UPDATE
Lots of people are linking to this post. A much better place to link would be to the new Start++ web site. Thanks!
I’ve decided to share a little tool that I wrote on a whim a week or two ago for Vista. This is a personal project of mine, not related to MS in any way.
Users of WDS on XP may recall the “Deskbar Shortcuts” functionality that allows you to create little aliases between words or characters with commands and searches. For example, you could set up the Deskbar so that you could type “g Stuff” to search for the work “Stuff” on Google. You could also launch programs, run scripts with parameters, and more.
Windows Vista replaced the Deskbar with Instant Search built-in to the Start menu, which is totally awesome. Unfortunately, it lacks all of that fun shortcut functionality that the Deskbar had. Unless you have my tool, which for the time being I’m calling Start++.
Here are a few of things it does:
This will open the “Longhorn Server” page on Wikipedia.
This will launch Visual Studio with administrator permissions.
Start++ also works from the command line!
Search Actions let you perform actions over search results. In this case, “Play Radiohead” will:
- perform a search for music with the keyword “radiohead”
- Write all the results to a .M3U file
- Open the results in Media Player
That’s the configuration UI, which lets you create your own custom commands / aliases.
Like I said, this is kind of something I threw together, so it might still have some bugs, and I’ll probably add more to it when I get the time on weekends and such. Anyway, let me know what you think.
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:44 pm
This is just awesome. I’ve really been missing the aliases feature from WDS ever since I migrated over to Vista, and this adds the missing piece back in, along with command shell integration and Search Actions.
Very cool, Brandon. I’m using it already, and will be watching for future updates.
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Start++ is a cool little add-on to Vista…
Brandon Paddock, a guy I quoted on couple of things before for cool tips and opinions, just made available a nice little freeware app for Vista. He calls it Start++, and it surely disserves that name. All of you who……
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
What can I tell you man! SIMPLY AWESOME
Let me know if I can redistribute it over my site. I know in the license it says I cannot redistribute it - but surely I’d like to help out
+ It’s a lot nicer when people can just click and download straight from my site 
Cheers,
Petar
http://www.VistaJuice.com
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 pm
[...] Brandon Paddocks Blog - Start ++ Download: Start++ Tags: Computers, Windows, [...]
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
This is a great idea, but I already have Opera set up with all my various shortcuts exactly like this.
If you could figure out a way to import the Opera search file into Start++ so I don’t have to enter them all (lots!) again, that would be brilliant.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
searches with spaes in them are not working, only the first word gets sent to the web browser.
ie. g longhorn server searches google for longhorn only, not longhorn server.
thanks
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Awesome!
February 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 pm
This is awesome. I always wished IE7 had the same support for commands like this, the same way Opera does, but I think this tool takes it one step further, and then some! The search actions are VERY cool
Congrats on the great work. I don’t think I’ll *ever* have another Vista installation that doesn’t have this installed as well!
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 am
Suren - thanks for catching that! I have updated the installer to version 0.2.2.
It includes a fix for that problem, allowing you to use the %+ substition in order to fill in the parameters with +’s instead of spaces between them. I also changed the default commands to use that when appropriate.
However, if you already installed the old version, you WILL NEED to update the query strings YOURSELF. That just means launching the app and replacing %* with %+ for the web search commands (But not Wikipedia).
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:04 am
I use both FireFox (for the Internet, default browser) and IE7 (for our Intranet). I’d like to do a search for people on our Intranet using IE7, but when I put a simple search of:
“E:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” “http://intranet/search/index.php?name=%+”
it tells me “SYstem cannot find the file specified”. I assume this is because it’s trying to run the whole line? Can the program be modified so just the first parameter is the exe? Am I making sense?
Excellent program though!! Very useful…
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:29 am
Great stuff Brandon, I had almost forgotten about this functionality but found it really useful back in Windows XP deskbar days. Are you also still working on your sidebar gadget for search??? Any other news of any potential Vista PowerToys in the wings?
Thanks for giving this to the community.
Cheers
Janson
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:37 am
very nice app …
but i think that “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/%*” is better search string for wikipedia, because without “Special:Search” it will try to load article with that exact name and will not search for it if it not exists
sry for my english
and tnx again
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:30 am
Thanks Daniel and Unq. I’ll update the app this weekend with those suggestions / fixes =)
February 23rd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I created a search action that is:
kind:contact %*
and set it to open results. I guess I’ve had expected it to open matching contact items. Didn’t even show contact items. Am I missing something?
