Launchy is the latest of many program launchers we've seen recently, and on first looks it seems to be the most impressive by far.

Opting for the simple approach, Launchy makes the process of launching any application (or other files, for that matter) extremely quick.

Forget browsing through Start Menu > Programs to locate the program you want. Install Launchy and it will automatically scan and index the contents of your Start Menu.

It will then run on Startup, or you can invoke Launchy whenever you want via a user-definable hotkey combination.

To launch a program simply type the first few letters of its name, and you'll be presented with a selection of possible matches (the more letters, the better the match). When the correct program is displayed, simply hit Enter to launch it.

It looks great too, with curved lines and see-through edges. Should you want to add other folders to Launchy to launch Word documents, for example, simply instruct Launchy to index these folders too.

Note that this a major new release with support for Vista, a brand new look and much more.