I used to call Spotlight to open my apps, but since i have a slow hard drive, I started to look for faster options. I didn't want to install Quicksilver or Launchbar or any other program for that. I had two goals: I should rely only on what OS X could offer me. I wanted fast access using only the keyboard. So here's what I did: I dragged the Applications folder to the dock, creating a Stack. It was set to Display as folder and View contents as list. In System Preferences » Keyboard & Mouse » Keyboard Shortcuts, under the 'Keyboard Navigation' section, I checked the Move focus to the Dock box and used Control-Command-D as my shortcut. That's all it took. Here's how it works: Hitting the shortcut keys brings the Dock to the front (or shows it if it's hidden), so you can navigat...

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