Launchy: Launch Apps And Search Your PC In Real Time

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After test driving Vista for a few months, there is one feature I miss most; the ability to type part of a word in the run box, bringing up results in real time. From there you can simply hit enter to execute the program in question. If you're on a Windows XP box, all hope is not lost. Launchy is an Open Source application to mimic the Vista function.

The interface of Launch is very sleek, and similar to Vista's black theme. It comes built in with some handy commands. For instance type "Google", hit tab, type a search query, and hit enter. This will open your default browser and search Google for the term you've entered. You can do the same for most search engines.

Google
Wikipedia
MSN
Yahoo
Amazon
Netflix
IMDB

Want to check the weather? No problem, type "Weather", hit tab, and type your zip code.

The above screen shot is what happens when I type in "Visual". To my surprise the most relevant result is first; Visual Studio itself.

The only thing I can suggest for the developers is to build it in to the start menu. It would be easier to remember it's running, and easier to access. Currently to open it, you need to hold the Alt and Space key at the same time.

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