It did show a “program” with the start++ logo and my parameters at the top of the results.
February 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 pm
P Cause -
I tried the same thing, and it worked contacts that were stored in Windows Contacts. However, contacts stored in Outlook won’t work, as the current code only knows how to open file-system results.
I’ll add that to my list of features to add, though.
Were your contacts stored in Outlook or some other app? (OE, Thunderbird, etc)?
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
[...] Paddock released probably the first powertoy for Vista, this cool application is called Start++ and it’s name describes it perfectly… Start++ expands your Start menu searchbar with [...]
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:36 pm
[...] was just reading a post by Brandon Paddock regarding a new (free) tool called Start++ that he made for Windows Vista. He works on the [...]
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Thanks for the reply. My contacts were stored in Outlook.
An idea: how about allowing the search results to be passed as arguments to a batch / PowerShell file? Other search actions I’d love to see are print and “show results in explorer” which gives does the search in the file explorer that Win+F would bring up.
Thanks for the great app.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I thought of print but that one scares me a bit, so I’d want to at least figure out some kind of confirmation UI so you know what you’re going to print
As for launching a search in explorer, you can already do that. I didn’t do it originally because it’s not very useful from the start menu (it already does searching!). But from the command-line it would be. So try making a Simple Command called “search” or something, with the command “search-ms:query=%*” and that should do what you want.
February 24th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
[...] more info and download…. [...]
February 25th, 2007 at 7:58 am
[...] Download Start++ From Brandon Paddock’s site now. [...]
February 25th, 2007 at 10:15 am
[...] Start++는 윈도우 비스타 시작 메뉴의 검색창을 더욱 유용하게 만들어주는 유틸리티입니다. 미리 정해진 명령어 뿐만 아니라 사용자가 직접 명령어를 지정해서 다양한 작업을 수행하게 만들어줍니다. [...]
February 25th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
[...] Brandon Paddock’s Blog - Desktop Search and more » Blog Archive » New tool I made for Vista:…: [...]
February 26th, 2007 at 7:17 am
Thanks Brandon, you’ve made my day with Start++! Search is my No.1 feature in Vista, whoever decided it would sit in Start menu should be promoted.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:42 am
[...] One of the Microsoft techs who works on the Windows Search systems has written a neat little app called Start++. [...]
February 27th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Download of the Day: Start++ (Windows Vista)…
Windows Vista only: Desktop utility Start++ supercharges Vista’s Start menu search field with configurable key commands. With Start++ installed, by default you can: Run a Wikipedia search by typing w Han Solo Launch an app as an administrator with……
February 27th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
[...] Vista search box. Start++ is a free download for Windows Vista only. — Gina Trapani New tool I made for Vista: Start++ [Brandon Live! via The How-To [...]
February 27th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
[...] Link [...]
February 27th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Wow, looks a whole lot like OIHOI
February 27th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
This looks like something that would be nice for XP…
February 27th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Brilliant idea my friend…I look forward to see the progress you make on this.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
“Launchy” is a nice tool for windows XP users. You can get it from here
http://www.launchy.net/#donate
February 27th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
[...] Ein tolles kleines Windows Vista Add-On Programm ist Start++. [...]
February 28th, 2007 at 3:53 am
[...] Download [...]
February 28th, 2007 at 4:24 am
[...] This is an interesting tool for all you Vista folks, it allows you to launch programs and what not from the search or cmd prompt. For instance, w bob dole, will go to the wikipedia article about Bob Dole, should you want to read about him. You can also launch a program as administrator by sudo cmd, or look up stuff on google by, g stuff. Another function about this I like is the play command, just do something like, play winger, and BAM! you got yourself some winger playing, i’d guess you actually need to have some winger downloaded, and set-up in your config on their, but still, neat tool. So, go on and get Start++ [...]
February 28th, 2007 at 6:25 am
This is awesome, is there anything like that for XP besides launchy an WDS
February 28th, 2007 at 7:50 am
Hey, it’s a great Tool.
You surf with Opera, right?!
February 28th, 2007 at 10:24 am
This software is awesome! Very useful! I’m already addicted to it! Thanks!
February 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Tobbi -
Nope, I use Maxthon. I’m pretty sure Opera took their alias feature (like most of their features) from Maxthon or Avant.
February 28th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
OK I feel dumb that I cannot get it working. I can make it work from the run command, but not from the search within the start menu. if i type “g bananas” or something and hit enter, it will open Search Results in Indexed locations. But like I said, it works fine from the run window. Am i glancing over that I don’t hit enter, is there another “hot key” i need to hit?
