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Author Topic: Launchy 2.0... and something else  (Read 13320 times)

Lashiec

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Launchy 2.0... and something else
« on: December 19, 2007, 10:53 AM »
With fear I'm writing this, as I'm spreading the word about FARR's primary competition in its developer forum, so it's natural I care about my life and all that... Oh, well, just a little joke ;D

So a new major version of Launchy is out, with quite some changes, primarily focused on the future multiplatform compatibility on the app, but bringing some other welcome additions to the table as well. So, first things first, Launchy is now written using Trolltech's Qt toolkit, which as you may know, is the driving force behind KDE desktop, and that means Launchy will be usable in Linux and Mac OS X in the future, which is a good thing for creating some competition in the other OS.

But what matters to users is features, and there are quite some to be found here. Launchy is prettier than before, sports a redesigned options interface, and allows more customization regarding the list and what you can do with the items showed there. It should be noted that the update breaks compatibility with old plugins, but silly names are preserved. I might give it a spin when I have some time :)


You don't like Launchy because you're a diehard FARR (or another launcher) user? Fine, I have another app to fill your expectations, Autoruns. The hard working guys at Sysinternals are delivering a major new version of this fine tool, with the following improvements:

This major update to Autoruns shows an entry's raw launch string in its image details area, lists Explorer and IE COM classes names and icons, is aware of several more autostart locations, including additional shell extensions, Windows Vista scheduled tasks and Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets, and has better support for alternate online search engines.

Rogue programs and memory hogs will have a hard time hiding beneath Windows with version 9.0. Also, the Sysinternals' site has received a major facelift, looking better than before, and is more usable IMO.


via Wikipedia (yeah, really) and File Hippo
« Last Edit: December 19, 2007, 12:26 PM by Lashiec »

mouser

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2007, 11:55 AM »
screenshot looks very pretty that's for sure !
look forward to hearing what features in launchy2 that people would like to see in FARR.

jgpaiva

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2007, 12:01 PM »
Damn, that's cute!

Still not nearly as good as farr, though :P

Hey, but the fact that it may become portable to linux is very good news, i'm glad to see more and more apps going that way.

As for autoruns.. Shouldn't that be a separate thread? ;)

Lashiec

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2007, 12:25 PM »
Yeah, probably, but I made a single thread to prevent spamming the forum :D

Gothi[c]

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2007, 12:27 PM »
Looks like you'll have to make FARR cross-platform now to compete, mouser.
I can help you of course :) Lets port it to wxWidgets :D


tide

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2007, 12:02 AM »
Launchy is a memory hog using up almost 24 Megs on my system. I've been using Keybreeze which, while not free, uses up much less memory and is much more capable.

icekin

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2007, 05:32 AM »
I agree with tide. I was using Launchy till recently when it asked me to upgrade to version 2. Several Version 1 skins are not compatible with version 2. And its now much slower to start up when I press the hotkey. I've been using slickrun alongside launchy for about 2 months now and have decided to stick to slickrun in the future.

Of course, I am also waiting for FARR to hit stable.

Armando

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2007, 01:46 AM »
Looks like you'll have to make FARR cross-platform now to compete, mouser.
I can help you of course :) Lets port it to wxWidgets :D

That would be nice... But a lot of work. Would it be worth it ?

I've been using Keybreeze which, while not free, uses up much less memory and is much more capable.

Much more capable doing what ?


nosh

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2007, 01:59 AM »
And its now much slower to start up when I press the hotkey.

It's instantaneous here. Maybe you have "fade in" enabled?

tide

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2007, 08:15 PM »
Armando,


Much more capable doing what ?


Mainly, Keybreeze finds ALL registered applications on your system whereas Launchy only knows about those in your Start Menu or desktop and Keybreeze makes it very easy to add other applications/folders/commands to it. It's faster too.


ppass

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #10 on: December 25, 2007, 08:42 PM »
In launchy 2.0, in the "Catalogue" tab of the Options window, I added the "C:\Program Files" folder, with file types "*.exe" and "*.jar". Hitting "Rescan Catalogue" only takes a few seconds and will index all program files there.

Works like a charm, much more flexible and faster than the previous version. I also discovered that launchy2.0 searches IE favorites (based on the name of the favorite), this is very convenient!

There seems to be other useful features in 2.0 besides launching applications, like plugins (haven't tried yet) to launch favorites.

Lashiec

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Re: Launchy 2.0... and something else
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2007, 10:54 AM »
Launchy 1.x already had a plugin system, with most (if not all) functions that external plugins provide to FARR, apart from the internal ones, including favorite searching. It's only that this time, the author integrated the searching within the program.