Windows Explorer, the default file manager for Microsoft Windows, hasn’t really changed all that much over the years. Below you’ll find reviews, screenshots and links to download 10 11 12 14 15 different alternatives.
If I haven’t included your favorite file manager (for Windows..) in this list, by all means please leave a comment below or feel free to contact me. I’d be more than happy to include it.
Update: I’ve done another 10 Windows Explorer reviews.
| Name | Cost | Trial? | Rating (x/5) |
| A43 | free | n/a | ***½ |
| Ac Browser Plus | $21.00 | yes | ** |
| CubicExplorer | free | n/a | *** |
| Directory Opus | AUD $85.00 | yes (30 days) | **** |
| ExplorerXP | free | n/a | *** |
| Far Manager | $25.00 | yes (40 days) | ***½ |
| FileMatrix | 24.00 | yes | *** |
| freeCommander | free | n/a | ***½ |
| PowerDesk Pro/Standard | $39.95/free | n/a | **¾ |
| Servant Salamander (2.5) | $30 | yes (30 days) | **** |
| SpeedCommander | 37.95 | yes (60 days) | *** |
| Total Commander | $34 | yes (30 days) | **** |
| XPlorer | free | n/a | ***½ |
| xplorer² | 19.95 | yes (21 days) | *** |
| XYplorer | 29.95 | yes (21 days) | **** |
A43
Requirements: Windows 2000, Windows XP
Download: http://www.primitus.us/a43/
Features:
Thoughts:
A43 took up about 18mb of RAM after using it for 5 minutes. It dropped down to 3mb of RAM after 15 seconds of not using it. Its response time was very quick while renaming, moving and copying files. The drag-and-drop zip/unzip and rar/unrar feature is pretty neat - if I made zip files often I would find this very helpful. Also, you can fit A43 on a floppy and take it with you to use on any PC (doesn’t require an installation). The built-in text editor was easy to use, as was ‘quick launch’ section. The ‘file filter’ feature (use wildcards to sort files) is well located and works exactly as you’d expect. Between the features and the price, this is a file manager that I won’t delete right away.
Screenshots:
 default view |
 easy unzipping |
 Tools list |
 bottom pane - quick launch |
 image preview |
Ac Browser Plus
Requirements: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Download: http://www.konradp.com/products/acbplus/
Features:
Thoughts:
Lots of features, but the interface feels very “Windows 95″ at times. If it was free I would consider leaving it installed and maybe try it out for a while longer. Because some of the other file managers are as feature-rich (or more so) and have a more consistent (and at times much more attractive) interface, I can only give it two stars out of five.
Screenshots:
 easy to view detailed info |
 helpful scripts |
 purchase to change background |
 thumbnail view |
 extra navigation |
 ac browser plus options |
CubicExplorer
Requirements: Windows 95 (untested), 98, ME, NT (untested), 2000, XP, Vista (works, not supported yet)
Download: http://www.cubicreality.com/ce/download
Homepage: http://www.cubicreality.com/
Features:
Thoughts:
Here’s why I gave CubicExplorer 3 stars instead of 2 or 2½ - it has potential, and it’s free. Since it’s not even at version 1.0 yet (0.77a as of 10/13/06), it can only get better (right?). Unfortunately, the 0.77a has been around since March of this year, and the forum indicates that work on .80a started a while ago (but it’s still not out). With all of that said, the Quick View feature is something that I would use, frequently. Showing actual html code when an .html file is selected, rather than a ‘preview’ of the web page, is ideal for me. The built in text editor is excellent for stashing snipits of text, html, web page addresses etc, and allowing that text to be a tab is fantastic. While this version has too few features for me, I will certainly give the next one a try.
Screenshots:
 default view |
 CubicExplorer prefs |
 Text as a tab |
 Quick View files |
Directory Opus
Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME or NT4/2000/XP
Download: http://www.gpsoft.com.au/DScripts/Download.asp
Homepage: http://www.gpsoft.com.au/Index.html
Features:
Thoughts:
Directory Opus is a great File Manager. There are a lot of features and options, and nearly every aspect of this program is customizable. It really is an Explorer replacement, and it offers to do so during the installation - so when you open any folder, Directory Opus will launch. The built-in FTP client works exactly as you’d expect. The many different view options are easy to access and just “make sense”. While in use, Directory Opus took up 28MB of memory on my system. The instant that it’s minimized, its memory use dropped to 1MB. If I used Windows more often, I would gladly pay the $85.00 to purchase this software. In fact, the next time I have a day job that requires Windows use, I will.
