Programs

[Guest ScottR]

Hi. I was wondering if there is a way that I could manage my most used/favourite programs in one folder or something like that? At present I find myself searching endlessly because I don't always remember where certain programs have been saved.

Anything to make my life a little easier :D

Thanks

Scott

[Guest necosino]

Do you mean in your start menu? Just create a folder in /windows/start menu/Programs/Favorites (or whatever) and move your *.lnk's from /windows/start/menu/programs into /windows/start menu/Programs/Favorites

Then in your start menu you will see a new folder called Favorites that will have your programs in it.

[Guest ScottR]

Do you mean in your start menu? Just create a folder in /windows/start menu/Programs/Favorites (or whatever) and move your *.lnk's from /windows/start/menu/programs into /windows/start menu/Programs/Favorites

Then in your start menu you will see a new folder called Favorites that will have your programs in it.

Thanks for that...I think I know what you mean. Just to clarify, what is *.lnk's?

Thanks

Scott

[Guest necosino]

.lnk is the file type for Link (shortcuts). The /windows/start menu/programs is full of them, they're the programs you see in your start menu. You can delete them, add new ones, and move them around!

[Guest ScottR]

.lnk is the file type for Link (shortcuts). The /windows/start menu/programs is full of them, they're the programs you see in your start menu. You can delete them, add new ones, and move them around!

PERFECT...thanks

[Guest Rob V]

Just create a folder in /windows/start menu/Programs/Favorites (or whatever) and move your *.lnk's from /windows/start/menu/programs into /windows/start menu/Programs/Favorites

This will definitely work. But I strongly suggest that you put copies of the .lnk shortcuts into your new "Favorites" folder, vs. actually moving them from their current location. There are some dependencies which expect to find all the program shortcut .lnk files in the root 'Start Menu\Programs' folder. I tried creating several sub-folders under 'Start Menu\Programs' to organize my big list of apps, but all kinds of "file not found" and "program not found" errors started popping up after I moved the .lnk files around. If you copy the .lnks, you won't have any problems.

However, from what you're saying, it sounds like a decent add-on shell or launcher might be a better solution for you? Most of these are much easier to set up and manage than screwing around with creating folders and copying individual .lnk files around in a file manager every time you add or change an app. You can obviously go to a full-fledged shell that masks the enitre WM UI (like SPB Mobile Shell 3, Manila 2D, etc.), but like me you may find these to be more than you want or need.

I just wanted a simple. finger-friendly program launcher to complement the native Titanium 'Today' panels in WM 6.5. I discovered TouchLaunch, and it's a perfect answer (did I mention it's free? :D ). Just install and invoke from your Start Menu; I added it to the 'Applications' panel in Titanium. It automatically creates one long finger-scrollable list of ALL of your apps including a first-letter-access scrollbar and really smooth kinetic scrolling. It's preconfigured with several empty secondary pages that you access by simply swiping left or right. Copy whichever programs you want into these pages - just highlight an app in the "all programs" list, click-and-hold, and select "Copy to category". Couldn't be simpler! It's also fairly easy to change the names of the categories and/or add and delete categories - full directions are in the built-in online help. I've found TouchLaunch to be lightweight, very responsive, and utterly stable.

Only thing I didn't like was that the text was all too small, and I wanted some better colors, selector bar, etc. Fortunately, TouchLaunch is fully skinnable so I came up with an alternate skin that I think looks great on my Omnia. I've attached it (screenshot also) if you want to give it a try - just unzip, drop into \Program Files\TouchLaunch\Skins, and select via the TouchLaunch 'Options' menu. It's easy to modify further in any text editor if you don't use a black/blue color theme. By also choosing the "Use Today's background image" option, it looks very nicely integrated with the rest of the WM UI (note - I discovered that the background must be a JPG, not a GIF, for this to work!)

Anyway, just a suggestion - sorry for the long post, but figured that others who don't want a full-blown replacement shell might find this interesting as well.

Latest TouchLaunch is here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=437773

Here's my slightly-modified Omnia skin:

Omnia_Black_Blue.zip

And here's what it looks like on my Omnia with WM 6.5:

[Guest necosino]

Actually any links that have such dependencies say that they can't be copied when I tried to move them and I've never experienced what you describe. Most application and file paths are recorded in the registry, not the actual shortcut paths.

[Guest ScottR]

This will definitely work. But I strongly suggest that you put copies of the .lnk shortcuts into your new "Favorites" folder, vs. actually moving them from their current location. There are some dependencies which expect to find all the program shortcut .lnk files in the root 'Start Menu\Programs' folder. I tried creating several sub-folders under 'Start Menu\Programs' to organize my big list of apps, but all kinds of "file not found" and "program not found" errors started popping up after I moved the .lnk files around. If you copy the .lnks, you won't have any problems.

However, from what you're saying, it sounds like a decent add-on shell or launcher might be a better solution for you? Most of these are much easier to set up and manage than screwing around with creating folders and copying individual .lnk files around in a file manager every time you add or change an app. You can obviously go to a full-fledged shell that masks the enitre WM UI (like SPB Mobile Shell 3, Manila 2D, etc.), but like me you may find these to be more than you want or need.

I just wanted a simple. finger-friendly program launcher to complement the native Titanium 'Today' panels in WM 6.5. I discovered TouchLaunch, and it's a perfect answer (did I mention it's free? :D ). Just install and invoke from your Start Menu; I added it to the 'Applications' panel in Titanium. It automatically creates one long finger-scrollable list of ALL of your apps including a first-letter-access scrollbar and really smooth kinetic scrolling. It's preconfigured with several empty secondary pages that you access by simply swiping left or right. Copy whichever programs you want into these pages - just highlight an app in the "all programs" list, click-and-hold, and select "Copy to category". Couldn't be simpler! It's also fairly easy to change the names of the categories and/or add and delete categories - full directions are in the built-in online help. I've found TouchLaunch to be lightweight, very responsive, and utterly stable.

Only thing I didn't like was that the text was all too small, and I wanted some better colors, selector bar, etc. Fortunately, TouchLaunch is fully skinnable so I came up with an alternate skin that I think looks great on my Omnia. I've attached it (screenshot also) if you want to give it a try - just unzip, drop into \Program Files\TouchLaunch\Skins, and select via the TouchLaunch 'Options' menu. It's easy to modify further in any text editor if you don't use a black/blue color theme. By also choosing the "Use Today's background image" option, it looks very nicely integrated with the rest of the WM UI (note - I discovered that the background must be a JPG, not a GIF, for this to work!)

Anyway, just a suggestion - sorry for the long post, but figured that others who don't want a full-blown replacement shell might find this interesting as well.

Latest TouchLaunch is here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=437773

Here's my slightly-modified Omnia skin:

Omnia_Black_Blue.zip

And here's what it looks like on my Omnia with WM 6.5:

Thank you for the very informative and detailed information Rob V. I will go check out TouchLaunch.

Kind regards

Scott

P.S. Just wanted to add that TouchLaunch is working perfectly and I am well pleased...thanks again Rob V.

Edited June 28, 2009 by ScottR

[Guest ronaldb3]

Actually any links that have such dependencies say that they can't be copied when I tried to move them and I've never experienced what you describe. Most application and file paths are recorded in the registry, not the actual shortcut paths.

+1

I kind of agree with necosino.

But Rob, I wanted to say nice work on your skin. Really looks good. And thanks for sharing.

One more thing. If one decides to just go simple way with a Favorite folder or even a couple more, if you put something like "@" as the first character of the new folder names, they will show up first in your menu screens.

Ron...