Start++ - must-have add-on for Vista!

[NetRyder]

From my latest blog post -

In many ways, search in Windows Vista is quite a bit nicer than what it used to be in XP with Windows Desktop Search installed - search boxes in different parts of the system, like Explorer and Control Panel windows, are context-sensitive; low priority I/O reduces the performance hit of indexing to almost nothing; search folders are easy to create and are first-class citizens in the system; and so on.

However, there's one feature that I've been missing ever since I migrated my machines over to Vista - aliases. In my review of WDS back in 2005, I described the deskbar as "the run dialog on steroids" and wrote - "one of the unique features of Windows Desktop Search that none of the other desktop search apps have is the concept of aliasing. This is a killer feature for power-users."

Oddly enough, Microsoft didn't include the ability to create custom aliases out-of-the-box in Vista. Start++, a just-released, super-useful tool, adds that missing piece back in, along with some goodies of its own. I'll let Brandon describe it in detail. I love how it integrates with the command shell, and Search Actions are just awesome.

You definitely want to check this out. Vista should have shipped with something like this built-in.​

 

[Smoke286]

That looks very cool, however, I am so pleased with the search feature in Vista I think I'll wait a while for the bugs to get worked our of this before I take a chance on screwing anything up

 

[NetRyder]

It works well. I haven't experienced any problems with it so far.

 

[Tweakfiend]

Seems good on one to one searches, but when i use "play" or playartist" etc, follow by "nominated artist" it did not open Media Player and look for that track but gives the option to open many other programs in the search function.

I did read this correctly (?)

 

[Tweakfiend]

My mistake...... all my music is on my second hard drive .. not C/ Users / My Music, so could not be identified.
Now works after copying folder to C

 

[NetRyder]

You could have also simply added the music folder on the second drive to the index, if you wanted to, instead of copying everything over.

 

[Tweakfiend]

Thanks Net
Had assumed the system had index searched all already.
When "all" is available in a search
Have now seen the "index modify" function and adjusted.

 

[madmatt]

This add-on made the Vista blog...

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/w...ew-search-add-on-for-windows-vista-start.aspx

 

[Sazar]

Sounds interesting

 

[NetRyder]

Brandon's working on a couple of cool new features too.

See:
http://brandonlive.com/2007/02/27/upcoming-start-update/
http://brandonlive.com/2007/03/04/new-start-feature/

 

[NetRyder]

New version released with the picture gadget working, and other changes.

http://brandonlive.com/2007/03/08/start-04-released/