There are basically two ways to launch programmes or files in Windows: browse the Start menu until you find the one you're looking for, or create shortcuts on your desktop or quick launch toolbar.

The first can take quite a lot of time if you don't know exactly where the link is, while the latter can become very clattered, making it very difficult to find that one link — not to mention looking extremely messy!

So here are four programmes that will help you speed things up — one toolbar and four search programmes. Which one is the best is up to your own personal preference, so try them all out and choose!

Rocket Dock

This is by far my favourite launch toolbar — and thus the only one worth mentioning as far as I'm concerned. It looks and acts exactly like the launch toolbar on Macs, with the icons enlarging when you mouse over it.

You can fully customise it to sit where and act like the way you want it, while adding icons is as easy as dragging-and-dropping. Play around with the settings to tweak it.

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Executor

Launching with this application requires typing in the name of the programme or action you wish to run. It immediately prompts suggestions when you begin to type, so often finding the right programme/action only requires a few letters.

This programme launcher will be especially useful to people who don't like toolbars, or desktops clattered by icons, and don't want to browse through Windows' Start menu every time they want to run a programme.

You can set it to hide until you click on the icon in the notification area from where it will then pop-up.

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Find and Run Robot

This launcher automatically disappears into your notification area. You can either click on the icon to start your launch / search, or press the Pause-Break button on your keyboard.

A text field then appears in which you can type any phrase and it will immediately list all possible links, including files on your hard drive. This is especially neat if you can't remember where you saved a specific file on your computer and need to find it quickly.

You can even just type in the file extension if you can't remember the name, and it will list all files with that extension. E.g., if you're looking for a widget and you type in ".widget" it will list all the file names that end with a ".widget".

And it's way faster than Windows' find function.

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Launchy

Yet another search programme, Launchy stands out for its nice design and the fact that it completely disappears until you hit ALT-Space, upon which a stylish text search bar will appear.

When you type in the name of the file / programme / internet bookmark, it immediately loads the most likely option in a special icon window. If it's the one you want, you merely press enter and it loads it.

Launchy might be a tad unstable sometimes, but it is by far the quickest search programme of the three mentioned here.

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