3Key Launcher

It only requires a few clicks to start an application if you have it placed as a shortcut or pinned to the taskbar. The same goes for a folder if you have it pinned in Windows Explorer or an URL if you place it in the bookmarks bar of your favorite browser.

But how about making it even easier to launch apps, access locations on the local PC or opening webpages? That is where 3Key Launcher comes in, providing a quick and easy launcher that can associate a short three-character key to launch any of the targets mentioned above.

3Key Launcher runs in the system tray area, so as not to interfere with your work. Right clicking its icon opens up a menu that includes options to register a new key and a new target.

Registering a new target is rather easy, but the registering window might be a bit confusing, as you get a basic window containing an empty table with no examples and there are no usage instructions at hand within the application. The “Readme” file might save you though, as you can understand how 3Key Launcher is meant to be used.

To register a new target, you must set a three-character key that you will remember easily, assign it a title and set the target, which can either be an executable file, an URL or a location on your PC. Just hit the “Save” button and the new entry is added to the table below.

To activate 3Key Launcher, you must use the hotkey, CTRL-SHIFT. This opens a window waiting for your key input, the key being the three-character string you set before. Once you type it in, the target is accessed using the default associated application in Windows.

To be more specific, if the target is an URL, for example, the default browser is instantly opened, and the URL is accessed in a new tab. On the other hand, if we are talking about a directory, Windows Explorer is opened, and the target folder is accessed.

For your convenience, the application can be configured to start with Windows and automatically launch at system startup. If you want it to stop running, you can kill the application’s process with a click from the system tray menu as well.

3Key Launcher provides a quick and easy way to launch applications, open websites or certain folders on the PC. While the ides is interesting and tempting, trying to remember those three-character keys just to avoid a few extra clicks which might be annoying to some.