We all have seen how the native Windows Startup becomes so painfully in-adequate when you start installing a lot of programs. It will be nice to have customizable startup options so you get to the frequently accessed programs easily & quickly. We have seen some excellent application launchers like Launchy, Enso, etc. Still those are fin when you know what you want to open. But, you might even forget the programs you have installed for a particular task.

8start is a portable startup program that is highly customizable. Keith has included this cool startup program in his Hall of Fame, Best of Everything post and I totally agree.

Let’s look at the features it offers:

• A customizable keyboard shortcut to bring it up with a keystroke or you can access it by mouse or from the system tray
• Organize your shortcuts into groups & categories
• Create & configure buttons for all your favorite applications
• Create buttons for shortcuts, url favorites, files, folders and application links
• Buttons are customizable to different sizes and you can add them to Groups.
• Then you can organize groups into Categories such as ‘General’, ‘Development’, ‘Media’, etc.
• Custom skin support (transparent png)
• You can choose to display drive space for any drive of your choice
• Tree-Notes feature – full featured note taking option (I haven’t played much with this yet)

The initial setup may not be very intuitive or easy with drag & drop support or anything. But, once you have set it up the way you want it, it will be an indispensable one for a power user.

If you have been tired of your cluttered desktop icons crowding your beatiful wallpaper, you’ll appreciate this tool once you have everything setup. Again, a casual user might find this hard to use but for a power user it’ll be quite easy to figure it out.

I have been loving Enso Launcher but there are times I have to hit the Start Menu to dig out a program I can’t remember and 8start is going to help me greatly with it.

[image credits: 8start.com]