I’ve toyed with the idea of getting rid of my Start Menu for a while – it seems to take forever to find programs when I need them and to be honest – it doesn’t seem like the best way of doing things.

I’ve seen a few websites talking about the virtues of search-based program launchers – where you type part of the program name and the launcher tries to find it and launch it for you so I thought I’d install a few and see what I thought. I installed Launchy, Enso Launcher, Colibri and Find and Run Robot and spent a day or so trying to use each one.

How they work

Most (if not all) of the keyboard-based program launchers scan the Start Menu for shortcuts that are then added to an internal database. The launcher then uses that internal database to try to match the program names as you type the name. Some launchers also scan the Quicklaunch folder or other locations.

Launchy

Launchy (Default skin)

I nearly stuck with Launchy. I really liked it. It’s open-source and it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is – a more efficient program launcher. It looks the part too. If I’m going to use something to replace my Start Menu it needs to look pretty.

The only reason I didn’t keep using Launchy is the list of options that appears below the text-box. The options are displayed as a cramped scrolling box using teeny-tiny text and teeny-tiny icons. I want something that I can just glance at. Compare the image to the right with the list that Colibri offers. The icons are much bigger, making it much easier to make a choice from the alternatives (should you need to).

Some people might like the Google integration, weather and other extras that the plug-in architecture offers Launchy users but for me those extras didn’t overcome the lack of visual appeal.

Enso Launcher

Enso used to be a commercial program launcher that cost $19.99. It’s now free to download and use. I know I’d have been annoyed if I’d have paid for it.

I didn’t like the way this one installed itself as a local server on port 7070. When the program started my firewall was throwing up all sorts of objections – something else I found to be a serious annoyance. I only needed a program launcher and that seemed a bit too invasive to me.

I liked the transparent overlays and the use of my Caps Lock key (I hate the Caps key – I’m always accidentally turning CAPS on) but to open a program I had to type the word, “open” before each application name. It didn’t feel anywhere near as intuitive as the developers claimed and they seemed to take themselves far too seriously. I thought their website and documentation read like some kind of new-age religion pamphlet.

Humanized love the look of their software (or perhaps themselves) so much that they don’t give you any way of tailoring it to your own tastes. No skins. No themes. It’s their way or nothing.

Enso Launcher didn’t even stay on my computer for a day. It felt so incredibly awkward to use. Enso Launcher used about 30Mb on my system.

Colibri – Type Ahead

Colibri with default theme

I almost didn’t bother with Colibri because I hated the name until I discovered it’s the genus of the Hummingbird. Anyway, I got over the name and I’m glad I installed it because Colibri is the launcher I’m still using. It’s fast, it works the way I envisaged a launcher needed to work for me and it just feels… ‘right’.

Colibri allows you to select different themes to make it look as you wish – I’m not sure how much flexibility there is in the theme design but I’ve already found a theme that works for me (shown in the conclusion). It’s just lucky for me that I like the theme because I’ve only found one other one on DeviantArt but that was pink.

In all honesty I don’t think it really does anything that Launchy doesn’t do and I recommend you try them both to see which one you like best. Colibri’s two big failings are its very poor user documentation and the fact that a new version hasn’t been released in quite some time.

Colibri uses about 20Mb on my system.

Find and Run Robot (FARR)

FARR (Default Theme)

FARR works as you’d expect but it was too ugly for me to keep using. There was something about it that I just didn’t like and I stopped using it half-way through the day and returned to launching things from the desktop or Start menu. I came across some reports on the Internet of FARR popping up nag-screens about donating to the developer but I never experienced any (perhaps because I only used it for half a day).

FARR does allow you to choose a skin for the pop-up window but it still looks like a normal window that’s been skinned (i.e. titlebar, scroll-bar etc are all there looking like every other application).

One of my biggest complaints about FARR (beyond cosmetic issues) is that it lists the shortcuts for an application, the application executable, the applications folder (as I’ve shown in this screenshot). I just want my launcher to show the application.

FARR could be useful to people that wanted to find files and folders on their system as well as applications.

FARR used about 12Mb on my system.

Conclusion

Colibri (Tordo theme)

In the end I’m still using Colibri (using the Tordo theme by Anhdres shown in the screenshot to the right). Most of the launchers did pretty much the same thing but I just seemed to click with the way Colibri works.

The two biggest draw-backs about Colibri are the lack of documentation and the serious shortage of theme choices. To be honest, I didn’t find it that hard to figure out how to use it but that lack of themes may frustrate fans of desktop eye-candy.

I’m sure there are users of each launcher that will say their preferred launcher is better but my choice isn’t based upon what other people think; it’s based upon which of the launchers feels right for me and that was Colibri. ;-)