Changing the name of a large group of files individually can be a real pain in the butt. You may find that files transferred from your digital camera to your hard drive are in order, but their names consist of a group of letters and numbers that usually don't identify the pics themselves. Plus, after you transfer the files from your camera and delete them from it's memory, the next set of pics taken with your camera can have the same name as the files you've just uploaded. Different pictures, same name! Flexible Renamer by Naru will take a batch of files and give them the name of your choosing.

Flexible Renamer is an excellent file utility that takes large groups of files and allows you to change their names in bulk. Complete with numerous configurations, you'll wonder why you've always changed your file names manually!

Download Flexible Renamer 8.0 in Softonic

Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer.

This includes files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or even MP3 players.

It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses.

Download Recuva 1.19.350 in Softonic

If you need to transfer files from PC to PC regularly then there are various ways of doing it but CCFile attempts to make it easier.

CCFile is a free web based file transfer application that allows you to transfer files PC to PC regularly. It helps you share files, photos, music and video with friends without the need for P2P software or dealing with the complexities of FTP software. It's especially useful for large files.

It's an extremely simple apps to use. It supports drag and drop so simply drag the files you want to transfer into the CCFIle interface. You then simply enter the IP address of the recipient you want to send it to or if your own on a home network, it will automatically detect all connected users. You can observe the status of transfers via status bar and you can even resume broken transfers at a later date.

Simple and much easier than FTP, CCFile is an excellent way to transfer files to other users in a hurry.

Download CCFile 3.31 in Softonic

Many Windows users stay with the standard applications included in the operating system for their most common tasks, like managing files with the integrated File Explorer. However, there are alternative file managers that can also help you to do the job – and sometimes even better than Windows Explorer! Total Commander is one of them.

First of all, be warned that Total Commander is intended for medium to advanced users, and especially for those who like working mainly via keyboard shortcuts. It's not that Total Commander can't be used with your mouse; it's just that it's optimized to be keyboard-controlled.

Total Commander doesn't have what we could describe as an eye-catching design. In fact, it looks pretty dull. It does, however, support three possible views (Full, Brief and Tree) and also uses a double-pane interface, which seem to be quite a common characteristic among other alternative file managers.

This double pane allows you to perform file management tasks like moving and copying in a much more comfortable way. But Total Commander has other aces up its sleeve. It includes extra integrated applications like an FTP client, a ZIP viewer, a renaming tool, a disk space analyzer and a file synchronizer. Another great tool I found to be especially interesting is one that allows you to control, manage and edit file associations so they're not suddenly messed up by a program that you just installed.

Like we said before, Total Commander is intended to be used mainly with your keyboard. This is why it offers handy shortcuts for common tasks like viewing, editing, copying, moving or deleting files. But if you find it hard to abandon your mouse, don't worry: you can use the icons on the program's toolbar as shortcuts for Notepad, Wordpad and the Control Panel, and also add your own shortcuts to your favorite applications via the Configuration > Button bar menu. In fact, Total Commander has such an exhaustive configuration menu that you'll be able to tweak every single detail of the program.

In all, Total Commander is an excellent application that could almost be described as a professional file manager for the advanced user. If you prefer more simple apps then you’d better stick to Windows Explorer.

Download Total Commander 7.04a in Softonic

Undelete Plus is a quick and effective way to retrieve accidentally deleted files, files removed from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from a network drive, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. If you've ever accidently deleted a file or experienced problems with your system after a major change, check out undelete plus

Download Undelete Plus 2.97 in Softonic

As soon as your MP3 or photo collection starts to grow, you realize how important is to have your files properly named. And in case they aren't, Advanced Renamer can lend you a hand.

Advanced Renamer is a handy tool with which you can easily rename multiple files and folders simultaneously, applying a single renaming profile to all of them at the same time. This profile is totally customizable, meaning that the renaming tasks in Advanced Renamer may vary from fixing letter case to completely replacing the file's name with a new one.

