Speed up navigation, force apps to launch the way you want and add hundreds of extra tools
Turn on text descriptions
NirLauncher, which has just been updated to work in Windows 10, puts hundreds of free, portable NirSoft tools in one launcher. Download it free from http://launcher.nirsoft.net. In the program window, the collection of tools is categorised for easy navigation, but it’s still not always clear what each tool does. So open the Options menu and tick Show Description Text – and now you’ll see a more comprehensive description of each tool’s functions.
Add new tool packages
NirLauncher can integrate with other suites of tools, notably Microsoft’s Sysinternals, to become your one-stop utility shop. First download the latest Sysinternals from www.snipca.com/18178, and open the ZIP file (right-click and choose Extract All). Now download the ‘sysinternals2.nlp’ file from NirSoft at www.snipca.com/18179. Copy this file into your Sysinternals folder, then drag it into the NirLauncher window.
You’ll now be able to switch between these app ‘packages’ via the Packages menu, or by pressing Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2 and so on. For a list of other packages that can be integrated, return to the NirLauncher site, where you can download the NLP files for those packages.
Set default launch attributes
We referred to NirLauncher’s Advanced Run button. This lets you launch tools with extra parameters and actions, such as opening in full screen or running as an administrator. You can make some of these settings permanent, so they act as defaults. Open the Options menu, select Default Run Settings, make your choices and then click Set As Default.
Press Enter for Advanced Run
If you’ve had a look at the Advanced Options entry on the Options menu you may have found little of interest on first inspection. But look again: by default, double-clicking an item launches it, but so does pressing Enter if you prefer. Click the ‘Press the Enter key’ dropdown menu and choose Advanced Run. Now, when you need to launch a tool in Advanced mode, you can just hit Enter.
See more tools at once
By default, NirLauncher displays tools as one long list, each with a short description. That’s really helpful when you’re learning what everything does. But after a while, the chore of having to scroll through these countless entries will be annoyingly time consuming. To get around the launcher faster, click View followed by List Style and then choose List. Alternatively, make NirLauncher look like the Windows Control Panel by choosing the Icons option.
Create a plugin for BartPE
If you use Bart’s Preinstalled Environment (BartPE, www.snipca.com/18177) to create bootable Windows CDs or DVDs, then you can instruct NirLauncher to create the necessary files so you can use it as a BartPE plugin. You can then use NirLauncher straight from your bootable disc.
From the Launcher menu choose Generate BartPE Plugin Files then click Yes to confirm, followed by OK. Now copy the entire contents of your NirLauncher folder into one called ‘NirLauncher’ within BartPE’s plugin folder, then simply create your bootable disc in the usual way.
Customise NirLauncher using Edit Mode
The Edit Mode entry in NirLauncher’s Options menu lets you edit the list of tools and even add your own portable programs to the launcher. Select Edit Mode, then double-click a tool in the list to open an Edit Software Shortcut dialogue box. Here, you can tweak information including the tool’s name and its long description.
Edit Mode also activates numerous greyed-out options in the Launcher menu, along with the ability to add your own favourite utilities to NirLauncher. To add a tool, select the program group and then drag and drop your tool’s EXE file into the NirLauncher window. Choose Save Package from the Launcher menu, then remove the tick from Edit Mode in the Options menu.