10 (more) Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed

In October of last year I wrote 15 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed – which was quite popular. To this day I get people emailing me or leaving comments on the original post suggesting I try out other Windows Explorer/file managers alternatives. So here’s a roundup of 10 other alternatives that have since been suggested to me.

Name	Cost	Trial?	Rating (x/5)
AccelMan	29.95 EUR	yes (30 days)	****
FileAnt File Manager	donation-ware	n/a	***¼
FileQuest XP Gold	$67.95 USD	yes (50 days)	***
Frigate 3.34 Pro Edition	$39.90 USD	yes	***½
Gyula’s Navigator	free	n/a	***¾
Idoswin Free	free	n/a	n/a
Magellan Explorer	$39.95 USD	yes (30 days)	***½
mtExplorer	free	n/a	****
Unreal Commander	free	n/a	****
WinBrowser	$19.95 USD	yes (60 days)	***

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AccelMan

Requirements: Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista
Download: http://www.flexigensoft.com/download
Features:

Graphics Viewer – supported graphic formats are: jpeg, gif, tiff, png, bmp, tga, psp, psd, eps, pdd, bw, rgb, rgba, sgi, sel, pic, sld, vst, icb, vda, win, pcx, pcc, scr, pcd, ppm, pgm, pbm, cut, rla, rpf, sff, wmf, emf

All standard file operations (copying, moving, compressing, etc.) and a host of innovative extras: folder comparison and monitoring; file highlighting; file tagging; thumbnails mode; file splitting/combining; bookmarks for files and folders; comprehensive history and navigation lists; a powerful and effective search tool for text and files; plain and formatted text, graphics, PDF, TTF fonts, SWF and hexadecimal viewers; batched file operations

Files compression and extraction – Supported archives: ZIP, ZOO, RAR, ARJ, ARC, ACE, CAB, JAR, LHA, LZH, PAK, TAR, GZIP, BH, Install-Shield

Built-in multimedia player with a rich set of tools for play-list management. Supported multimedia formats:- mp2, mp3, vqf, wav, avi, mid, pls, m3u, mod, s3m, xm, it, stm, nst, ult, 669, wow, mtm, med, far, mdl, ams, dsm, amf, okt, dmf, ptm, mdz, s3z, xmz, itz, mpz, mez, rmi, all other formats using the MCI interface

Tabs, themes support, slide show, HTML and text listings generation

a lot more – see http://www.flexigensoft.com/accelman

Thoughts:
The AccelMan home page alone should give you an idea of their product. They have RSS feeds for their news/product updates, multi-language support etc. The AccelMan file manager was last updated in April of 2007 – so it’s still being worked on (unlike a number of the other file managers reviewed in this article). It supports Vista. It’s a bargain @ 29.95 EUR. Of this list of 10 Windows Explorer/file manager alternatives, it’s by far my favorite. If I used Windows more often, I’d seriously consider buying this.

Screenshots:

default view	quick access drop-down
branch view	advanced commands
player preferences	sorting options
media player	floating quick-links

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FileAnt File Manager

Requirements: Windows 98SE, 2000, XP or 2003 Enterprise Server and IE 4+
Download: http://www.fileant.com/
Features:

built in FTP client

folder pie charts

built in viewer for commonly used file formats

loads quickly from the tray and uses very little memory to achieve what it does

advanced tools let you modify file dates, sync folders, and change file attributes en masse

built in MP3 player

supports XP themes

configure many extra settings such as background and font colors

Thoughts:
OK.. There are a lot of features. Tabs, an MP3 player, a file viewer/previewer, an FTP client.. you name it. A few um ‘complaints’ – everything is “ant”. DateAnt, AttrAnt, SyncAnt – it’s kind of annoying. I also experienced some graphics glitches – things didn’t refresh properly and parts of the preview remained even after the preview window was closed. The “MemoryLoad” in title bar is very cool, and a great way to display info without wasting space. Plus it gets credit for being donation-ware – if you like it, throw the dev some cash. He/she even has a coupons page for poor students.

