5 Great Windows Explorer Replacements
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Today, a bit of news that keeps with the general theme of the site, customizing the Windows experience! Here we customize everything from the UI skin to desktop icons and often complete shell replacements. We animate our wallpapers, gadgetize or screens and trick out our media players. In part we do it for the fun factor, and sometimes we even do it for usability and functionality. One area of Windows though is often left completely untouched by the hand of customization:
Windows Explorer.
Yes, that file manager that has stubbornly followed us around from Windows version to Windows version. It's basic by most standards, and power users who are familiar with other operating systems are often left frustrated by the lack of options and power. Last week, DownloadSquad rounded up five of their favorite Windows Explorer replacement programs. So if you're feeling brave and want to get more out of your file browsing experience, grab a few and try them out. It's important to note that the programs listed are for Windows XP users only. It will likely be some time before people figure out how to replace Explorer in Vista.
RomanDA
Reply #2 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:19 AM
Reply #2 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:19 AM
Gotta add Total Commander its my favorite program for file moving/copying/ftping.. (well maybe my own little DX program im working on for FTPing..hehe).
Jafo
Reply #4 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:31 AM
Reply #4 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:31 AM
....and ExplorerPlus....
....and Powerdesk....
...and for those feeling nostalgic....ZtreeWin ....
Jafo uses those 3 ....
Bob Frank
Reply #5 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:56 PM
Reply #5 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:56 PM
I've used Ztree since it was in beta as ZtreeBold for OS/2. I still use ZtreeWin part time. I do find myself using Powerdesk more often than Ztree now.
Bender50
Reply #6 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:25 PM
Reply #6 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:25 PM
The best one that I've ever used is the Magellan Explorer
Magellan Explorer
Simple , FTP/Bookmarks , very customizable , solid.
I can't live without it..
Magellan Explorer
Simple , FTP/Bookmarks , very customizable , solid.
I can't live without it..
ZubaZ
Reply #9 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:04 PM
Reply #9 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:04 PM
agree with RomanDA
and thus you should.. always...
As long as you know who he's "borrowing" code from these days.and thus you should.. always...
RomanDA
Reply #10 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:06 PM
and WHO is coding these days?
Reply #10 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:06 PM
As long as you know who he's "borrowing" code from these days.
and WHO is coding these days?
ZubaZ
Reply #11 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:07 PM
Reply #11 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:07 PM
and WHO is coding these days?
You looking for new meat?
Lantec
Reply #12 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:26 PM
I've tried just about every one listed and I find myself still using Windows Explorer.
I've got several extensions tho QTTabBar, Wildcard Select 1.1, Foldersize 2.3, CPExt (one adds an folder size other adds Extension column to the details view), and Folderbox (adds dual pane support) I have Total Commander installed but rarely use it.
What keeps me coming back to WE are the thumbnail views. I use AutoCAD and also have a lot of RAW (Sony ARW) images as well as PDFs and Paintshop Pro X images that work in Wexplorer but not in most other apps.
Reply #12 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:26 PM
handy extensions like QTabBar
I've tried just about every one listed and I find myself still using Windows Explorer.
I've got several extensions tho QTTabBar, Wildcard Select 1.1, Foldersize 2.3, CPExt (one adds an folder size other adds Extension column to the details view), and Folderbox (adds dual pane support) I have Total Commander installed but rarely use it.
What keeps me coming back to WE are the thumbnail views. I use AutoCAD and also have a lot of RAW (Sony ARW) images as well as PDFs and Paintshop Pro X images that work in Wexplorer but not in most other apps.
Wet Monkey
Reply #13 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:22 PM
Reply #13 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:22 PM
Directory Opus, Version 9 is looking promising, expensive tho, even at upgrade pricing but I have used it for years along with PowerDesk but PowerDesk does not like my Vista 64 Bit.
Piggy Wiggles
Reply #14 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:08 PM
Reply #14 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:08 PM
I'm sticking with Windows Explorer. All those programs look horrible on Vista. Besides, Windows Explorer can do everything I need to do.
Uvah
Reply #15 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:02 AM
Reply #15 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:02 AM
Windows Explorer and ExplorerXP work fine by me. Tried QTTabBar (it sucks) and the ones I have I'll stick with. ExplorerXP does all of what the others do. Thanks though for the info.
thomassen
Reply #16 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:34 AM
Reply #16 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:34 AM
I've allways reverted back to using the Explorer Shell. All of the Shell replacements I've tried have turned out to lack some of the useful features the explorer shell offers.