Screenshots:
 quick ftp connect |
 contextual (and excellent) auto-help |
 thumbnail view |
 extra (audio) file info |
 nag screen |
 id3 editing |
 huge “file” list |
 replace Windows Explorer |
ExplorerXP
Requirements: Windows 2000, Windows XP
Download: http://www.explorerxp.com/index.html#download (scroll to the bottom)
Homepage: http://www.explorerxp.com/
Features:
Thoughts:
Pretty straight forward Explorer-like File Manager. While it doesn’t have as many features as many of the other reviewed file managers, it is free (for non-commercial use) and makes a great “first” upgrade for beginners. Anyone who has used Windows Explorer for more than 5 minutes will feel right at home using ExplorerXP.
Screenshots
 default view |
 two windows |
 ExplorerXP prefs |
 command list |
Far Manager
Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP
Download: http://www.farmanager.com/download.php?l=en
Homepage: http://www.farmanager.com/index.php?l=en
Features:
Thoughts:
Far Manager is a pretty old-school File Manager. Mouse support is provided, but this is a File Manager for keyboard commandos. Very cool plugins add great extra features (FTP, email, Winamp control etc). I’m not sure that I’ll pay for this File Manager, but I will be using it until the 40 days is up before I decide.
Screenshots:
 Far Manager default view |
 execute a command in Far |
 select multiple files |
 built in text viewer |
 search in Far |
FileMatrix
Requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT4 SP6, 2000, XP or Vista
Homepage: http://www.gardenerofthoughts.org/ideas/filematrix/index.htm
Features:
Thoughts:
FileMatrix is quite unique among all of the other File Managers reviewed in this article. The interface is much different than the typical explorer-style manager. The use of “boards” and “containers” makes viewing and grouping files a snap. If you’re tired of the same-old-file-manager, give this one a try. And be sure to make use of the included Wizards and help files - they will really come in handy.
Screenshots:
 thumbnail view |
 right-click options |
 tools options |
 image converter |
 config and help wizard (very helpful!) |
 nag screen |
freeCommander
Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT (from version 4.0), 2000, XP, Vista (?)
Download: http://www.freecommander.com/fc_downl_en.htm
Homepage: http://www.freecommander.com/
Features:
Thoughts:
‘Easy access to system folders’ is one of the features that first jumped out at me. My immediate thought was “why isn’t that in all file managers?” I may have overlooked it in some of the others, so I certainly won’t say that this is the only one that has this feature. “Size of folders” (not enabled by default) does slow things down - as freeCommander calculates and displays the folder size. With that said, it’s very handy to try and figure out where your hard drive space has gone, and easy to get to when you need it. The image preview was a bit slow for me compared to most of the others. The screenshot feature allows you to chose between image types (bmp and jpg) and even adjust the quality. I think the biggest drawback to freeCommander is the lack of built in FTP support, and I suppose it’s not that big of a deal. This program, though free, is donation-worthy.
Screenshots:
 quick access to System Folders |
 freeCommander prefs |
 Extras menu |
 Quick access to Programs |
 default freeCommander view |
PowerDesk Pro/Standard
Requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, or 2003
Download: http://www.shop.avanquest.com/usa/trial_form.php?pid=686
Homepage: http://www.v-com.com/product/PowerDesk_Pro_Home.html
Features:
Thoughts:
OK here’s my beef.. It’s not a bad File Manager at all. It’s very customizable, has all of the features you’d expect, but the ones you really want to try (add notes to files, ftp, sync folders) are only available in the Pro version (which there’s no trial for). The Standard version is free, but has a ‘nag’ bar that takes up too much screen real-estate. I would much rather a 10 day fully-functional demo version before I decide to lay down $40. Also, they added me to a mailing list when I specifically said I did not want to join (you must provide an email address to download the demo).
Screenshots:
 horizontal view |
 file filter |
 PowerDesk Standard options |
 Tools list |
 customize the toolbar |
Servant Salamander (2.5)
Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, or XP
Download: http://www.altap.cz/download.html
Homepage: http://www.altap.cz/
Features:
This is a list of the main features for version 2.5 RC1. All details/features for v2.5 can be found here, and v2.0 here.