February 28th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Jeff -
Enter should work. When you type “g banana” - look at the top of the Start menu. You should see “g banana” under Programs, and it should have the Start++ icon. That should be the selected item by default. There are rare cases where another shortcut in your start menu could be on top, but the “See All Results” link should never be selected.
I also can’t see any reason why it would work from the Run box but not the search box, since they’re doing the same thing.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Brandon:
I tried for kicks changing the google trigger to ‘google’, no change. I also uninstalled and reinstalled it, however it seems that upon reinstall my google trigger was still ‘google’ not ‘g’. If i have a corrupt install, and run the uninstaller, there’s something somewhere saving my user-defined triggers? (your folder in program files disappeared, i don’t know where else to look).
For the yahoo search command though, which i didn’t change and it’s still “y”, when i type “y bananas” this is what i get:
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7448/testestjs7.jpg
Just a few archived msn chats where i guess i mentioned bananas or something.
Again, opening the run box and typing “y bananas” works though.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
It looks like you modified your Start Menu settings and disabled the “Search Programs” option. You’ll need to re-enable that for the current version of Start++ to work (actually won’t be necessary in the next one).
February 28th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Hah, that was it, thank you!
February 28th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
oh and looking forward to the next version
February 28th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
[...] Start++ es una pequeña utilidad gratuita y que podemos clasificar como obligatoria para cualquier usuario de Windows Vista, ya que permite extender las funcionalidades de la barra de búsqueda del menú inicio, permitiéndonos usarla para muchas más cosas de las que Vista trae de forma predeterminada. [...]
February 28th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
[...] New tool I made for Vista: Start++ (tags: apps command cool desktop freeware line productivity programming search software tools utilities vista windows start) [...]
March 1st, 2007 at 8:21 am
[...] Microsoft’s Brandon Paddock has independantly written the first amazing PowerToy for Windows Vista, one that takes the search function of the Start menu and tricks it out, called Start++. What Start++ does is extend the search to let you run all these search shortcuts from the Start menu search box. For instance: [...]
March 1st, 2007 at 10:21 am
Start++…
…
March 1st, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Nicely done! I’ve been waiting for something like this.
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:49 am
[...] una piccola applicazione (non affiliata in alcun modo alla casa di Bill Gates), che si chiama Start++ e che permette di migliorare le funzioni della barra di ricerca di Windows [...]
March 2nd, 2007 at 5:06 am
[...] This method is faster than using Firefox and IE7’s inline search, which requires more steps to do some basic searches. Start++ is still in beta and expect some bugs to show up and its only for Vista. Check it out…. [...]
March 6th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
[...] Brandon Paddock, who works on Search on the Windows dev team, took some time away from the office to develop a very useful add-on to Windows Vista’s already amazing search capabilities. In Windows Desktop Search for Windows XP, there was a functionality called “Deskbar Shortcuts” that allowed you to associate words and phrases with commands or searches you executed on a regular basis. Brandon has brought that functionality to Windows Vista with his Start++ tool. [...]
March 6th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
[...] Brandon Paddock, who works on Search on the Windows dev team, took some time away from the office to develop a very useful add-on to Windows Vista’s already amazing search capabilities. In Windows Desktop Search for Windows XP, there was a functionality called “Deskbar Shortcuts” that allowed you to associate words and phrases with commands or searches you executed on a regular basis. Brandon has brought that functionality to Windows Vista with his Start++ tool. [...]
March 7th, 2007 at 6:35 am
[...] Je viens de mettre la main sur un très sympa petit Add-on pour Vista, développé par un Microsoftee de la Windows Dev Team : Brandon Paddock. [...]
March 7th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Hello Brandon,
I stumbled over this nifty little tool but already have a few issues.
First of all, what some others already mentioned, the “play ” doesn’t work if your user name has spaces in it; I saw no simple fix in the serach query.
Second, could you include an option to enable or disable the queries to work on commandline. Start++ ships with a “dir” command which is greatly disturbing if one is working in cmd on a regular basis and don’t get the dir listing but something different and entirely not on the commandline.
Regards,
Johannes
March 12th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Hi,
Can i use this to launch an MSN messenger chat to a specific contact?
Thanks
March 14th, 2007 at 3:35 am
good
March 14th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Brandon, I use the deskbar shortcuts, Ctrl+Enter and Shift+Enter maybe two thousand times a day, and I find that I don’t miss the command prompt most of the time
The day I installed Vista I found that the lack of this funcionality was the only thing about Vista I could never get used to.
