Quick opening of programs using Keyboard only

It is cumbersome to

• move the cursor to the corner of the screen
• click the ‘Start’ button
• click the ‘Programs’
• click the Program folder you like to open
• click the shortcut to open the program
• worst, sometimes mouse slipped and menu disappeared and have to start it all over again.

So I tried program launchers based on menu and still the same problem. And my system resource is taken by that program. (I like my computer running light)