Screenshots:

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FileQuest XP Gold

Requirements:Windows XP/2000/NT (Vista in beta version)
Download: http://www.piquest.com/filequest.htm
Features:

FileQuest XP saves you time by letting you open more than one folder (up to 15)

Built in search engine makes searching for files a quick and easy process

Print & ‘Print Preview’ of files & folders

Built in search engine makes searching for files a quick and easy process

Preview files on the fly

Automate your daily tasks using FileQuest XP Task’s engine

FileQuest XP is very fast even when accessing files and folders on remote computers

FileQuest XP is optimized for Windows NT/2000/XP and Office XP

Thoughts:
For $67.95 I want it to do my dishes. It doesn’t. It does include a free copy of FastOpen XP, which appears to be some kind of Windows launcher (I didn’t download it). It’s also worth noting that there is another version of FileQuest, called FileQuest XP (drop the Gold). It’s less expensive, but doesn’t include FTP support or Preview files on the fly. On 06/16/07 Piquest (the FileQuest company) announced that there was now a beta version for Vista, and that they would be doing monthly versions, rather than 1-2 updates per year. So that does inspire some hope. Otherwise, I found FileQuest XP Gold to be rather slow and none of the features jumped out at me as being truly unique. It would have been cool if Tooltips (when you hover your mouse over a button a description appears) were enabled, as some of the buttons are a bit confusing/misleading. Also, something that may be influencing my somewhat negative review is that it constantly told me that my System Time and Date were not set correctly. Yes, they are (BIOS and all). The 50 day trial is a positive – if the screenshots lead you to believe this is a program worth checking out, at least you have quite a long time to give it a spin before you commit to the purchase.

Screenshots:

default view	image preview
launch cmd.exe	email file(s)
performance options	text preview
view mode	4 crammed windows

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Frigate 3.34 Professional Edition

Requirements: Windows, probably most versions but not Vista.
Download: http://www.frigate3.com/download.php
Features:

Well-thought-out multithreaded program engine allows the handling of any number of concurrent file operations (copy, download, move, search, extract, compress, upload, etc.).

Integrated support of all common types of compressed file archives (Zip, Arj, Rar, Ace, Jar, Ha, Lha and more).

Versatile support FTP. FTPS and SFTP protocols are support also.

Size manager. Finds the folders that take up too much HD space.

Multi-rename tool.

Built-in text viewer features configurable syntax color highlighting for common programming languages (C, C++, Java, Pascal,etc.), scripting languages (Perl, PHP, VBScript, Bat,etc.) and document markup languages (HTML, XML).

Built in browser (IE view/engine)

View and edit MP3 tags.

Image converter

Quick folders (bookmarks). You can easily access the folder that you use most often

Thoughts:
I’m going to start with the negatives and get them out of the way.

1. I can’t figure out how long the trial is for. I can’t find the info in the help file, about file, web site or forums. The closest I got to an answer was in their forums where someone said “I used the trial for a few weeks and then decided to buy it”. So I’m guessing the trial lasts for a few weeks. Which is cool, but it would be nice to know up front if it was going to work for 1 day or 1 month. I know, a pretty small complaint, but a complaint nonetheless.
2. Frigate 3 Pro or Standard hasn’t been updated since late 2005. That doesn’t bode well for a version for Vista.
3. Those forums I mentioned in my first complaint? Yeah they have a grand total of 3 posts in 2007. None since April 20th, 2007. So they won’t be very helpful if you run into problems or have questions.
4. There seems to be a number of people in the forums who purchased Frigate, and weren’t able to enter their registration number – it caused the program to crash. And when they emailed support, their messages bounced. Not really a good sign, but that might have been resolved by now.
5. When I installed it the first time, at the end of the installation it crashed saying I was missing a DLL file. It suggested I re-install. So I did. Literally 30 seconds after I installed it the first time. Its been working since then, but that’s a pretty odd error.

