Free Launch Bar

Screen shot © 2001-2005 TORDEX

I had a hard time deciding which program to start with for the first post, so I decided to give you one that will help you keep the rest organized.

Have you ever wished you could fit more on the Windows quick launch bar without having to take up a bunch of space? Well, the way to do that is to add menus to it.

Bob: "But Kornhornio, I have a menu. It's called the Start Menu. Why are you showing me this?"
Kornhornio: "Because you came to me , remember?"
Bob: "....... Sorry."

The Start Menu was a great idea, and it's still better than those old Program Groups it replaced from Windows 3.1 <shudder>. But these days it seems like every program that gets installed wants to put 50 shortcuts in there, and before you know it you can't find anything anymore. And would it be too much to ask that the Start Menu actually stay in alphabetical order? I don't think so.

Free Launch Bar can solve these problems. It takes your existing Quick Launch shortcuts as a starting point, but you can add menus to it, and it's easy to set those menus to auto-sort alphabetically (right-click inside a menu, Arrange Icons By, Auto Arrange). I personally like to keep my most-used programs right on the main bar, my not-quite-as-used programs under a few menus (apps, games, etc), and crap I hardly ever use buried somewhere in the Start Menu.

- Kornhornio