Programs for launching games. Programs for opening files Utilities for quickly launching programs
A small free program for setting up Windows fast startup.
In many (if not all) operating systems that exist today, we have the opportunity to use special shortcuts to quickly launch all kinds of applications.
It’s not for nothing that this method has become so popular, but it also has its drawbacks. And the main one is that the shortcut occupies a certain place on the desktop, which is not dimensionless... So, at one “wonderful” moment we will find that the entire space of our monitor is dotted with dozens of icons, among which it becomes somewhat difficult to find the one we need.
Naturally, to launch the necessary applications, you can use the standard Start menu. However, the programs in it are placed in the order they were installed, so if you don’t remember when you installed the one you need, then finding it may also take some time.
But there is also a third way - use third-party software to quickly open applications, documents and folders. I suggest you meet today Hidden Menu.
This program does not show itself in any way after launch, but if we move the cursor over the tray, a pop-up menu will appear in which we can place the shortcuts we need. Despite its modest size, Hidden Menu’s functionality is almost as good as professional paid software. Let's take a look at the comparison table:
Comparison of Hidden Menu with its paid counterpart TrayIcon Pro
Another advantage of Hidden Menu is that this program does not require installation. We simply download the archive, unpack it into any folder and we can start working.
When you launch it for the first time, a welcome window and program settings will appear:
Hidden Menu Settings
On the welcome tab, pay attention to the inscription English in the first line. By clicking on it, you can select the program interface language.
I suggest choosing the version of the Russian language modified by yours truly - the file Russian(from BestFREE).ini ;), since in the standard localization some menu items remain in English (see screenshots).
Now that the language has been selected, you can proceed directly to the settings. And the first section here is “General”:
Here everything can be left as is. The only thing you should pay attention to is the sensitivity of the menu (Popup reaction). The default is the highest sensitivity. That is, as soon as you move the cursor closer to the lower right corner of the tray, the menu will immediately appear.
If desired, you can configure the pop-up after a delay (although not too long - about 1 second).
Everything is simple here. You can customize the font of the inscriptions, their color, size, and background fill to your liking.
The “Popup” section is responsible for setting the appearance of the hidden menu:
In the left column we can configure places, when you hover the cursor over which, our menu will pop up.
The right column is a list of the icon sets we created. Yes, yes - we can create several menus and switch between them if necessary. So some “craftsmen” even manage to control various programs using the Hidden Menu (if you are interested, load the Winamp Controller.ini menu into the list, for example)!
The last section (“Menu”) allows you to add and edit pop-up menu entries:
To add a new file, just specify its name in the “Description” line and specify the path to it either manually in the “Startup file” field, or by clicking on the “Specify path” button and selecting it in Explorer.
Adding a folder is a little more difficult - you have to enter its location manually. However, you can make your life a little easier :). Specify any file from the desired folder as the program to launch, and then simply remove its name in the “Launch file” line. Ready!
Additional Hidden Menu Features
Among the additional features, it is worth noting the ability to regulate the type of window being opened. If you click on the “Window Mode” button (at the end of the “Start in” field), you can set the window to open in full screen, windowed or minimized mode. “Aerobatics” in Hidden Menu is creating your own menu to control any program.
To access a specific function, we must know the system command corresponding to it. This command should be entered in the “Parameters” field, and then the button we created that controls any process will appear in the menu.
Another important feature is to assign your own keyboard shortcuts to the created icons for quick launch. To set “hot” keys in the “Hotkey” field, specify the desired button, and then click on one of the control key options (Win, Ctrl, Alt, Shift are available).
Once you have configured the Hidden Menu according to your preferences, you can click the “Accept” button and see the result of your efforts.
As soon as we move the cursor to the lower right edge of the screen, a hidden menu will appear in which we will find the previously added program (or an empty rectangle if you did not specify anything during the setup process).
Right-click on any part of the pop-up window and we will be taken to the Hidden Menu context menu. Here you can quickly add, edit and delete new items and columns, hide the program in the tray, freeze an open window, enter settings, save changes, or simply exit the program.
Under the “Add” button in the context menu you will find another “Add Special” button.
