The More You Know

Personally I don’t like to use the mouse to start programs I frequently use. I am too use to using linux/unix based operating systems that use tab completion across all know paths. So what I find myself doing is creating my own shortcuts with simple names (two to three characters long), putting them in a folder and adding that folder as the first entry in my path. This way I can WindowsKey + R => tiny shortcut name => enter and away I go running my favorite Windows program. The steps are outlined below:

• Create a new directory some where (I use C:\0.Shortcuts )
• Create a new shortcut
  • Copy one from the start menu
  • Find the executable and right click it, choose Create Shortcut
• Copy the new short cut to the directory you created in step one.
• Repeat for all shortcuts you wish
• Hold down ALT and double click My Computer on your desktop to open the System Properties dialogue
• Click the Advanced tab
• Click Environment Variables
• Find the PATH entry in either the User Parameters (just for you) or the System Variables (for everyone)
• Add your folder to the front of the path variable followed by a semi colon.