I like my desktop clean... so what I usually do is rename all of my essential shortcuts, stuff them in the Windows folder and hide all icons on my desktop (I'm using XP btw). Then whenever I need to run a program, I hit Windows Key + R and type in my little codeword to start whatever app I need ('fox' for firefox, for instance)... anyways, is there an app that functions like the run console? I like it and everything but I want to maybe map a key on my keyboard to bring it up... and of course, there's the customize part--Run menu is pretty bland. Any ideas? TiA ddy
OR you can run Litestep, then you have lots of options. You can have LSXcommand always visible (setup a hotkey to focus it if you want). Litestep is simple to skin to however you want.
just get approcket from candylabs.com kinda like a quicklaunch, but the ability to search for files by typing the name. sits on the top of your screen like a dock. very small download as well
Approcket, KBStart and PC-COM are not freeware. I've only tried Approcket and SlickRun, but neither of them cut it for me.
Approcket was resource heavy and intrusive (I couldn't get it to stop indexing stuff on startup, or updating itself). You're also forced to use one f its pre-packaged skins, or its awful "native" Windows mode. It does allow you to browse though the file system and automatically memorizes keywords, though.
SlickRun was reasonably light weight, but ugly as sin. It cannont be skinned aside from changing the background, border and text colors. It has the ability to assign multiple functions to a single keyword.
In the end I ended up using LSXcommand in Litestep. Its completely skinnable and can be integrated right into my shell. File system paths can be autocompleted, and keywords can be used to execute just about anything.
Thanks for all the help... this is a follow up question ... can I change my wallpaper with the run menu? Like, I don't want a seperate app to change my wallpaper for me (no matter how small it is in size)... could I just type something up in the run menu and have the wallpaper change?
I used to run this active desktop where every time you refreshed, the wallpaper changed... I don't want to run active desktop, but I'm thinking that this seems very possible to do...
Okay, sorry for triple posting... I guess I should hav e held back on posting until I actually tested out the app... it only works wit *.bmp files and there's no random wallpaper changing
You'll see two sets of code... choose the one that's appropriate for you (for me it was the first example). Copy and paste the code into notepad and save the file as WhateverYouWant.vbs. Save this vbs file wherever you want.
You can do one of two things now... every time you run the script, your wallpaper will change. You can type in the address of your file at the run menu everytime, or create a shortcut and stick it in C:/ (win2k) or the windows folder (XP users) to run it directly from a keyword of your choosing.
All credit for the script and stuff goes to that site!
I'll tel you about something I used to use. It actualy wasn't a wall changer. I just used batch files to replace the currently set wallpaper.
I made a menu of them, but you could make short names for run line use. There are randomizer things for dos too, but I haven't used any in awhile. There also are apps to convert images to .bmp from the cmd line.
It's a bit of work and know-how, but it put things exactly how I wanted them. Anyway, it might give you some ideas atleast.
