I’ve mentioned repeatedly how much I think of Quicksilver, and I’ve linked to a number of similar tools for windows. The truth is none of them compares, though. On a feature by feature basis neither does Rock-it Launcher, but it gets the file launching piece right. Hit your control key sequence, start typing the name of the application, document, or whatever it is you need to be working with, and it pops right up. If you’re not familiar with file launchers of this nature, the basic premise is instead of littering your desktop with icons, or having to burrow through your file system looking for the program you want to launch, simply begin typing its name and you’re all set. Rock-It Launcher is free and speedy. Its only downside is its large memory footprint (42MB on my machine). Also for folks like me who jump right in without reading the docs, take note: you need to generate a file system catalog before it does anything useful – hit the catalog button and go from there.

This has become an essential utility for me in just the few short days I’ve had it installed. Kudos to the developer for an excellent piece of software.