With a simple add we can insert only files and folders into the menu. A “special” addition opens up a new window in which we can set empty fields, new lines, columns, and also separators for a more visual design of our menu.
All you need to specify is the number of elements to add, and when working with separators, the name and color of the inscription.
Thanks to some simple manipulations with a special paste, we can get a pretty nice, ordered menu:
Conclusions
Thanks to the program's wide customization options, you can create a menu that will fully meet your personal needs. Now the Desktop can only be used to store documents that you frequently or currently work with, and not as a repository for dozens of shortcuts.
You can provide all your programs and folders to the Hidden Menu and forget about the “bedlam” on your monitor screen forever!
P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.
If you are faced with the task of speeding up Windows startup, and you need to do this without using third-party programs, then you definitely need to read this article. Because it contains simple, and most importantly, effective ways to speed up the loading of the Windows 7 operating system, the impact of which you can feel without a stopwatch.
When starting up any computer, the first thing it does is launch the BIOS (from the English Basic Input/Output System), and therefore you need to start speeding up Windows startup with it. In BIOS(e) we are interested in two things: the boot priority queue, and the Fast boot function.
The latter can significantly speed up system startup by canceling the search and checking of the BIOS(s) of connected devices. However, this function has its drawbacks - by disabling it, the user disables the use of devices connected via non-standard connectors (USB, S-Video, hosts for mobile devices). They will start working after Windows has fully started.
To speed up booting by configuring the BIOS, you must:
Important! The picture shows the "Boot Queue" for a Dell Inspiron laptop. It may vary slightly on other devices. As a rule, the differences concern only the visual component, while the names of bookmarks and commands are almost always identical (standardized) for all devices.
It should also be noted that Fast boot sometimes works too well. As a result, users do not physically have time to press the required button in time to re-enter the BIOS. This problem can be solved by pressing the button that opens the BIOS settings before turning on the computer.
Second step
The next step to speed up booting involves connecting all processor cores (if there are more than one) to start the operating system. To do this:
The manipulations performed will begin to work the next time the operating system is rebooted.
Step three
The next step is to disable unnecessary programs and services that affect the system startup.
Disabling services
Here it is necessary to disable unnecessary services, since they load the system even if they are not used by the user. Especially when starting Windows. You can read in detail about what can be disabled and what is better left untouched on the Internet, however, you can guess about some services yourself. For example, you don’t need Print Manager if you don’t have a printer.
The “service” is turned off by right-clicking on it and clicking “Properties”. After that, a window will open, where in the “Startup type” column, select “Disabled”. 
Step four
Next, we configure which Windows programs are automatically launched when the system starts. Since so many programs like to be registered in autorun, the user not only does not use them, he does not even suspect that they are running.
Setting up Windows 7 startup
The changes you make will take effect the next time you start the operating system.
Step five
The last point in speeding up system startup is organizing the space occupied by files on the hard drive, in other words, defragmenting the hard drive. This procedure is reminiscent of organizing the arrangement of books in a library. What is required for a more convenient, quick search for books (in our case files) and their use.
The disk defragmentation service in Windows 7 is launched by a separate command - defrag.exe. It must be entered into the search bar of the Start menu or in the Run window (Win + R). 
By running this command, you will open the “Defragmentation” window, where you should select the disk on which the operating system is installed and start defragmenting it. 
The defragmentation process can take a long time, sometimes several hours.
Also in this window, it is better to immediately enable the function of periodically running defragmentation by clicking “Set up schedule”. 
And choosing the optimal launch parameters for you. After this, you can start defragmenting your hard drive.
Advice. You should not boot your computer during defragmentation; it is best to leave it until the process is finished.
Surely, it is already clear that applications of this type allow you to use program launch. They belong to the type of lunchers. For the most part, such programs are most necessary for mobile devices, when the smartphone operating system itself is not able to run this or that application. By and large, launchers are multi-platform applications and can run on completely different operating systems. Moreover, the matter, as is already clear, is not limited to desktop computers or smartphones. Equally well, such programs also work on tablet PCs.
