From docks to desktop gadgets, the Start menu to the Start screen, there are many ways to launch applications on your PC. But most of these are quite bulky, giving you a new interface to explore, and perhaps tying up valuable screen real estate.
If you’re looking for something simpler, then, more lightweight, then you might be interested in a new Firefox add-on called Easy Access.
Install the extension and you’ll see an icon appear to the right of the Firefox status bar. Clicking this reveals a drop-down menu with some default entries – Notepad, Paint, Calculator, My Computer, Switch Profile – and selecting any of these will launch that program.
There’s a “Manage Your Own Easy Access” option which allows you to add further programs of your own (you’re able to specify the program name, and, optionally, any command line switches).
And you can also add any or all of these program icons to the Easy Access bar, which should ensure you’re able to launch any of them with a single click.
As launchers go, Easy Access isn’t exactly sophisticated. There’s no folder or other mechanism for grouping your programs, for instance. You can’t reorder them. There’s no way to provide a custom icon, or any similar more advanced customisations. We didn’t even see an option to remove the default menu entries.
Still, if you almost always have a Firefox window open then Easy Access does do exactly what its name suggests, giving you simple one-click access to any extra tools or applications you need, and if that sounds interesting then we’d recommend you give it a closer look.
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