What I like about Advanced Renamer is its flexibility when it comes to configuring the profile. There are certainly quite a few options to choose from, so you'll surely find one way or another to properly rename your files. Also, Advanced Renamer lets you preview any changes in real time, which is perfect to check how the new name will look like and fix any possible errors.

Don't waste precious time renaming tons of files by yourself: simply load them on Advanced Renamer, choose the most suitable profile and let it do the hard work for you.

Download Advanced Renamer 2.56 in Softonic

Rename Master is a FREE utility for renaming large groups of files with a few clicks. Anyone that has worked with websites, file archives, or collections of music, videos, or pictures has probably spent way too much time renaming hundreds of files. This utility will add, remove, or replace parts of the filename with ease and also supports renaming via file properties, MP3 tags, JPEG JFIF and EXIF tags. Batch renaming that's simple to use, yet still very powerful.

Features:

• Intelligent number sorting
• JPEG/MP3 tag support and many more Meta-Variables
• Auto-Preview support
• "Scripts" to save commonly used renaming options
• [*] and [?] command prompt style wildcards for replacing and remove options
• "Undo" button so a renaming operation can be rolled back
• Floating thumbnail window for viewing pictures and optional thumbnail file list view
• Optional Explorer integration for right-clicking on folders or using "Send To"

Download Rename Master 2.9.0 in Softonic

Back up software has gone through something of a boom of late. With the huge increases in storage, more and more of us are on the look out for reliable, stable file protection. GoodSync is such a program - it offers fast, automated back up, synchronisation and restore between multiple devices - all in a relatively simple and easy-to-use environment.

Upon first launching GoodSync, you're immediately prompted to select source and destination folders (essentially, your original file folder and the new one you'd like to use as a backup location). The destination folder could be on the same computer, on an iPod, a network drive or any other external storage device. We tested GoodSync with a network drive and found it exceptionally fast.

Additionally, GoodSync's automation feature does exactly what you'd hope for: automatic synchronisation and backup with a raft of configuration options. If, like me, you're backing up important work documents to a network drive, you can easily pick how often this job should be done, to do it just on shutdown, or to allow the task scheduler to handle the job.

You can choose either to back up an entire folder (or folder system) or just specific files. This, along with GoodSync's effective duplicate controls, means that for a simple tool, this program offers you a highly customisable back up and sync solution, enough to offer any user true peace of mind.

A reliable and effective back up solution. Highly recommended.

Download GoodSync 7.2.9 in Softonic

Fancy 2GB of free storage space accessible from everywhere? Read on and discover Diino. This service allows you to store everything you need to backup your computer’s files automatically at regular intervals. You will have access to your documents everywhere where an internet connection is available, thanks to a dedicated webpage with the url yourusername.diino.com.

Set a password for all your folders, when you access them online, or share content with co-workers or friends. Diino comes with a useful client where you can manage file and folders you want to save online. Unfortunately, the desktop application doesn’t support the drag and drop function which is really a pity.

The service is similar to the Wuala one we saw some time ago, but in this case in order to have more than 2GB of space available you have to pay, whereas with Wuala you have to share your hard disk space as in peer-to-peer network.

Have access to automatically backed-up folders anywhere you are , with a dedicated web page where you can share documents or set passwords to protect the access of your files.

Download Diino 4.2 in Softonic

Copernic Desktop Search (CDS) brings the power of a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use search engine right to your PC and allows you instantly to search files, emails, and email attachments stored anywhere on your PC hard drive. It executes sub-second searching of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, Acrobat PDFs, and all popular music, picture and video formats. CDS also conducts a desktop search of your browser history, favorites, and contacts.

Keeping the index “fresh” is a key factor in any search experience, and CDS maintains the freshest search index in the industry. With Copernic's patent-pending “Instant Indexing™” technology, new and updated files are indexed the instant they are saved to disk (Windows XP/2000/NT only), and emails are indexed the instant they arrive (Outlook only). You can't get fresher than that!

CDS was designed to be the world's lightest and most efficient desktop search with respect to CPU utilization. Copernic's exclusive patent pending “Smart Indexing™” technology monitors user activity and indexes only during idle time, assuring that CDS will never slow down your computer.