Tsumana
Reply #17 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 6:22 AM
Reply #17 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 6:22 AM
I prefer Directory Opus, especially with the update to v9.
Lotherius
Reply #18 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:33 PM
Reply #18 Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:33 PM
I've always used Xplorer2.... however the Vista integration is not so great. Had a very interesting adventure with directory renaming / virtualized files (which x2 is not aware of apparently). Of course, that led to my learning all about file virtualization in Vista (which is a b____h in some cases)...
Looking for a replacement that has better Vista integration though...
Okay, so I looked at some of those.
XYPlorer: No split view??!? I thought that feature was ubiquitous to explorer replacements. No good.
Windows File Explorer: Nice, simple, has split view. However, file context menu comes up blank - with default vista Aero, no wb applied. No good.
Universal Explorer: Look/Feel of a win98 app, and doesn't theme with windowblinds. It does have a split view, though it wasn't readily apparent how to enable it, and I had to move around the preview pane which took up half the screen initially. Other than that, looks promising, though as with all the others, some vista integration is still missing.
ExplorerXP: Doesn't appear to have split view. Yes, I'm demanding that way. It does use OS-Native controls apparently, which seems to be out of fashion with file managers.
I think I'm gonna have to keep looking.
Honestly? I would think about buying Universal Explorer - EXCEPT for the fact that it has not been updated since February 2004.... that falls under "dead product" category to me, and I won't pay $40 for a simple windows utility (which is what it is) when I know there will be Zero support. If it were for sale in the retail channel, it would've been on the bargain bin by now.
Looking for a replacement that has better Vista integration though...
Okay, so I looked at some of those.
XYPlorer: No split view??!? I thought that feature was ubiquitous to explorer replacements. No good.
Windows File Explorer: Nice, simple, has split view. However, file context menu comes up blank - with default vista Aero, no wb applied. No good.
Universal Explorer: Look/Feel of a win98 app, and doesn't theme with windowblinds. It does have a split view, though it wasn't readily apparent how to enable it, and I had to move around the preview pane which took up half the screen initially. Other than that, looks promising, though as with all the others, some vista integration is still missing.
ExplorerXP: Doesn't appear to have split view. Yes, I'm demanding that way. It does use OS-Native controls apparently, which seems to be out of fashion with file managers.
I think I'm gonna have to keep looking.
Honestly? I would think about buying Universal Explorer - EXCEPT for the fact that it has not been updated since February 2004.... that falls under "dead product" category to me, and I won't pay $40 for a simple windows utility (which is what it is) when I know there will be Zero support. If it were for sale in the retail channel, it would've been on the bargain bin by now.
CarpeThis
Reply #19 Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:26 AM
Reply #19 Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:26 AM
For those who haven't given Directory Opus 9 a try, do it. Do it right now. The Vista support and USB option is fantastic. If there's something you don't like about DO9, chances are you can change it to fit your needs or preferences. It is very customizable.
I will warn you though. There is a bit of a learning curve to really make use of all of it's features. Although, with the new version, the developers have done a great job with improving their user guide and it also has a sweet feature of being able to quickly search the Preferences to find what you are looking for. There is a very active community forum to help you out and the developers respond very quickly to any support requests. Certainly worth checking out...
I will warn you though. There is a bit of a learning curve to really make use of all of it's features. Although, with the new version, the developers have done a great job with improving their user guide and it also has a sweet feature of being able to quickly search the Preferences to find what you are looking for. There is a very active community forum to help you out and the developers respond very quickly to any support requests. Certainly worth checking out...
Chilihot
Reply #20 Thursday, May 17, 2007 5:00 AM
Reply #20 Thursday, May 17, 2007 5:00 AM
Explorer Plus is a replacement program for Windows Explorer. The interface is
similar to Windows Explorer, so you do not have to learn a totally new
interface. But unlike the Windows Explorer, it allows you to browse multiple
folders from a tabbed interface.
Home: http://www.chilihotsoft.com/explorer_plus/
Download: http://www.chilihotsoft.com/explorer_plus/explorerplussetup.exe
similar to Windows Explorer, so you do not have to learn a totally new
interface. But unlike the Windows Explorer, it allows you to browse multiple
folders from a tabbed interface.
Home: http://www.chilihotsoft.com/explorer_plus/
Download: http://www.chilihotsoft.com/explorer_plus/explorerplussetup.exe
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Reply #1 Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:36 AM