Thoughts:
At the suggestion of a number of commenters, I downloaded and installed Servant Salamander 2.5 RC1. It’s another Norton Commander-style inspired file manager, and a pretty great one at that. It has every feature you’d expect, and then some. The plug-ins allow for features that go above and beyond a file manager (screenshots, encrypt and decrypt, sftp/scp etc). The ability to set a ’skill level’ is a great idea. Executing commands is not only easy, but the command window doesn’t automatically close once the command has been executed! As it stands right now, I can’t pick a “winner” between Servant Salamander and Total Commander. I’m quite sure that it just comes down to personal preference. If Norton Commander-style file managers are your thing, I would strongly suggest you try both Total Commander and Servant Salamander, and decide for yourself which is best. If you’re on a limited budget, go for freeCommander. When the demo versions expire, I plan on buying either Total or Servant - I’ll update this after I decide.
Screenshots:
 default view |
 Servant Salamander plug-ins |
|
 Servant Salamander prefs |
 set a user level |
|
 map network drives |
 execute commands |
SpeedCommander
Requirements: Windows 95/98/98SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Windows XP/2003 x64 Edition
Download: http://www.speedproject.de/enu/download.html
Homepage: http://www.speedproject.de/enu/speedcommander/index.html
Features:
Thoughts:
Lots of features (built in browser is cool) and very snappy response times. Macros are simple to use. Worth checking out, but the price is a bit steep. If I had an x64 version of Windows I would be anxious to try out this app.
Screenshots
 default view |
 View options |
 File options |
 Run a command |
 Preview files |
 Launch apps |
Total Commander
Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. 16bit version available for Win 3.1. Another for Windows CE and the Pocket PC.
Download: http://www.ghisler.com/download.htm
Homepage: http://www.ghisler.com/
Features:
Thoughts:
Having only used it for about 30 minutes total (so far), take these comments with a grain of salt. Total Commander appears to be the fastest file manager in terms of response times. I asked it to calculate the size of 14 folders (that contained a couple hundred files) and it immediatley gave me the answer. The hard drive didn’t clunk away trying to count files, it just happened. As the screenshots below demonstrate, Total Commander looks very old school (though there are many options to customize the look and feel). As the name implies, it’s styled after Norton Commander, and as you’d expect it can be completely controlled via the keyboard. At $34 USD I’m curious to compare it to Free Commander (see comments at the bottom). I reserve the right to bump this up to 4 stars after I look at Free Commander 
Screenshots:
 Total Commander prefs |
 default view |
 FTP view |
 customize the button bar |
 calculate file/folder sizes |
XPlorer
NOTE: a number of folks have mentioned that XPlorer may include a trojan (AVG catches it as Trojan Horse Generic10.AEGX). I’ve removed the download link, but left the URL available if you want to copy and paste it into your browser and try downloading it/living on the edge.
Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003 or Vista
Download: http://guti.webcindario.com/static.php?page=XPlorer (scroll to download section)
Features:
Thoughts:
Arguably the most Windows Explorer-like of all the reviewed File Managers, XPlorer is certainly better than the default Windows Explorer. Here’s my only real complaint - when you delete a file, it remains ‘visible’ in the list of files until you refresh the screen. And you can only refresh by hitting F5 on your keyboard (no right-click, no Edit > Refresh etc). That one annoying ‘feature’ is enough for me not to use it (I replicated this problem on 3 different Windows XP machines). If that kind of thing doesn’t bother you, by all means check this one out because it’s not bad otherwise.
Screenshots:
 default view |
 right-click options |
 Xplorer options |
 File list |
xplorer²
Requirements: Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003
Download: http://zabkat.com/x2down.htm
Homepage: http://zabkat.com
Features:
Throughts:
The ability to search for files everywhere, with Omni-Finder, is actually very cool/powerful. The built-in Help is very useful, as it explains all of the features (and how to use them) clearly, with illustrations. At first glance xplorer² appears fairly average, digging deeper shows it to be a powerful File Manager.
Screenshots:
 default view |
 preview window |
 Tools list |
 System navigation |
 Commands via a container |
XYplorer
Requirements: Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP or Vista
Download: http://www.xyplorer.com/download.htm
Homepage: http://www.xyplorer.com/index.htm/
Features:
Thoughts:
Wow. It only took a couple of minutes of looking around to see some features that I’d never seen before (drop text to file, ctrl+backspace breadcrumb) - and some that I’ve seen before but never this detailed (see the “Rename Special” screenshot below). If you click and hold the left mouse button on an image (in the Preview area) it enlarges until you release the mouse button. Very cool. XYplorer appears to have a slighly larger memory-footprint than Directory Opus (the only other Explorer-style file manager that I gave 4 stars), but it is less expensive.
