Launching Multiple Files - The Easy Version

One thing that prevents me from Doing Stuff I Should Be Doing is the hassle in getting started. One of my current projects involves me opening two web pages, an application, a text file, and a directory. While the agony of opening all these things would not discourage a man of stouter will, I am not that man.

I'd heard something vague about batch files, but not how to make them. I assumed it involved watching twelve seasons of Star Trek, installing Linux, and conducting furious online flame wars about the competing virtues of World of Warcraft characters.

Fortunately it turned out to be a three-step process:

1. Put shortcuts to -- (a) your browser and (b) the files, folders, and apps you want -- in a new folder.
2. Make a text file with a line for each item: "start filename", or for the sites: "start firefox websitename.com"
3. Save it as Filename.bat in the same folder as the files.

As long as the shortcuts are named without spaces in them, it will actually open all the stuff. If you make a shortcut to it, you can set a custom icon for the shortcut.
I put mine in the Quick Launch bar:



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Here's the link to the Lifehacker post that demystified it for me.