Launchy - The Awesome Keystroke Launcher

Launchy, the keystroke launcher.  It cannot even be simply described as an application keystroke launcher because of its limitless possibilities.  I have been using this program for a long time now and I can say that it has boosted my productivity.

What is it?
Essentially, Launchy stays hidden in the background of your computer most of the time.  When you need to call upon it, use your designated shortcut (I use shift + esc) and type in the command you want to run.  Once you make sure it understands your command, press enter and it will run the command.  For example, if I wanted to start Firefox, I hold shift + esc, type "fire" and press enter.  Because I have launched Firefox so many times, Launchy recognizes that I want to start Firefox when I start typing its name.

Why use it?
Most people have a desktop full of icons in order to launch their favorite programs.  But they have to dig through menus and folders to access the other files they want.  With Launchy, you simply tell it to catalog your folders and it will match the file you're looking for with the command you type in.  Say I store a file under my personal folder that Lauchy has cataloged and it is titled "spreadsheet1".  If I call up Launchy and start typing spreadsheet1, it will know that I am calling upon that specific file and open it immediately.  It saves me time from having to go through my folders and find the file.

Also, a real example from my own practices, I told Launchy that I want to start Facebook when I type "fb".  So now, regardless or not Firefox is open, I just press shift + esc, type "fb", and press enter.  If Firefox is not open, it will open Firefox and open a tab with Facebook loaded.  If Firefox is already open, it will open a new tab and load Facebook.  I do this with many of my websites that I access on an hourly basis.

Lauchy runs in the background? But won't that take up my precious computer resources?
Launchy has a low memory footprint and does not require much CPU process to use.  If you tell it to manually catalog your files, you should never experience a slowdown with your computing experience.  Right now, Launchy is using a mere 5 megabytes of RAM, which is 0.5% of 1 gigabytes, the standard for netbooks these days.

One last thing:
With Windows 7 and its native ability to change wallpapers, I don't have to show my desktop icons because I can start my applications with Launchy.  Therefore, I get to admire my amazing set of wallpapers, such as the one below.

Bonus points for the Tech savvy:
There is actually a way to tweet with Launchy. Let me know if you're interested.