In short: THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
March 17th, 2007 at 6:36 am
[...] Oprócz tego można oczywiście tworzyć własne komendy. Dodatek można ściągnąć tu -> Link. Posted by pmec Filed in narzędzia, vista, [...]
March 21st, 2007 at 12:25 am
Brandon, excellent, excellent utility. How about setting up a PayPal donate button? I for one would donate just so you could buy a new icon that matches the new Vista smoochieness…
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:28 am
[...] The search bar in Windows Vista does what it’s supposed to do and does it well. But nobody expected the possibily of making that search bar into a real search bar. By that I mean making that Search bar also being able to search on Google, Imdb, Wikipedia. Well now you can thanks to a piece of software named Start++ created by Brandon Live. [...]
March 24th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
[...] the know, it works a lot like Quicksilver on OS X. You can get more functionality by installing the free Start++ add-on by Brandon Paddock. Definitely faster and superior to OS X’s [...]
March 27th, 2007 at 5:21 am
[...] you executed on a regular basis. Brandon has brought that functionality to Windows Vista with his Start++ tool. For instance, using Start++, Windows Vistas Start Menu Search Bar becomes an internet search [...]
March 27th, 2007 at 5:21 am
[...] Brandon Paddock, who works on Search on the Windows dev team, took some time away from the office to develop a very useful add-on to Windows Vista’s already amazing search capabilities. In Windows Desktop Search for Windows XP, there was a functionality called “Deskbar Shortcuts” that allowed you to associate words and phrases with commands or searches you executed on a regular basis. Brandon has brought that functionality to Windows Vista with his Start++ tool. [...]
March 30th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
[...] Start++ - search tools from WDS in Vista [...]
March 30th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
[...] Start++ - Search Tools from WDS in Vista [...]
April 1st, 2007 at 2:53 pm
[...] The search bar in Windows Vista does what it’s supposed to do and does it well. But nobody expected the possibily of making that search bar into a real search bar. By that I mean making that Search bar also being able to search on Google, Imdb, Wikipedia. Well now you can thanks to a piece of software named Start++ created by Brandon Paddock. [...]
April 5th, 2007 at 7:25 am
[...] Vista search box. Start++ is a free download for Windows Vista only. — Gina Trapani New tool I made for Vista: Start++ [Brandon Live! via The How-To [...]
April 10th, 2007 at 9:03 am
[...] Brandon Paddock hat ein kleines, aber feines Tool names Start++ für Windows Vista programmiert, mit dem man das handelsübliche Startmenü tunen kann. [...]
April 11th, 2007 at 11:46 am
[...] basic searches. Start++ is still in beta and expect some bugs to show up and its only for Vista. Check it out…. Share [...]
April 16th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Hi,
Can you help me, creating ctrl S for saving documents in Vista?
April 25th, 2007 at 6:55 am
Thank You
April 26th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
[...] Vista search box. Start++ is a free download for Windows Vista only. — Gina Trapani New tool I made for Vista: Start++ [Brandon Live! via The How-To [...]
May 8th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
[...] New tool for Vista: Start++ This is an interesting tool for all you Vista folks, it allows you to launch programs and what not from the search or cmd prompt. For instance, w bob dole, will go to the wikipedia article about Bob Dole, should you want to read about him. You can also launch a program as administrator by sudo cmd, or look up stuff on google by, g stuff. Another function about this I like is the play command, just do something like, play winger, and BAM! [...]
May 16th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Brandon, what a great little tool, got almost everything at the touch of justa few buttons, awsome. thanks matey, keep up the gopod work
May 16th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
[...] Pagina dell’autore. [...]
May 19th, 2007 at 9:59 am
It’s rare in today’s world that someone designs something that is fresh and new. You have done that, sir. My hat is off to you. You are truly an artist.
May 24th, 2007 at 12:49 am
[...] una piccola applicazione (non affiliata in alcun modo alla casa di Bill Gates), che si chiama Start++ e che permette di migliorare le funzioni della barra di ricerca di Windows [...]
May 26th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
[...] Start++ Every Windows power user knows the command line is the place to get serious work done. The new Start Menu search box in Windows Vista opens the door to a whole new level of command line possibilities. One utility called Start++ extends the Start Menu search box to add even more features allowing you to use shortcuts to launch web sites and processes. Would you like to search Google from your start menu search box? Just type g followed by your query such as g tweak vista. How about doing a quick search on Wikipedia? Type w and your query in the search box. The possibilities are endless because you can create custom shortcuts just like the examples above. On top of web shortcuts, you can also create application links that will launch an app and open a file. Almost anything is possible with a little customization of the Start++ utility shown below. Click here to Download [...]
