of Executor:

Auto-completion for keywords, file system and history of previous actions
Automatic URL detection, i.e. can simply type in www.google.com to go there
Keywords can support parameters, i.e. go to google and search a term
Layout can be customized: skinable, set colors, fonts, positions, transparency, etc
Option to overwrite the Windows hotkey for the RUN command with Executor instead (Win + R)
Hotkeys can be assigned to keywords also, so you can use Executor as a hotkey manager also
Integrated calculator
Can be integrated into the Windows context menu (right-clicking)
Ability to customize a large number of the settings

As mentioned above, you can configure a crap load of settings for Executor, which makes it very customizable. Settings include program settings (number of items to remember for history, hotkey to start Executor, etc), Wording options (use auto-complete, parameter detection, etc), Visual settings (text color, skin, icons, etc), and Windows settings (auto-hide, icon in system tray, start on Windows startup, etc).

Executor has a tons of features and is a great program for beginner and advanced users. Check out the help section to really get a good understanding of what the program can do.

Post a comment if you use any other program launcher and want to share your thoughts on which is better or worse. Enjoy!

Source via CyberNetNews

[tags]application launcher, shortcuts, launch programs, quick launch, keyword programs[/tags]

» Filed Under Free Software Downloads

Comments

2 Responses to “Launch Windows applications with keyword shortcuts using Executor”

Shivaranjan said on : October 20th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

Out of these my favourite is Launchy that is something without which i cannot live. I have become very dependent on this tool.

What is your favourite out of these?

Gregg Decker said on : November 6th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

Twice I have had to leave your website and do a search for the programs that you are featuring. There is no link to either the software or the software home page. Luckily I could make out the name of the software so I could search for it. This is a great site but needs software access.