Windows utilities can be a bit of a pain to access and launch. But with the right tools, you can make the process a lot easier. One of the best ways to access Windows utilities is through the Start menu. You can access all of your installed programs and tools by clicking on the Start button and then selecting Programs or Accessories. If you want to find specific Windows utilities, you can use the search bar at the top of the Start menu. You can also type in specific keywords or phrases to find what you’re looking for. Another way to access Windows utilities is through the Control Panel. To open this panel, click on Start, type Control Panel in the search box, and then press Enter. The Control Panel will open automatically if it’s not already open. The Control Panel contains a variety of different sections, including System and Security, Administrative Tools, Programs and Features, Hardware and Sound, and System Properties. In most cases, you’ll need to click on an item in order to see its associated Windows utility. If you want to launch a Windows utility without having to go through either of these methods first, you can use shortcuts. A shortcut is a shortcut file (.lnk) that points directly to an executable file (.exe) for your chosen program or tool. To create a shortcut for an installed Windows utility, right-click on its icon in your system tray (the area near the clock), select Shortcut from the menu that pops up, and then enter your desired pathname for the shortcut file (for example: C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Writer\Writer .exe). ..

Note: Requires .NET Framework 3.5+ (link provided at bottom of article).

Setup

Windows Utilities Launcher is wonderfully simple to set up…just unzip the exe file, place it in a “Program Files” folder, and create a shortcut. Get ready for instant access goodness!

This is what you will see as soon as you start Windows Utilities Launcher… In the “Utilities Tab Area” you can quickly access the utilities shown with a single click of the button beneath each listing. Notice that you can easily minimize Windows Utilities Launcher to the “System Tray” or exit the program using the two buttons in the lower right corner. Windows Utilities Launcher will also display the version of Windows that you are using in the “Status Bar”.

Note: Windows (Computer) Info works on Vista & 7 only.

The “Settings Tab Area” lets you decide if you would like to have Windows Utilities Launcher start up with Windows each time and if you would like to have the app start as minimized.

The “About Tab Area” provides basic app information and also a way to contact the developer.

The Right Click Menus

Time for a closer look at the “Right Click Menu” setup for Windows Utilities Launcher. Here you can see the main menu… Notice that there are two additional apps that you can access here (Notepad & Calculator).

Use the “Windows Utilities” sub-menu as an alternate way to quickly access individual Windows Utilities.

Windows Utilities Launcher in Action

For our example we decided to access the “Date and Time Utility”. With a single click the “Date and Time” window opened very quickly. We had the same great result on any of the other utilities that we chose…quick and easy access.

Conclusion

Windows Utilities Launcher is still in the earlier stages of development, but this little app is already demonstrating how easy it should and can be to access common Windows Utilities. This is definitely worth trying out…have fun!

Links

Download Windows Utilities Launcher (version 1.1)

Download the .NET Framework (version 3.5 SP1)

Works On: Windows XP – 7

Installed On: Windows Vista (32 bit), Service Pack 2