Quick launching text editor

[Muse]

I used to have one, don't know what it is now. Tired of Notepad (XP Pro). I think I used to use Spad.exe (Superpad) but launching it now it doesn't seem to support URL launch. I could swear that what I had before (Spad??) did this. Dunno. Anyway, I don't want anything that loads slowly, but would do for quick notes, be my default .txt application, launch URL's, can do the simple stuff like Wordwrap, font choices. I'd consider fancier stuff, but quick launch is important, and not so fully featured as to have a steep learning curve.

 

[Tarrant64]

UltraEdit?

 

[Muse]

I went searching through my Downloads folder and found the utility I must have been using. It's Metapad.

metapad is a small, fast (and completely free) text editor for Windows 9x/NT/XP/Vista with similar features to Microsoft Notepad but with many extra (and rather useful) features. It was designed to completely replace Notepad since it includes all of Notepad's features and much, much more

Metapad download page and FAQ

I'm going to make this my default txt editor and also replace notepad.exe with it (instructions for doing this are at the site linked above). There may be better choices, if anyone wants to comment, offer suggestions for alternatives, please do.

Wikipedia page for Metapad

It's definitely the full version, not the lite version that I will use. The lite version does not support hyperlinks. Both versions are written in C and are very fast and load fast. Replacing Notepad completely with this is a snap by running the .reg file download provided.

 

[techmanc]

Try Notepad++ its a a great notepad replacement and its free.....see link below
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: techmanc
Try Notepad++ its a a great notepad replacement and its free.....see link below
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

It doesn't appear to support hyperlinking (URL launch). Also, it's written in C++ using the Win32 API and is probably a lot slower than Metapad, which is written in C.

 

[Tarrant64]

Can I ask why the couple of seconds it takes one app to launch than the other is such a big deal?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Tarrant64
Can I ask why the couple of seconds it takes one app to launch than the other is such a big deal?

It's all relative. When I open Word I wait around 3 seconds or so. My email client (Forte Agent) takes less than a second. Honestly, in a text editing program the time it takes to open is secondary to me compared to the convenience of hyperlinking support. That's my top priority here.

 

[LightningRider]

Notepad++ does support URL launching in the latest versions. There is an option in the MISC tab of the preferences where you can click to enable/disable it as well as choose the option of whether to draw underline underneath links.

Notepad++ is the best

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: techmanc
Try Notepad++ its a a great notepad replacement and its free.....see link below
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Notepad++

Originally posted by: LightningRider
Notepad++ does support URL launching in the latest versions. There is an option in the MISC tab of the preferences where you can click to enable/disable it as well as choose the option of whether to draw underline underneath links.

Notepad++ is the best

Why?