There are many ways to launch applications within GNOME. Remember that one of GNOME's strong points is that it allows you to start and control applications using only an easy-to-use graphical interface. There are many ways to start the applications you wish to use:
As you saw in the previous section you may use the Main Menu to find applications which have been pre-loaded or you provided using the Menu Editor. You can read more about the Menu Editor in the Chapter 7.
You may also add application launchers from the Panel which was covered in the section called Adding Application Launchers.
If you are using the GNOME File Manager you may double click on any executable file and it will run.
You may use the GNOME Run program to launch any application. To use it select the Run program menu item from the Main Menu. This will launch a simple dialog which allows you to type in the command for launching the application. For example, if you wish to start the Emacs editor and it is not in a menu or on your panel you may start the GNOME Run Program and type emacs in the text box on the dialog.