At a minimum, program launchers allow you to optimize the launch of your most frequently used applications and files. First of all, this is achieved by using the established parameters of the system itself. The fact is that the launch of each program or service can be controlled according to several criteria. For example, this could be the launch configuration, priority, initial launch parameters and much more. Standard tools in operating systems such as Windows do not allow such fine tuning. That is why programs for launching programs have become so popular.
On the other hand, applications designed to run on smartphones offer unprecedented performance. This is because they use less system resources and do not take up space on the phone's flash memory. Just the same, they allow you to launch completely different programs with support for the Java platform or specialized software applications. It is the versions of mobile launchers, in most cases, that are the category that is usually called “free programs”. In order to download free programs to run programs, you can use our website. Absolutely all free software products have no restrictions on use or validity period. It may well be that some commercial products offer slightly greater functionality. However, judging by free programs, this is not entirely true. Free programs often offer features that paid commercial products may not provide at all. This is especially true for saving settings files. A commercial file with settings weighs quite a lot. The free program file takes up minimal space and is mainly text, that is, it has the .TXT extension.
In conclusion, I would like to say that such applications need to be used. Especially regarding mobile devices. Well, what exactly to use is up to the user to decide. You understand, the advantage is that the dutcher is able to run the program even if the system does not accept it.
When working on a computer and frequently launching the same programs, it would, of course, be useful to configure their quick launch so as not to waste extra time searching for them.
Therefore, in this article we will look at the available Windows capabilities (without installing additional programs) that allow us to configure the most optimal scheme for quickly launching our favorite programs.
In particular, we will talk about settings autostart programs, launching programs using shortcuts on desktop, launching programs via Taskbar, through the pinned area in start menu and with the help hotkeys.
Let's look at the above-mentioned features in detail using the Windows 7 operating system, and based on the illustrative examples given, you can decide how you personally configure the launch of your favorite programs in the best way in your operating system.
So, let's start in order...
Quickly launch your favorite programs through autorun
Most programs can be configured to start automatically when the operating system itself starts. As a rule, these can be the most favorite and daily used programs, such as an email program, Skype, an electronic notebook, etc.
You can enable or disable loading programs when the operating system starts in the program settings. Let's look at this process using examples of several programs, the installation and use of which we have already discussed on our website.
Autostart for Skype
To configure its autorun, first find the icon of this program on the taskbar, right-click on it and in the drop-down menu go to Settings:
Autostart for Evernote
To consolidate this method of setting up the quick launch of your favorite programs, let's consider another setting for automatically launching a notebook.
Let's go to the menu Service-> Settings:
And in the tab General celebrate Launch Evernote at system startup and click OK:
Having thus configured automatic downloading of your favorites, i.e. the most frequently used programs, you can give yourself additional convenience when booting your computer - the necessary programs are already running!
But it is worth saying that you should not add many programs to startup, since the more programs there are in startup, the longer it takes for the operating system to start at startup.
Quickly launch programs using shortcuts
This is the most commonly used way to launch programs for novice users, since shortcuts to most programs, as a rule, are already added to the Desktop by default during installation.
A shortcut is a small file that only launches the desired program. Removing a shortcut does not remove the program itself. A regular shortcut on the Desktop is displayed with the icon of the program itself (so that you can clearly see what kind of program it is) and is additionally marked with an arrow so that you can see that it is a shortcut:
Pros using shortcuts on Desktop: It is immediately clear which program to choose to launch.
Flaws using shortcuts on Desktop: if you randomly add shortcuts all in a row, then the Desktop becomes cluttered and the very essence of why shortcuts are added (for quick launch) is lost, since in a large list it becomes more difficult to quickly find the desired shortcut to launch the program.
In addition, when using a computer, we can periodically temporarily add some files to the Desktop, for example, a music or video file, a document, and then decide where to put it.
And if there are a lot of shortcuts, then this file (files) may simply get lost among a large number of shortcuts. And if this is a large file, for example, a movie, then this is extra space in the computer’s RAM, which can affect the speed of the computer.