CDS features an exclusive fault-tolerant desktop search index. This means that if, during the course of the year, your search index has grown to 50,000 documents, you won't wake up one morning and find that your entire index has been corrupted, or has crashed, forcing you to restart the whole indexing process from scratch. With Copernic's patent pending fault-tolerant technology, your entire PC will always be searchable whenever you want it to be.

CDS takes your search terms as you type and searches your entire hard drive. As you add more terms to your search, you see your search results narrowing down right before your eyes. As you scroll through the results list of files or emails, a preview is shown on the bottom of the screen. Just click “open” and the file or email opens using its original application. Nothing could be simpler!

Download Copernic Desktop Search 2.3 in Softonic

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" and they are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive. Other methods include the one defined in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US Department of Defence and overwriting with pseudorandom data. You can also define your own overwriting methods.

Download Eraser 5.86a in Softonic

Sometimes simple is better, and MP3 Fox is a good example of it. This easy tool enables you to rename MP3 files according to the data stored in their ID3 tags or a customizable naming pattern defined by yourself.

The program doesn't require installation. Simply unzip the files to any folder and you're ready to use it. You can drag and drop MP3 folders and files onto its interface and then select the rename option you prefer among three different possibilities. Also, the program can apply upper case to the first letter in all words, remove numbers and replace certain text strings, among other options. During our tests, the renaming process hardly took more than a few seconds and results were excellent.

The great thing about MP3 Fox is that you can make a preview before actually applying the changes. The downside to it is that annoying message that appears every time you rename files, asking you if you're really sure. But I guess that's a tiny flaw that I can accept in such a simple, great program.

Easily rename your MP3 files according to their ID3 tags.

Download MP3 Fox 2008 4.11 in Softonic

R-Wipe & Clean is a complete solution to wipe useless files and keep your computer privacy. Irretrievably deletes private records of your on- and off-line activities, such as temporary internet files, history, cookies, autocomplete forms and passwords, swap files, recently opened documents list, Explorer MRUs, temporary files, etc.

The utility wipes files and unused disk space using either fast or secure erase algorithms. All files and folders may be combined in wipe lists to erase them in a single procedure. Supports both the FAT and NTFS file systems. All separate wiping and cleaning tasks can be combined in one or more erasing procedures launched immediately or at predefined times or events as a background task.

Download R-Wipe & Clean 7.6.1296 in Softonic

Whether you're a beginner or advanced user, at home or work, SyncBack ensures your most valuable asset, data, remains protected. Backup all your important files anytime with a single click & use the scheduler to automate your backups.

Now there's no need to close your programs to backup files. Keep Outlook, Word, Excel etc. running as your files are backed up. Keep your backups completely secure with 256-bit AES encryption. Military level security ensures your peace of mind.

Download SyncBack SE 4.2.0.99 in Softonic

Advanced File Worker is a powerful file management, backup and rename utility. You can perform any number of file operations by pressing only one button.

Make your work faster and faultless. Program options give the user the possibility to perform various kinds of file operations: clean up temporary files from hard drive(s); backup at scheduled times or when program defined starts; copy, move, rename, delete files by include and exclude masks. For graphic files there are various options to select files by picture size. Script supporting gives the user great possibilities to tune the program for their own requirements.

Download Advanced File Worker 2.10 in Softonic

Compare It! makes your file compare and file merge tasks even easy! Quickly visually identify differences between files, merge them with a single click, and print/publish your work without any problems! Compare It! displays 2 files side-by-side, with colored differences sections to simplify analyzing. Overview bar will show overall changes picture.

Download Compare It! 3.81 in Softonic

Like many other things in Windows, Vista failed to address some pretty basic issues that still persist.