Screenshots:
 default view |
 Rename special |
 hover info |
 Tools menu |
 XYplorer prefs |
 customize the Toolbar |
If you’re looking for even more, I’ve done another 10 Windows Explorer reviews/overviews.
{ 42 trackbacks }
{ 123 comments… read them below or add one }
Total Commander is a very nice package. You can do all navigation without touching your mouse. Very fast with nice, tight integrations.
http://www.ghisler.com/
Ken -
Downloading now, will add it to this list later this evening. Cheers -
Ross
great roundup, good reviews. well laid out.
you forgot to mention FreeCommander
http://www.freecommander.com/
it’s a free version of TotalCommander and very good
Not a bad “quick” review, although I was surprised to see ExplorerXP (which has clearly been abandoned long ago) and XPlorer (which appears to have also been abandoned) in the review. In my search for the holy grail of file managers almost two years ago I came across XYplorer (http://www.xyplorer.com). It is a VERY powerful file manager that is roughly half the cost of Directory Opus (which is a nice file manager), comes with a lifetime license (no cost to upgrade to future versions), and is constantly being improved upon. New features and bugfixes are released almost daily!
Justin,
Right now I’m checking out Total Commander, and after I update this w/ it I’ll download and install XY. Then FreeCommander.
Thanks for the list. I am not sure I need an alternative to Explorer but this is always a hot topic. A43 btw is a great product on the Windows Ultimate Boot CD
Thanks for the nice review. I might switch to Directory Opus after all. Currently I’m using Servant Salamander which is a great replacement too.
http://www.altap.cz/salam_en/index.html
I keep trying different file managers, and I keep coming back to Servant Salamander. It starts up very fast and works great.
Ross,
Thanks for this great list, and thanks for taking a look at some other file managers! For XY, be sure to go into the “Beta Club” (the forums) and get the latest beta…the betas are rock solid and have more features than whatever is available as an “official” release.
According to the features listed above, Total Commander is the only one to have Direct access to Network Neighbourhood. This means that I have full access to all the folders and files of the other computers on my LAN.
As I have a 3 computer home network, I wouldn’t use anything else but Total Commander.
Another one well worth a look is Cubic Explorer (www.cubicreality.com). It has a tabbed interface and bookmarking facility. And the installer-free download functions well as a portable app.
I guess I know what I’m doing tomorrow. I added Total Commander and freeCommander this evening, tomorrow I’ll add XYplorer (beta), Servant Salamander, Cubic Explorer and maybe the non-beta of XY. Thanks to all for the feedback and suggestions!
Ross
Total Commander. Always better. Long test history. Long history of development since Windows 3.1. Robust in networked environment. Robust when it hits hardware / OS errors. Does FTP and has many plugins (many of them free). Has a portable option so it will be install-free on a USB stick. Fits on a floppy if you do not load plugins. Behaviour is “safe” - defaults never make you lose data or cause confusion (e.g. is it copy or is it move?). Does not suppress the right click context menu. Many shortcut keys and can be driven using keyboard instead of mouse. Author has been quick and responsive - this is randomly over many years. Many, many features which are not surfaced by the menus.
Total Commander. 5/5 Stars.
Give that baby time.
Ananda and James,
Between your comments and those over at Digg, it sounds like I really have to spend some more time w/ Total Commander. The number of folks who are so passionate about it makes me think that there’s a lot more to it. And everyone who does comment mentions that the author is really good about feedback and fixes, which is a huge plus.
Folderview, http://www.folderview.com is also nice!
What a nice job you did with this
Total commander is for me the best solution.
For sure, you can’t test it in 30 minutes, there is hundreds of possibles commands which may help you to save a lot of time, and many of them are not in the menu but you can add them with your own customized menu.
The tab function is really cool and help to save time.
Many plugins are available to open any archive (iso, img and all compressed files), plugin for sftp, etc…
If you look for big icons with picture preview go away. If you don’t want to spend your time managing your files, that’s the solution.
