Windows provide a Run command. The user can press WIN-R hotkey to activate it, and type the program they want to launch. For example, typing sol in the Run command will activate the solitaire card game. The Run command can be used to open folders too. So you can launch programs and open folders with your choices without traversing through levels after levels of directories. (or having hundreds of shortcuts on your desktop).
The problem is, it's too hard to configure it. Until multiDesk comes along. Simply drag your favorite folders and programs onto the multiDesk Run Command, and multiDesk will create an alias for each of them. You can now use these aliases to launch the corresponding programs. If you do not like the alias multiDesk assigns to a program, you can rename it too. You are in total control of organizing your work.
The Run Command resides in the Configuration Dialog of multiDesk. It can be brought up by pressing CTRL-ALT-UP. It looks like the image on the left.
To add a program or a folder to the Run Command, simply drag its icon to the display area (the icon should reside in a folder or on the desktop). multiDesk will tell you that a program or a folder has been added, and what its alias is.
To open a folder or run a program, simply type the alias in the text box and press ENTER.
Tricks and Techniques:
- Pressing CTRL-ALT-UP (or the key combination you defined) will bring up the multiDesk Settings Dialog Box, with the Run Command as the default page. You can use it right there, right then. No need to use the mouse.
- After you press ENTER, the Run Command will automatically minimize itself.
- You can have spaces in your aliases. For example, ms word is a valid alias. Currently you don't have to add quotation marks around multiple-word aliases, so you type ms word instead of "ms word" to launch the program. However, this means you cannot have parameters for your programs. For example, ftp localhost will not work because multiDesk thinks that the whole phrase is an alias. I need to get feedbacks from users to determine whether to keep this feature or not.
Reserved Commands - you can type these commands in the text box to configure your multiDesk Run Command:
- rename <alias1>, <alias2> - renames alias1 into alias2.
- delete <alias> - deletes alias (the corresponding program or folder is in no way affected).
- list <key> - list all aliases that start with key. This function is not implemented yet.