One of those is the simple act of file renaming which you still can't do in bulk. However, with this program, you can easily solve that problem plus many other file renaming issues. With this tool you can organize your music, picture, video, or any other types of files with much greater speed and flexibility than ordinarily in Windows. PFrank comes equipped wit a very useful preview button which allows you to preview changes before you make them. You can select several files at once - in fact as many as you want - and rename them all at the same time. The author claims that there is virtually no renaming function that can't be carried out by this program but if there is something you can't do, you can probably find out how to do it on the developer forums.

A useful little utility that's flexible and should come as standard with Windows Vista.

Download PFrank (Vista) 2.24 in Softonic

PFrank is simple but convenient way to change and alter multiple files in one go without having to go through them one by one.

The developer claims to have been motivated by the lack of a decent renaming program as most have to be run with multiple passes using different sets of renaming sequences until finally getting the required names. PFrank allows you to rename everything you want to in one go using a Windows Explorer style interface. However, it does have a lot of options for deciding how and what type of files you want to rename which can be a bit tricky. For this reason, the developer has started a forum which deals with most of the main problems. Particularly with the new features that have been added, you may experience problems. These include the new plugin for insertion of meta data from raw image files (e.g. cr2, nef, sr2) and a much improved undo facility, new filters, new positioning controls and the ability for users to plug in their own renaming commands. There's also a recently added custom list manager for managing any number of custom lists for repeat file changing.

For those that do a lot of file changing and renaming, PFrank is an excellent mass file name changer that will ensure you save time.

Download PFrank 2.24 in Softonic

When it comes to managing and organizing the files on your computer, most of us are perfectly content to use the Windows Explorer. In fact, many people don’t even realise there are alternatives to the built-in file manager, which is starting to get a little long in the tooth now (unless you’ve got Vista, which adds some interesting new tools). Once you’ve tried a different file manager, however, it’s often difficult to go back, especially if that file manager is Directory Opus.

From the outset it’s clear to see that Opus is like Windows Explorer on steroids. The default directory layout is very similar to Explorer but with one key difference – it shows two folders in separate tree-view panes (although you can switch to the more conventional single-folder Flat View). This makes moving files around much easier because you can instantly drag and drop files into other folders without having to open and close new windows.

However, the main difference you’ll notice between Directory Opus and its Windows rival lies at the top of the screen, within the programs toolbar and menu options. Upon closer inspection you start to realise this is much more than just a utility for organizing your files into folders.

When you first install the application it seems to want to take over your whole system, bombarding you with requests to make it your default image viewer, FTP client and the like. We were first dubious about surrendering all these tasks to one application, but after using Opus for a while we went back and checked all of these default radio buttons. It has enough might to handle a huge range of common tasks including viewing pictures, converting files, playing audio, opening Zip files, batch renaming and searching. All of these tools run quickly and can be accessed from one interface without a great deal of fuss. Another boon is the fact that Opus is infinitely customisable, giving you complete control over the layout and structure of your file manager and its supplementary tools.

In terms of sheer power, this is a real brute of a program and makes Explorer look positively weedy. The sheer scale of options and advanced settings means that Directory Opus can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you’ve learned how to tame the beast by customizing the program to your needs, you’ll be astonished at how much it offers. Since discovering the app, we haven't gone back to Explorer and have subsequently ditched many of the apps we used to use on a regular basis such as WinZip and SmartFTP.

Download Directory Opus 9.1.1.3 in Softonic

Archivarius 3000 is a full-featured application to search documents and email on the desktop computer, your local network and removable drives (CD, DVD). The documents can then be searched by keyword or using a query language.

Due to full Unicode support, Archivarius 3000 allows correct search in multilingual documents. For instance, a Greek-German bilingual document can only be handled in Unicode, otherwise Greek symbols and German diacritics would be lost.

File names are also in Unicode, which enable correct handling of Asian documents (Japanese, Chinese, Korean). Archivarius 3000 searches not only e-mail messages, but also attachments, including compressed ones. The following formats are supported: Outlook, Outlook Express, The Bat!, PocoMail, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, and those that are compatible.

Server mode allows you to search remotely and have remote access to your documents through any web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer). This mode can be switched on with a single mouse click.

Download Archivarius 3000 4.10 in Softonic