If there is one software to buy for windows, it’s Total Commander.
total commander is the best!
freecommander is by far the best one. Polish programmers kick ass
No one is using 2xExplorer? (Try google “2xExplorer”)
Total Commander has so many features that it boggles the mind. On many occasions, I have e-mailed Christian Ghisler (the author) asking for a feature only to have him tell me that it had already been implemented.
Archive packer (or plug-in) supports every type of compressed fule I’ve come across.
Also, in addition to the extensive collection of plug-ins on the site, there is an independent site of TC plugins at:
http://www.totalcmd.net/
With these plug-ins you can do almost anything: sftp, database browsing, Linux drive support, ISO image support, formatted viewing of files (code, images, animations, etc), iPod connectivity, etc.
the link for xplorer2 is wrong and there is a free lite version (non commercial use) >
http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm
i bought total commander a few years ago, but gave up on it due to some annoyances that just drove me insane near the end. Then i found xplorer2 and its so much faster and does exactly what i want… a simple explorer replacement that looks nice right after install, doesnt need 500 plugins to make it “work”, very intuitive and similar to win Explorer, and doesn’t have strange cryptic hot-keys to do simple stuff. But i do admittedly miss the FTP that Total Commander afforded me.
so why did xplorer2 get only 3 stars even tho you listed no cons about it?
let me weigh in with another thumbs up for XYplorer. at one pt, i tried most of those others and they came up short, at least for me. not so xy. i love it!
the only thing all of them are missing (as far as i know) is a harddisk size analyzer such as idisk. with the addition of that, XY’d be the ginchiest.
What a good list of Windows Explorer alternatives, guess what, I’m still going to stick to use MS Windows Explorer. Installing those applications may just wreck havoc to my system.
how about blackbox for windows ?
I liek this side. It`s well done and informative. Thank you for this!
I miss a thing that bugged me in Explorer always:
If you try to delete or copy a couple of files and one seems to be in use, there is only “abort” or “ok” and it doesn`t continue. So stupid. Yet I only know Directory is able just to continue (and I like the transfer info box) but it`s not free and only for this feature I don`t wanna spent AUD $85,00. So maybe you know wich of those is able to handle file copy/delete as it should!
Thank you
Chris
Total Commander… sure, the interface is ugly and not very intuitive, but as a power-user tool, it’s absolutely unreplaceable. Shows its best with age.
Having used various commanders for over 10 years now, Total Commander is my final choice.
Very nice list.
I personally use xplorer at home and love it.
I especially love that its got tabs. Hit ctrl+insert and you get a new tab! And to go to a different directory, just click the name of the directory you want (say, you are at c:\documents and settings\username\application data\microsoft\internet explorer\ and you want to go back to application data, click on that subdirectory without having to hit the .. or “up” to bet you back there. Its the only app with it and I have become used to it).
At work I use A43, since its free (and not just for non commercial use).
An interesting new dual pane explorer replacement I just found is File Commander.
http://www.godlikesoft.de/
Quick access to regedit, scandisk, defrag. Picture, text, hex, html, audio preview options. Favorites menu. Compare directories/files, create screenshots, network monitor, compress, split, burn on CD, DOS window shortcut, Computer uptime, clock.
Original language is German, I believe, and some of the menu options and tooltips aren’t translated into English.
Great list, though. Thanks.
You list should contain Servant Salmander. Its an excellent file manager feature wise. User it daily and can’t live without it.
I have personally used Total Commander (Windows Commander) since the 3.1 days and I can honestly say it is the one tool I have kept with me wherever I go in this industry. For the longest time I was even still carrying the disk that Christian sent me with my license. Even now as new plug-ins are developed, integrating the added functionality into my day by day usage requires nary an additional thought.
I have used Directory Opus and agree that it is feature rich and definitely a boon to those tethered to a mouse all day, but what was lost in simple, easy to learn keyboard combos far outweighed the bells and whistles that might be used only once or twice.
Another recommendation for Servant Salamander. I’d be absolutely lost without it.
Total Commander is the first thing I install on any fresh Windows installation (even before additional drivers); I’ve been using it for about 2 years now, and I still find new (useful!) features every now and then… Windows Explorer is a joke :)
I see Servant Salamander already commented on a few times. I absolutely love it, myself. Haven’t used Windows Explorer for awhile now.