May 28th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! rgqpzgvdklej
May 29th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Brandon
I have just started working with Vista and I want to add additional menu items to Media Center. How can I do it?
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:43 am
[...] Hay dos utilidades gratis (que no libres) para esto en Windows: sudowin y Start++ [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Is there any way to implement the searching style of launchy? With launchy to run Windows Media Player “WMP” could be used, or any combination of letters included in the name (in order). another example was firfox a simple “fx” would start it. Great work though
June 11th, 2007 at 9:16 am
[...] like the ones that appear on the Start menu when you use the Search box. You could start with Brandon Paddock’s Start++ and not go [...]
June 17th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
[...] Download Start Menu Add-on: Start++ [...]
June 29th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Well… I’ve used this solution ever since the Win2K days. I added “C:\shortcuts” to my %PATH% environment variable, and then I put tersely named shortcuts to my programs therein, like “ps” for Photoshop, “f” for Firefox, “mc” for My Computer, etc. etc… I start all my programs this way (Win+R); I don’t use the Desktop, Quick Launch or the Start menu.
So this functionality has already been in Windows, but I guess it’s OK for those who don’t know about it anyway.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
#87 - That’s actually a very, very small subset of what Start++ does. That solution does not allow you to substitute parameters into the command or arguments, execute a command elevated, run a script over search results, or embed UI in the start menu.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Yeah, it does if you use .cmd/.bat (using %1, etc.), but I suppose it’s good for non-tinkering dudes to have the functionality presented in a more obvious way.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Not the search results thing though, that’s very true.
(For example, to run as elevated, you only have to make a shortcut calling runas /user:administrator /savecred “%1″ as base. /savecred makes it so you only have to type your password once: or, you could just use sysinternals’ PSExec )
It wasn’t my intention to ridicule this program or the author’s efforts — it’s obviously a well-executed application — I merely wanted to point out that Windows can be more powerful without needing heavy modification than people realise. Also, since I’ve used the Start++ way to start ALL my programs for about, oh, 7 years now, it’s safe to say I think it’s THE way to optimise your workflow
June 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
GGM -
I know, I just wanted to clarify things. Also, you CANNOT use “runas” to elevate a process. The “runas” command you suggested will run the process as the built-in Administrator account, not the currently logged in account.
Also, saving credentials to the local Admin account isn’t a very secure practice (if it even works, not sure it’s supported anymore on Vista).
July 18th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Brandon, thanks for a completely indispensable tool for Vista. I loathe having to create shortcuts for elevated privileges and pinning them to the Start Menu - I loathe having to use the start menu via a mouse in the first place. Sure, I can hit the Windows key, then use the letters / arrow keys to select what I want.
But, that does not even come close to compare to using [WinKey], typing sudo {appname} and hitting enter - a perfect combination, especially as I continually write Manifest files for legacy apps that don’t have them (neither embedded nor in the program tree) with Notepad and this makes it that much easier - I can now save them directly to the program tree without having to go through any extra other steps!
Marvelous!
As an aside, I used to use another app with similar capabilities with regards to shortcuts for loading particular websites, performing searches and what not - Dave’s QuickSeach Deskbar. This is my new replacement for that faithful old friend.
Thank you for writing such an ingenious app!
October 12th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
[...] Almost anything is possible with a little customization of the Start++ utility shown below. Download Start Menu Add-on: Start++ Prasanna Vignesh R Busy As [...]
December 9th, 2007 at 2:33 am
[...] WDS Vista Addon p.s. This guys works for MS as a Search Tech dev NICE [...]
December 13th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
[...] For more info on this great tool visit Brandon’s blog. [...]
January 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I have written a start menu replacement for XP called Open Menu+ that has the same quick search feature like Vista. In the next major version, I’m planning to have support for search plugins. Would you consider helping me add Start++ to Open Menu+ to make it available on XP?
January 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
We could call it Start Open Menu+++.
JK
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 am
I approached this problem from the other direction. I use launchy to execute commands and web searches the way you used Deskbar on XP, and then configured it to invoke WDS when required. Steps for the latter part can be found here:
http://tech.niques.info/launchy-search-using-wds/
This approach should work on both Vista and XP.