How To Launch Any Windows App At The Touch Of A Button

how-to-create-shortcuts-in-windows You may already be aware that there are a number of keyboard shortcuts for Windows that can help you to bring up the start menu, launch Explorer windows, view the desktop and so on.  But did you know that you can use keyboard shortcuts to launch any application? This feature is built right into Windows, but many people do not take advantage of it simply because they are unaware of it.

Setting up a keyboard shortcut for any application in your start menu is fast and simple. Steps below explain how to create program shortcuts in Windows:

  • Navigate the start menu to the application you want to shortcut. In this example, we will create a shortcut for the Calculator (one that I use all the time).

    • create-shortcuts-in-windows-xp

  • Right-click on the application, and click on Properties.

    • shortcuts-windows

  • In the Properties window, you’ll see a field titled Shortcut key. Go to that field and type the letter C (or any other key you wish to use to launch the Calculator).
  • Click OK

Now, whenever you want to quickly launch Calculator, just hit Ctrl-Alt-C (or whatever key you chose). I use application launch shortcut keys all the time for Calculator and Notepad. You can use it for those programs you constantly use and are sick of navigating through the Start menu to launch.

Do you use application launch shortcut keys? What other Windows shortcut keys do you find useful?

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Jorge Sierra

I'm a fairly typical geek that spends hours in front of a computer monitor at work as well as at home. I also enjoy putting together nifty tools and gadgets. I aspire to some day be able to make a living as a geek, perhaps blogging, consulting, or both. Although I've been blogging in some form or another since the turn of the millennium, I really didn't "take it seriously" until I created WealthBoy late in 2007. Recently I decided that blogging about technology and the geeky stuff I enjoy might suit me better, so I created GeekLad. Developing both blogs has been a great learning experience in search engine optimization, and I hope to some day become an SEO expert.

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  • Sergio Tapia December 20, 2008

    I create one for the SnippingTool in Vista: Ctrl+Alt+P
    And one for Firefox: Ctrl+Alt+F

    I’d love people to share some of their own.

  • Mark O'Neill December 20, 2008

    I only have one which is CTRL+ALT+N for Notepad as I use this constantly throughout the day.

    Everything else, I start with Launchy.

  • Vijay December 20, 2008

    This feature is one of the old one by Windows. Very useful tip.

    You reminded me the tip.

    Thanks for sharing

  • Dgtlx.com December 20, 2008

    This is not complicated att all. Almost too easy, but still a very usefulll tip. Thanks!

  • Bobby Dole December 20, 2008

    Launchy is your friend…

    http://www.launchy.net/

  • venkat December 20, 2008

    This tip is lot of time saving and useful.

  • Eyal sela December 21, 2008

    and here is an advanced application for this tip: configuring a shortcut that instantly opens a new email

    see it here:

    http://www.productivewise.com/2008/11/12/universal-shortcuts-create-new-email-massage-instantly/

    • Jorge Sierra December 21, 2008

      Thanks for the tip Eyal! Using the shortcut keys to compose emails and launch other websites is another great way to use the shortcut keys.

  • DBob December 21, 2008

    Good article. I’ve set up few shortcuts previously as suggested above: one each for shutdown, restart and system restore. One of my favorite apps is keybreeze which launches programs, apps and does not require remembering 20+ key combinations as above;
    all I have to do is click “;”, without the paranthesis.
    I tried launchy first, but found keybreeze to be outstanding.

  • Bliggo December 21, 2008

    As boby and Marc I am using a laucher, Slickrun in my case but launchy is great too. Once you start the windows shortcuts loose their taste :-)

  • stuj10 December 22, 2008

    After setting shortcut….how would I set it back to none??

    • Jorge Sierra December 22, 2008

      Go back to the properties window for the app, go to the Shortcut key field and press the backspace key.

  • Metallica77 December 22, 2008

    I use this for checking my e-mail.

    Ctrl+Alt+E

  • kLn June 28, 2009

    A long time ago, there use to be this awesome piece of software called ‘Winkey’. You could do this customization for almost any key combination that you liked. For eg. I currently have +V to launch VNC-Viewer, +O to launch Opera, +I to launch IE and +W to launch Winamp. It runs as an in-memory app, and is accessible from the sys-tray, and via + as well. I think that piece of software isn’t downloadable so I’ve saved multiple copies of that handy piece of software. Saved me so much time :)