I’m not sure why you’re using FAR Manager in 80×25 resolution. If you press Alt-F9, the window’ll stretch to cover the whole screen. Also, raster fonts suck. A TrueType one, like Lucida Console or Courier, looks much better and can benefit from ClearType on an LCD.
And here’s a bit of trivia: if you press Alt+F6 over a file, you can create an NTFS hardlink for it (or softlink for a folder), and I’m pretty sure no other file manager can do that.
There’s a lot more to FAR than meets the eye, and when you start scripting it with macros and adding plugins, you’ll never want to use anything else.
After reading a few reviews I skipped down to your review of Xplorer2. It’s the only one of these programs that I know well. Xplorer2 is a very deep program with very strong, unique features, none of which are mentioned. Your review of it is so cursory and devoid of information that would make the review useful that - I’m sorry - it harms your credibility for reviewing these programs.
However, thanks for pulling together this grouping and providing the links.
Ken,
Not to get too defensive, but if I listed all of the features for each of the file managers, this would be hundreds of pages long. The “features” part of each section is a copy/paste (with minor edits) from the respective developers webpage. If the features you love aren’t listed, suggest to the developer that they’re not marketing their product as well as they could be. Regardless, I’m glad you found this semi-useful.
Cheers,
Ross
Found this site via a post on XYplorer forum…and for Chris, check out this thread about how XY handles locked files: here
Your review dropped into my lap when I finally decided to take some time to search for an alternative to Explorer. I wasn’t happy with the couple I had found on my own.
Based on a look at your rundowns, I gave a few more a try and have settled on XYPlorer. It’s exactly what I wanted and more…but not *too* much more. I’ve managed to kill 4 other misc. single task apps with XYPlorer.
Thanks for the roundup, Ross…good work!
Heya Jason - thanks for the compliment!
Check out the XY forums if you haven’t already - I’ve been browsing around tonight and the folks over there are pretty helpful. Cheers,
Ross
Total Commander: 6/5, or (n+1)/n in any scale. Period.
How about Explorer Plus? http://www.gold-software.com/download7440.html
All I want to add to Windows Explorer is the ability to copy files smarter, so that I get the option to replace files with the same name but with newer change-dates. So far, TotalCommander is the only one I’ve found that does this, but the UI is so hideous that I can’t bring myself to using it for anything else.
Isn’t there anything out there that just does this simple task?
What a great resource. Thanks!
I have been using Power Desk Pro for several years, but they moved their web site and I thought them defunct. My main reason for buying it is that it has “Outside-In” technology to view almost any type of file, even if the file type (extension) is missing or wrong in many cases.
Now I can upgrade. Yay!
The one feature that I needed was the ability to search for files that were modified during a selected time of day, like the prior 15 minutes. I was directed to XYplorer via another forum back in Jan 2006, and have been hooked ever since! It has built-in ability to do this easily, and also allows one to show the age of files in list mode, so locating files that are more than, for example, 45 days old is a breeze!
I’ve been dealing with PC’s for many years and have never found a shareware developer who is as responsive to user feedback and needs as this author is! You’d sometimes think it was a team of developers but it’s not…he’s just that quick and talented!
I’ve been using DirOpus since day 1, and I really mean day 1!, back when it was created for Amiga computers. Windows 3.1 wasn’t even released. I still use latest version for Amiga 68k (new version for PPC Amigas is near to completion) and a PPC version of DOpus4 everyday, as well as the PC/Windows version. Best file manager/Explorer replacement ever!
BTW, it can be used as Workbench (Explorer equivalent) replacement in Amiga too…
I was looking for a *group rename* function. e.g. all files of the group DSC###, rename in place to SomeProject_Date_###.
IrfanView does this for jpgs, but I can’t make any of these programs do this. I do this every week with hundreds of files.
Seeing the Matrix up here, I had to point you to http://www.thedailywtf.com, where it was featured a couple months back. Definitely more than enough rope there to hang yourself:
http://thedailywtf.com/forums/thread/77174.aspx
I’m actually just making this post to test the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” feature that I just enabled.
For those interested, I’m also in the middle of using 3 ‘other’ file managers that were suggested here and via the contact form, I’m hoping that I can get the list up to 20 before I’m done. Thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions!
Just another follow-up test to see if the new WP plugin works.
I use xplorer and find it ok, but I still miss the days of DOS and XTree Pro Gold. There was none better! I really wonder why no one has made a replacement [and I don't consider ZTree Bold a relacement]. The control-tag and alt-tag abilities were GREAT!
