MadAppLauncher

Your desktop can become overcrowded, if you need shortcuts for too many applications. Instead of launching a program immediately, you will spend some time looking for the appropriate icon. If you want to restore order on your desktop, without sacrificing your shortcuts, you can use MadAppLauncher. It allows you to organize a huge amount of shortcuts and launch your applications with keystrokes.

The software comes with a GNU General Public License, which means it is free. You can use all the functions, without any restrictions, for as long as you want. MadAppLauncher can be installed in a few moments. It works on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 and it requires .NET Framework 4.0.

The interface consists of multiple tabs, on which you will find the same QWERTY keyboard layout. The software allows you to assign any file or folder with each key. A new window will show up, after right clicking a key and selecting the Edit option. You will have to select a file or folder, choose a "Start in" folder and name the shortcut, in different input fields. Depending on your choice, the program can launch a window normally, maximized, minimized or hidden. It is also possible to select a predefined location for the window.

Instead of browsing for a file or folder, you can just click and drag the item from a standard explorer window to one of the buttons, on MadAppLauncher interface. To run any added file, you can either click the appropriate button or press it on the real keyboard, while holding down a number key, which corresponds to one of the tabs. For example, if you associate a shortcut with the "V" key, on the first tab, the correct combination will be "1+V".

You can use the keyboard shortcuts only when MadAppLauncher interface is displayed on the screen. The good news is that you may assign a master hotkey, to bring up the interface right away. It is also possible to assign a shortcut to one of the function keys, from F1 to F10. You can either go through the same procedure or click and drag an existing shortcut, from one of the buttons to a function key. There are 10 tabs, which contain 30 keys. This means that you may store up to 300 shortcuts. Furthermore, you can save your layout as a file and create new layouts.