OK and now on with the good – which there actually is plenty of. The integrated FTP client works exactly as you’d expect, and it’s fast. It’s very easy to set up, and anyone at all familiar with Windows Explorer won’t be intimated by Frigate. The tabs are mandatory (for me) and the ability to have unique tabs (one for viewing web pages, one for files, one for FTP etc) is excellent. Including the time/a clock in the upper right corner is neat, and so is the fact you can change its skin or turn it off entirely. The plugins available for Frigate are solid, and I like that they’re actually separate. Rather than add bloat, you can decide if the plugin is worth installing. The plugins are: TreeNotes Manager, Startup Manager, DBF and Access editor, AVI info viewer and WinAmp control. I gave it a 3½ instead of a 4 because the forums and the comments on them make me a bit nervous that if I registered the program, I’d possibly never be able to get support for it. But again, it’s a really solid file manager.

Screenshots:

default view	detailed list view
adding FTP sites	opened FTP connection
built in file viewer	built in browser
advanced options	send to WinAmp

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Gyula’s Navigator

Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP and Internet Explorer 4.0+
Download: http://www.wanari.com/products/gynav/
Features:

Parallel file operations

Integrated local network handling

Archiver support

Search (also for text)

Multiple language support ( 12 languages currently )

Drag & Drop

Context menu

Favorites

View/Edit/Folder History

Clipboard support

Customizable look and feel

Configurable Viewer, Editor associations

Built in file viewer (AVI, BMP, RTF, TXT, JPG, GIF, ICO, CUR, WMF, EMF)

Command line

Unicode support (on NT/2k/XP)

Thoughts:
Gyula’s Navigator is a 32-bit Norton Commander clone for Windows. So if you’re a fan of the commander-style file managers, this one is absolutely worth a look. It’s low on system resources, a 2MB install, and fairly customizable. The price is absolutely great (free). There’s a delay when using the mouse-hover feature, but that can be turned off anyway (which I did right away). The toolbar icons are straight forward and easily recognizable (unlike some other file managers). And there’s a forum if you ever need help or want to offer suggestions. In the most recent post on the forum (April of this year) Gyula mentions that he is indeed working on a new/updated version.

Screenshots:

default view	select all
options	compare
with command line	drives shortcut

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Idoswin Free

Requirements: Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP.
Download: http://www.idoswin.de/idosfree.htm
Features:
Translated from German to English using babelfish:

Files creation, copying, shifting, renaming and deletion

File operations with drag & drop

Dialogue-led copying or shifting of files

Simultaneous announcement of two listings

Opinion manager for the simple attitude of the desired program surface

Listing tree with all drive assemblies

Define freely adjustable file filters & standard filters

Integration from Irfanview to the announcement of nearly all usual diagram files

Comparison of files with graphic announcement of the differences

Dividing and building large files (Dateisplit up)

Indicate the size of sublists

Thoughts:
I can’t really give Idoswin a fair review, because I can’t read German. As far as I can tell, it’s a German language only File Manager – there doesn’t appear to be support for other languages. I could be wrong on that, but with the help of babelfish I couldn’t find any info on additional languages. So – if you prefer to accomplish your file managing tasks in a German language program, this one could be for you :) For what it’s worth, it appears to be pretty solid. Perhaps a German speaking (reading) person could leave a comment here letting us know their thoughts on Idoswin.

Screenshots:

default view	explorer view
commander view	a menu

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Magellan Explorer

Requirements: Windows ME, 2000, XP
Download: http://www.enriva.com/MagellanExplorer/download.html
Features:

Complete drag & drop support as well as context menu (right click in Windows Explorer)

Supports Windows Explorer views such as thumbnails and tiles in addition to details view

Time consuming tasks such as file copying performed in the background

Support for dual “explorer mode”, possibly the ultimate Windows Explorer replacement

Extensive keyboard support

Web browser like folder favorites and history

Supports ZIP, ACE, RAR, LHA, ARJ, CAB, TAR, GZip and BZip2 archive file formats

Can register as default handler or all supported archive formats

Fully featured picture viewer with support for GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, etc. and ability to rotate and zoom images as well as a slide show feature

Spring loaded folders (drag and hold over a folder and it automatically expands/loads)

Full FTP (file transfer protocol) support supporting multiple simultaneous connections

FTP site manager for organizing your FTP sites

Automatic repacking/uploading when editing files inside an archive/on an FTP server

Folder size tool to calculate sizes of folders on your hard drive or FTP sites

Copy and move tools that can rename files as they are copied if desired

Group rename tool to rename batches of files, with regular expression support

Encode and decode files of type uuencode, xxencode, base64, binhex and quoted printable

Synchronize folders using the folder compare and folder synchronize tools

Virtual folders to organize your files

Calculate MD5 checksums of files (available from the right click menu)

Print the contents of your folders to the clipboard, a text file or right to your printer

Tools for splitting and joining files

Customizable file selection (right/left button, sticky, drag selection, etc.)

Keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to every tool and favorite folder locations

Customizable file action confirmations (delete warnings etc.)

Each folder can have it’s own customized view

Over 100 configurable options

Thoughts:
As seen from the above feature list, Magellan Explorer does a lot. And it’s visually appealing. So what’s the drawback? It hasn’t been updated since October 7th, 2005. Though I didn’t test it on Vista, my guess would be that it doesn’t work. But you can try (and let me know via the comments!). The online documentation is detailed, helpful and straight forward, but if you were hoping for support forums you’d be out of luck. The system resources used by Magellan Explorer are pretty low, and it’s very speedy/responsive. If it was still being updated (and/or had tabs), I think I’d have given it 4 stars. If I had reviewed this software in 2005, I might have given it 4 and a half. With all of that said, it’s way better than the default Windows Explorer.

Screenshots:

default view	dual pane list view
FTP manager	thumbnail view
advanced UI preferences	Quick Bar preferences
horizontal view	folder history

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mtExplorer

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2K, XP, 2003
Download: discontinued (?) domain appears to have been sold
Features:

can be configured to display 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 Explorer panes at once

drag-and-drop files between panes easily

no menus, status bars or fancy toolbars to get in the way

small executable file with settings stored to an INI file

no installation is required – you can run it from any folder, or pop it into a USB memory stick and run it on any Windows PC

Thoughts:
mtExplorer is a minimalist multi-pane file explorer, to say the least. If you’re wondering why I gave it 4 stars, it’s because of how unique mtExplorer is. All of the settings are accessed via a right-click menu – no buttons, no space is wasted. Certainly not the most ‘powerful’ file manager, but it really is fantastic for it’s minimalist and straight forward approach.

Screenshots:

default view	right-click options

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Unreal Commander

Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista
Download: http://x-diesel.com/download.php?
Features:

Two-panel interface

Extended search of files

Multi-rename tool

Synchronization of directories

Support of archives ZIP, RAR, ACE, CAB, JAR, TAR, LHA

Built-in FTP client

Folder tabs

Support of WLX-plug-ins and WCX-plug-ins

Build-in viewer and quick view function

Network support

Drag and Drop Support

History and Hotlist functions

Copy/move/delete files background mode support

Deleting files with WIPE

Background pictures support

Visual styles: color categories of files, fonts for all interface elements

Thoughts:
Unreal Commander is a very powerful commander-style file manager. FTP support, WIPE support and the WLX/WCX plugin support makes it top notch. Though it doesn’t require registration, it is free and will get rid of a couple of nag screens. It’s extremely customizable – pretty much anything you can think of, it’ll do. And the ability to add background screens is fun :)

Screenshots:

default view	custom backgrounds
options	FTP manager
commands menu	show menu

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WinBrowser

Requirements: Windows 95, 98, NT 4, 2000, XP (not officially)
Download: http://www.winbrowser.com/download.htm
Features:

Fast file navigation

Natural, intuitive user interface

Easy file associations

Bookmark your files and folders

Customize your icons

Choose your own custom look and feel

Automatic Image Viewer

Thoughts:
From their home page – “WinBrowser is not just another Windows Explorer or File Manager copy. It represents a different and intuitive approach to file management originally made popular on high-end NeXT workstations”. So if you grew up w/ NeXT and loved their file browser/manager, you might really dig WinBrowser. Or, if you really like clunky looking software, you might really love WinBrowser. OK kidding aside, it is fast, small and mostly functional (the tabs, called “shelves”, don’t seem to work in XP). If you’re still using Windows 95, this is one of the few non-Commander style file managers that will work well for you. I’m fairly sure it hasn’t been updated since the year 2000.

Screenshots:

default view	expanded pane
image preview	display preferences

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