Good review.
I think Frigate is a file manager decent enough to be reviewed as well (2 panels view, integrated browser, dialer, text editor clock, skinnable) though i prefer Total Commander since it was Windows Commander. Replaced not only that lame Explorer, but a CD-burner, FTP client, registry, NT services and tasks management. Even wrote an article (in russian) about Total Commander. Used TC as a shell for some time - it lacks systray for this matter.
Jaen, comment 39:
Total Commander sure, the interface is ugly
It is highly customizable so one can greately enhance TC’s appearance (background/file type colors, menus, icons, buttons…)
Moa, comment 29:
If you look for big icons with picture preview go away.
Or you may stay with TC and make those icons BIG and a thumbnail preview is great and clean (doesn’t leave trash files like Explorer and ACDSee thumbs.db)
Jonas, comment 60:
TotalCommander is the only one Ive found that does this, but the UI is so hideous that I cant bring myself to using it for anything else.
Ever tried to read help file? (press F1)
Mark, comment 68:
I was looking for a *group rename* function
Total Commander has an advanced group rename tool
(Ctrl+M)
Nice job dude but personally I’d recommend Win Commander, aka Total Commander as a different kind of App since it’s a super-tool for power users mostly, that does everything you’d expect from a file manager X100!
TC is a mini-OS to me! It doesn’t write one single registry entry in your system and is a spin-doctor with archives and FTP browsing!
If you’d bothered to look at its plugin support you’d see why this tool is unique! and no …I don’t work for
Christian Ghisler LOL!
Recently I found Turbo Navigator, freeware,i’ve use several of the freeware explorers mentioned above, but Turbo Navigator seems to ‘feel right’ for me…
When I wanted to create a new directory/file and give it a Hebrew name XYPlorer (eval) did not accommodate. A43 & Dir Opus just did it…
–Neta
I’m always surprised at the reviews Xplorer2 receives. Also that the free (Lite) version never gets a mention. For me, the tree plus dual-pane view, coupled with tabbed browsing in each pane, fully navigable folder paths, as well as a per-tab folder history make it incredibly flexible for moving around the folder structure. Add in the choices for mouse- or keyboard-driven navigation, folder synchronisation, filters, bookmarks, text editor, preview pane… and I’ve never found a better freebie. Still, good to have a comparative review on a single page
I tried a bunch of the explorers listed here. I ended up purchasing xyplorer because it has a good set of features without being too complicated, and because the developer responded rapidly to my questions. He was even willing to quickly add a feature that I needed (although a second feature I requested was more complicated and so it’s been added to his queue).
Directory Opus, as you might be able to guess by the price, is easily the richest, most feature laden product. There’s a lot to learn and the price is high. On top of that, the license only allows you to install it on a single machine; I’ve got several machines at work and several machines at home (all of which are used only by me), so this would be a very expensive proposition (a more reasonable license in my opinion would be a per-user license, which would allow me to install it on all my machines).
I tried the free programs. I really wanted to like them but they just didn’t provide enough to make it worthwhile to switch from the Windows Explorer. There were different types of issues I ran into (antiquated user interfaces, buggy behavior, no developer support, etc.) across the different products but I won’t go into the details here. All I can say (and it pains me to say this) is that the free programs (in their current state) aren’t worth it.
– jeff
Regarding your problem about not autorefreshing the list after deleting a file in XPlorer
View -> Preferences -> General, and check on Automatic Refresh. Ot should solve your problem.
In fact, this setting is disabled by default, just to get faster response times.
As you have said, you can access the Refresh command by pressing F5, or if you prefer, by accessing:
View -> Refresh.
Hope these two clarification would make XPlorer more popular.
yo nice list
everybody knows that explorer is the lame..for so many reasons..no dual pane, bad interface to other drives, have to configure it to not complain about looking in system32 among other things, etc etc
i used to use turbo navigator all the time…is nice
the latest one i use is total commander with power pack
i think with the power pack u might rate it up to 5 star..is super sweet has so many great plugins (dvd burning, ext2 reading, builtin zip/rar/etc reading, buitlin, buitlin NFO reader (is so annoying with windows when it trys to open this file)
anyway
nice list and commentary
so many sites are so obsessed with just listing..
not to mention the repitive repetition of the same shit
ok
l