Geeks, especially from the Unix background, are more comfortable using the keyboard than the mouse for doing regular computer tasks like opening documents and running software programs.
Not just power users, if you have installed too many software programs on your computer, it gets very difficult to locate the program in the Start Menu.
All you remember is the name of the software company or the name of the software itself but it's impossible to guess their location in the Start Menu until it's sorted by Name.
If you fall in any of the above category, you will immediately love Launchy - a free Windows software similar to Mac Quicksilver (see screenshot) that tries to guess which program or file you are looking for and will launch it when you hit the enter key.
Launchy behaves just like the Google Desktop Search Quick Find bar which is activated by pressing Ctrl twice. But GDS finds files across your entire hard drive whereas Launchy limits the search to Start Menu folders or any other folder that you specify.
If you would like Launchy to index more than the programs in your start menu,
such as folders, file formats like MP3, PDF or Video, you can add these file types in the configuration. If you would like to open folder windows directly from Launchy, check the “Index Directory Names?” box.
By defaultly, Launchy indexes .lnk files which actually link to the main program executable. You can add .exe and .bat files to directly run program bypassing the lnk route.
Launchy difference from desktop search programs because it indexes only the name of the file and not the actual content. Highly recommened for all Windows XP Users.
Download Launchy Program and Skins