The theory is great - iOS is a very closed system compared to a traditional operating system - and many users would love to have more control. When your device is plugged in, a traditional file tree will appear on the left panel of iPhone Explorer. You can then browse content at your leisure.

iPhone Explorer also allows you to create folders on your iPhone, and drag files in and out of them as if it was a normal storage space. That is the theory, though, unfortunately, iPhone Explorer is riddled with problems.

Browsing your iPhone's file tree is really awkward, as files are named in odd ways. Your music library, for example will be unrecognizable. Photos too are hidden in such a way that you can't use iPhone Explorer to access them. The application is also unstable, and has a tendency to crash if you attempt to move files. Lastly, of course, changing the file tree could damage the functionality of you device.

If you want to use your iOS device as storage, something like USB Disk is perfectly functional, and much more stable. iPhone Explorer is a good example of a nice idea that doesn't work well in practice.

Download iPhone Explorer 2.2 in Softonic

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.

The double pane in Total Commander 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 Total Commander'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 7.56a in Softonic

Having an iOS device is pretty much a given nowadays. Whether you own an iPhone, watch movies on an iPad or jam out to music on your iPod Touch, there's no question that iOS is in popular use for today's multimedia and internet browsing.

Consequently, it's pretty easy to make a mess out of your many files in short order. Similar to iPhone Explorer, PhoneBrowse can help you organize your files on your desktop, providing a much larger screen for you to browse through everything.

PhoneBrowse lets you easily add, delete or rename any type of file you have saved on nearly whatever iOS device you own. Even better, there's no jailbreaking required, so PhoneBrowse is a great option for even novice iOS device users to take advantage of.

Just install PhoneBrowse, then plug in your iOS device. PhoneBrowse should launch automatically when it recognizes your device. It will pull up all of your device's details, plus list the storage, files and applications you've installed onto your device.

From there, PhoneBrowse works much like Windows Explorer, allowing you to drag and drop files from your device onto your computer and vice versa. PhoneBrowse takes a little getting used to, but once you've gotten the hang of it, you've got yourself a nice, easy way to manage files across platforms.

PhoneBrowse is a great, free way to manage iOS device files from your PC's desktop.

Download PhoneBrowse 1.1.0 in Softonic

Q-Dir is a multi-pane file manager for Windows that makes file management more convenient and above all, far more comfortable for you. Having several windows pointing to different locations on your hard drive makes it much easier to move or copy data from one folder to another, and also makes browsing faster. Q-Dir supports different layouts with 2, 3 o 4 panes and each one of them can be configured separately.

Q-Dir doesn't really add any extra function to the ones already featured in Windows Explorer, but there's one special feature I did like: the possibility to show files in different colors according to the file type, such as blue for images, red for music and so on. Plus, this color code is totally customizable.

Q-Dir doesn't require installation and can even been run from a USB stick.

Though it doesn't feature any special tool, Q-Dir is still a more complete file manager with multiple panes and customizable color codes for file types.

Download Q-Dir 5.41 in Softonic

Having an iOS device is pretty much a given nowadays. It seems like everyone and their mother has an iPhone. As a result, you've probably accumulated a lot of content on your iPhone. Similar to iPhone Explorer, PhoneTrans Pro can help you organize your iPhone files on your desktop, providing a much larger screen for you to browse through everything.

PhoneTrans Pro lets you easily add, delete or rename iPhone music and movies. You can also transfer these types of files to and from your computer or iTunes library easily. You can even transfer these files between iPhones and over Wi-Fi.

PhoneTrans Pro does this by taking advantage of the iOS 5 Wi-Fi sync feature, and you can transfer between unlimited numbers of iPhones. Movies, music, television shows and ringtones are all supported file types.

Although PhoneTrans Pro takes a little time to learn how to use, it's a great resource for people who share their iPhone content with family and friends. Just make sure it's legal to do so before proceeding!

PhoneTrans Pro lets users transfer content from their iPhone to their PC's desktop or another iPhone.

Download PhoneTrans Pro 1.1.0 in Softonic

It's surprising that Microsoft didn't include a Windows 8 inspired Windows Explorer in its most recently operating system. No worries though, as developer, Julien Manici, has taken it upon himself to create Immersive Explorer.

There is no need to install Immersive Explorer as its more of a proof of concept than something you'll want to actually use to manage your files. While you can browse your files using Immersive Explorer, there are very limited editing options and it isn't nearly as robust as the default Windows Explorer in Windows 8.

Although Immersive Explorer is a proof of concept, performance is still very snappy and it makes for a very visual browsing experience for your files. There are times that Immersive Explorer will pop out to Windows Explorer, making the experience a bit jarring. Funny enough, there's no integration with the touch interface of Windows 8, only the desktop mode.

Immersive Explorer is not going to be a replacement file manager by any stretch of the imagintion. Instead, it proves what Microsoft could and should have done with the Windows 8 Explorer for its touch interface.

Download Immersive Explorer 0.1.1 Alpha in Softonic

NexusFile is a powerful and fast file manager that allows you to browse through the contents of your hard drive with great ease. The vast majority of its functions can be controlled by keyboard shortcuts, which makes it quicker and more convenient than other programs especially Explorer. The program also includes integrated utilities that let you go beyond just file browsing and exploring such as a file extractor for compressed files in ZIP, RAR and ACE and it also allows you to create ZIP files, rename multiple files and directories simultaneously, add a description to your personal files and directories, and much more. The program features a very intuitive interface also can be customized completely, using colour coding to better distinguish the various elements, changing fonts and so on.

This is a neat little alternative to Explorer although it takes some getting used to but if you invest the time, you might find yourself sticking with it.

Download NexusFile 5.3.1 in Softonic

What's more, XYplorer is completely portable so you can put it on a USB stick and use it wherever you want and whenever you need it. The biggest advantage this program has over Windows Explorer is undoubtabley the Move and Copy dialogues. XYplorer allows you to configure hotkeys to carry out the most common copying and moving operations that you require meaning less mouse movements and faster management of your files and folders. XYplorer also removes the need for multiple folder windows along your taskbar because it employs the use of tabbed file management much in the same way as Firefox does with internet browsing. These tabs are fully customizable too - you can drag them around, rename them, hide them, lock them and much much more. This tabbed feature does give XYplorer a distinct browser style feel especially the featuring of an address bar which accepts not just folders, but also files, URLs, and search terms. This latter function can save hours of time searching through files by allowing you to search directly in XYplorer - without any need to use Windows search tool - simply by placing a "?" between the location and search pattern.

A truly impressive replacement for Windows Explorer - once you've used it you may never go back.

Download XYplorer 11.50.0000 in Softonic