How To Launch Applications From The Run Box In Windows

Quickly launch applications from the windows run box with these simple commands. Is your desktop cluttered with shortcuts? Is your quick launch toolbar so cluttered you can’t find the shortcut you need? Tired of your system looking like a big mess? Make your life easier with a few shortcuts.

The Windows run box comes in handy if you want to launch an application quickly without sorting through all the junk on your desktop or the quick launch toolbar. To launch the Windows run box all you need to do is hold down the Windows Logo Key and press the R key on your keyboard at the same time. Once the run box opens just type in the name of your application and press Enter on your keyboard. For example if we wanted to launch Microsoft Word and write a quick letter, all we would need to do is launch the Windows Run Box and type in winword and then press Enter on our keyboard. Presto, Word has launched and we are ready to go.

If you can’t see file extensions on your system read the how to view file extensions article I wrote.

Ok, first thing we need to do to accomplish this cool trick is create some shortcuts to our favorite appplications in the following location C:\Windows. To create a shortcut to your favorite application and or applications do the following for each one. Bring up windows explorer and navigate to the Program Files directory. Find the folder of the application you would like to create a shortcut for, right click the application and choose copy. Navigate to C:\Windows and right click a blank spot in the directory and choose Paste Shortcut. For example if we wanted to create a shortcut for Microsft Word we would do the following:

• Open up Windows Explorer and navigate to Program Files scroll down the list until you find the Microsoft Office folder. Open up the Office folder and then double click the Office 12 folder. (You may have an Office 10 or 11 folder). Scroll down the folder until you find winword.exe. Once you find winword.exe right click the application and select Copy. Now navigate to the Windows folder and double click it to open it up and then right click in the folder and choose Paste Shortcut. See illustrations below.

Ok, time to test our magician skills. Bring up a run box and type in winword, Presto Microsoft Word has launched and we can begin our letter. Just remember that what you type in the run box has to be the exact name of the application. To find out the exact name of your application you could just navigate back to Program Files and take notice of the executable file you are choosing to make a shortcut for. For your convenience I have listed some names of popular applications below that you may want to make shortcuts for.

• Microsoft Word = winword
• Microsoft Excel = excel
• Microsoft Powerpoint = powerpnt
• Microsoft Outlook = outlook
• Winamp = winamp
• Adobe Photoshop = photoshop
• Dreamweaver = dreamweaver
• BitTorrent = btdownloadgui
• Crap Cleaner = ccleaner
• FileZilla = filezilla
• iTunes = itunes
• Spider Solitaire = spidersolitaire
• Mahjong = mahjong
• Firefox = firefox
• O&O defrag = oodcnt
• Registry Mechanic = rmreg
• VLC Media Player = vlc
• Ultra Edit = uedit32

There are quite a few more shortcuts to applications that you can launch from the run box. For example you can launch all control panel applets and MSC snap ins from the run box. Windows Run Box Shortcut Commands

You may also be interested in reading Vista keyboard shortcuts