I’ve been a long time of Launchy, a app that happens to be just everyone’s favorite application launcher. I decided to uninstall Launchy and give a try to Enso, about which I’ve heard great things. I was reluctant at first, but after about three days of using this, I have to say that I’m completely blown away by it.

First I started off with a look at their Video Demo, which I strongly suggest you have a look at. Impressed after having a look at the video I started to use it, and everytime I used it, I was more and more falling in love with it. I started off with Enso Launcher, and I’m now using the Media controller as well to remote control my Zune Media Player. There are more tools like Spell Checker, Translation Tool and many more..

Using Enso, is a breeze, and the developers seem to have worked very hard with regards to its UI and ease of use. Just Hold the Caps Lock key down and type in the command, and you will begin to see all possible variations of the command in a super sexy looking green modal window. Enso also has a very robust help system, that you can always look upto inorder to get used to Enso. To see a list of supported commands type “command list” while holding down the Caps Lock key.

While Enso can be configured to act like other Application Launchers, I prefer its default settings the most, because they work out the best for me. But you can always change the preferences according to your comfort.

Enso Launcher is really very smart, it allows you to minimize and maximize windows, switch between running programs, shuffle between tabs in a browser and obviously open and close applications in a few seconds. The UI of Enso is too good, and its a pleasure to use. The big font doesn’t strain your eyes and it looks good too. Here are some screenshots of Enso in action.

Overall I’ve been totally impressed with Enso, and I’m looking forward to more productivity boosters from Humanized in the future. Give a try to Enso, and tell me what you feel about it. On a side note, I’ve dumped Launchy for the time being, and I wont be using it anytime soon.

Enso Homepage

Launchy our favorite App Launcher is getting ready for a major release. Last Week the Launchy 2.0 Alpha was released to the testers. Launchy has been completely rewritten from the ground up and features a lot of cool new stuff.

Some of the new features are :

• Launchy has been completely rewritten, it is now all in QT (was in MFC)
• Options glued together into one cohesive dialog
• Skin selection now shows previews of skins 
• No longer have to restart Launchy to use a new plugin or skin
• Plugin options are integrated into the options dialog
• Launchy can automatically hide when it loses focus 
• Launchy can now shallow scan a directory (customizable depth)
• Much better plugin customization 

While no fixed date has been set for the 2.0 Release, I expect it to be ready by the end of next month. If you are willing help in the development of Launchy, head over to the Alpha Testers Forums.

Are you a keyboard junkie? Do you prefer typing text around and using keyboard shortcuts rather than endlessly navigating through endless menus?

If the answer to the above questions is a resounding yes, then Launchy is for you. Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

Launchy is a powerful app for windows. Just press alt + space and you are good to go. You are greeted with a small tiny popup as shown below and just start typing the name of the app you want to access and it automatically starts to suggest the applications that you can open.

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So get started and download Launchy today and improve your productivity by leaps and bounds..