Splat : Launch Multiple Programs with Single Hotkey

Every time I have to write a new article, I have to use a battery of tools – a screen-shot capture program like SnagIt, a picture editor like GIMP, a text editor like Microsoft Word, and so on. Similarly, when I want to work with program development, then I have to open MSDN help library, Pelles C IDE, Resource Editor tool and more. Opening these sets of programs manually can take some time, but you can use the Splat tool to create profiles so that you can launch the set of programs, websites and such with a single hotkey. Similarly, you can close a group of programs with a single hotkey using the Splat tool.

Splat is a portable tool and can be carried on your USB key. The first thing you have to do is create a new profile by clicking on the “New Profile” button in the Splat toolbar. You have to assign a name for the profile. In the following example, I am using TrishTech.com as an example profile name.

Splat

You can right-click on the newly created profile and choose to assign a hotkey to it. The profile will work without the hotkey, but using a hotkey makes it much more easy. You can choose a combination of letters, numbers, symbols, modifiers and other keys to constitute a hot key. In the following screen shot, I have selected Ctrl+Alt+H as the hotkey.

Splat

On the right side of the profile, you can add program entries that should be launched when you run the profile. You can choose “Insert Entry” button for the selected profile to open the new entry insertion window. You can choose to launch file, folder or URLs to be launched. In the following screen shot, I am adding the TrishTech.com website to be launched.

Splat

You can add as many entries as you want. There are many different types of entries to be added. For example, if you want to wait before launching the next program in the list, then you can add the “Wait/Delay” entry and specify the number of seconds. You can also choose to start or stop Windows services, choose to terminate a running application and more.

Splat

After you have added all the entries, you can simply press the configured hotkey to launch the profile and see the programs, folders or URLs being launched in the order they are added in the profile.

Conclusion: Splat is a simple tool to launch multiple programs in one go using a single hotkey. This can be useful when preparing your PC to do something special – playing computer games, switching to program development, watching movies and so on.

You can download Splat from http://skwire.dcmembers.com/fp/?page=splat.