<p>I like putting shortcuts of the form "g - google.lnk" in my start menu so google is two keystrokes away. Win, g.</p>

<p>My eight or so most frequent applications go there.</p>

<p>I also make links to my solution files I am always opening "x - Popular Project.lnk"</p>

<p>Are there any better ways to automate opening frequently used applications?</p>

[{'answer_id': 44355, 'author': 'hometoast', 'author_id': 2009, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2009', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>For shortcuts I use <strong>Launchy</strong></p>\n\n<p>For macros I use <strong>AutoHotKey</strong></p>\n\n<p>Others will suggest <strong>SlickRun</strong> for shortcuts also.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 44358, 'author': 'EBGreen', 'author_id': 1358, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1358', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Get a keyboard launcher program like <a href="http://www.launchy.net/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Launchy</a></p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 44361, 'author': 'Adam Davis', 'author_id': 2915, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2915', 'pm_score': 3, 'selected': True, 'text': '<p><a href="http://www.autohotkey.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">AutoHotkey</a> is a reasonably good program for implementing windows key shortcuts.  You might instead define WIN + G to be "open browser to google" which gives you a better response time (don\'t have to wait for start menu to popup, etc)</p>\n\n<p>There are macro programs that change the macros used based on the window that\'s in focus.  I\'ve never needed that much control, but you might want to look into that.</p>\n\n<p>-Adam</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 44365, 'author': 'Jesús E. Santos', 'author_id': 4547, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4547', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I use a lot the "intellisense" snippets in Visual Studio. You can include your own snippets and press double tab when they appear in the list. That\'s definitely a time saver. </p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 65690, 'author': 'Keng', 'author_id': 730, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/730', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I use <a href="http://www.quickmacros.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">QuickMacros</a> and love it.</p>\n\n<p>so much so, that I did some extensive training articles on it <a href="http://www.TheMacroHook.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 65726, 'author': 'Curtis Lassam', 'author_id': 9337, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/9337', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>The holy grail- \nCtrl-C, Ctrl-V</p>\n\n<p>I kid, I kid! Try the veal!</p>\n'}]
['https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/44350', 'https://Stackoverflow.com', 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1736623/']