Also, access to shortcuts on the Desktop can only be achieved when the windows are minimized, and if we already have some programs and (or) Explorer windows open, then we need to perform an additional action to minimize the windows. By the way, how to do this is described in a separate article:.
Well, when there are a lot of shortcuts on the desktop, this “closes” the Desktop screensaver itself, which in itself, in my opinion, is not very beautiful.
Therefore, my opinion is that there should be few shortcuts on the Desktop or, if possible, eliminated altogether.
Decide for yourself how to do it. All that remains is to show how to add shortcuts on the Desktop yourself.
Let's look at the example of adding a shortcut to the Desktop to launch the translator.
You need to go to the menu first Start— > All programs. There, find the folder with the desired program in the list, open it, find the file that launches the program. Next, right-click and in the window that appears, go to Send— > Desktop (create shortcut):
A shortcut will appear on the desktop:
Let me remind you that such shortcuts can be deleted from the Desktop, but the program itself will not be deleted.
Note: Shortcuts can be created not only for launching programs, but also for any folder or file. For example, if we often go to a folder with music or movies, then we can create shortcuts to these folders in the same way and place them on the Desktop.
Quickly launch programs via the Taskbar
You can make a quick launch for some programs by using Taskbar, usually located at the bottom of the screen (it can also be located on the side or top, depending on the settings).
The main advantage of placing program shortcuts on the Taskbar is their accessibility in one click, since they are always visible.
Let's look at adding your favorite programs for quick access to the taskbar, using the example of two programs: (one of the standard programs included in the operating system) and a browser.
File Explorer on the Taskbar
Go to the menu Start-> All programs(1), go to the folder Standard(2), we find (3). Next, right-click and in the window that appears, click Pin to taskbar(4). As a result, an icon (5) will appear on the Taskbar to launch Explorer:
Browser on the taskbar
We also go to the menu Start-> All programs(1), we find Browser(2). Next, right-click and in the window that appears, click Pin to taskbar(3). As a result, the taskbar will appear icon(4) to launch the Browser:
Of course, you shouldn’t add many programs to the Taskbar, since running programs are also added there. But adding a few frequently used programs would be helpful.
Quickly launch programs through the Start menu
Another fairly convenient way to launch your favorite programs is to use the Start menu. Only unlike the previous one, in this method programs can be launched not in one, but in two clicks.
I'll show you how to use the Start menu using a cleaner as an example.
We also go to the menu Start-> All programs, we find CCleaner. Next, right-click and in the window that appears, click Pin to Start Menu:
And a shortcut to launch CCleaner is added and pinned at the top (1) of the Start menu, while all the other programs we launch take turns below (2):
Quickly launch programs using hotkeys
In the properties of program shortcuts, it is possible to configure their launch using hot keys. I learned about this method from.
This course covers how to quickly launch a data encryption program. I’ll show you in printed form how to make this setting, and you can use this example to set up any program.
We find in the Start menu the program we need, which we want to configure for quick launch using hot keys, right-click on it and select Properties:
In the Shortcut Properties, specify the key combination to quickly launch the program, press Apply And OK:
All! Now we can launch this program using hot keys. And if you need to change the shortcut to other keys, then we also just go here and change it to another combination.
Note: To set key combinations, you need to place the cursor in the Shortcut field and press the desired keys on the keyboard at the same time. For example, I indicated the combination Ctrl + Alt + T(I used the letter T at the beginning of the name of the program. You can choose any one that is convenient and memorable for you):
What exactly do I advise you to do:
- Clean Desk, removing unnecessary shortcuts.
- Add to startup a couple of your favorite programs, which are usually needed immediately after loading the operating system.
- Add also 1-3 shortcuts to Taskbar to frequently used programs.
- Pin 3-5 programs to start menu, which are used a little less frequently than the previous ones.
This way, we get quick access to 7-10 main programs that we use most often.
In this article, we examined only the capabilities of the operating system for quickly launching programs. But, there are also separate programs that allow you to quickly access any programs, folders and files on your computer in 1-2 clicks. We will look at one of these programs in one of the following articles.
Programs for opening files in Russian are collected in this section. All programs can be downloaded for free with activation keys.
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