I recently reviewed Enso Launcher - a free program launcher at TechieBuzz and have started using it in my laptop religiously and I am amazed at the productivity it brings with it. Enso caught my attention when it was made free recently and it was $40 before then. It is often compared to Mac’s QuickSilver application although it has its major differences.

As I am using Enso Launcher more, I like to have a quick list of commands that I use regularly at least in the first few weeks. After a few weeks, I should remember most of them without looking just like I use shortcut keyboard commands for a lot of my regulars like Gmail, Google Reader, Firefox, etc.

Enso Launcher Commands

Enso Laucher commands are run by holding down the ‘Caps Lock’, typing one the following commands and releasing the ‘Caps Lock’ to run the command. Enso auto-fills as you type so you are always just typing a few letters before it knows what you are after saving you a lot of keystrokes.

• open - to open anything in your Windows Start Menu
  Example: open notepad
• open with - to open any selected text (file or url) in any application
  Example: select a tect like ‘http://www.shankrila.com‘ and type ‘open with explorer’ to open in a browser
• go - to switch to a tab in your browser (I still prefer the Ctrl-Tab shortcut in Firefox)
• learn as open - to add your own custom shortcuts to file or website
• unlearn open - to delete a shortcut you created or a default Enso command
• maximize - to maximize a window without going for the mouse
• undo maximize - to shrink a maximized window to original size
• minimize - to minimize a window
• command list - to get to the list of commands quickly - memorize this and the rest will be at your fingertips.

If you prefer using your mouse or touchpad to do things in your computer, Enso Launcher is probably not for you. For a person like me who hates to use the touchpad in a laptop, Enso just makes it so much easier and intuitive to get to various things in the computer with a few simple commands.

As intended, it helps me from getting distracted by simple things like finding an application from my Start Menu but retain my concentration in the task at hand.

I believe I will squeeze the most benefit out of it after probably a month with practice but I am already liking not to have to go to my touchpad to navigate but just use the keyboard shortcuts and commands.

Update: 7/31/08

I have been using the Enso Launcher 2.0 Prototype for a while and love it better than the first version. Also, I just reviewed another free application launcher, RocketDock.

Hello newcomer, did I say welcome to ShanKri-la yet? Before you move on, just wanted to thank you for visiting and we hope you come back and see us again!

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