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.

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Universal Explorer is a powerful Windows Explorer type file manager designed to replace the rather restricted features of the standard Windows Explorer File Manager.

With Universal Explorer, you can manage your files (move/copy/paste/delete) quickly and effectively. Plus, you can also view and edit almost any file directly in UE with built-in File Viewer Windows. View and edit text documents, HTML, a wide range of graphic files, programming source code and more. You can even view Microsoft Word and Excel documents without launching Word or Excel.

Universal Explorer offers a full Archive Manager (Archive Extractor) that allows you to create, view, edit, file and text search, convert and extract compressed files using multiple formats (ace, arc, arj, bh, cab, qz, jar, lha, lzh, rar, tar, zip, zoo). A 'make .EXE' option is included to turn a compressed file into a self-extracting Windows executable (.exe) file.

UE also comes fully loaded with a wide range of great utility tools: Find Files, Replace Text, Split File, Encrypt/Decrypt, Disk Copy, Directory Size, Directory Printer, Directory Compare, Set Properties, Batch Rename, Slide Show, Thumbview, Screen Ruler, Screen Capture, Calendar, Calculator, Ascii List, Color List, System Information and Hex Window.

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Considered as an alternative to Windows Explorer, this program allows you to manage your files in a professional manner. Key features include:

• Copy, move, and manage your files faster with multiple folder views
• Instantly preview any picture or document file
• Find files faster and easier
• Work with ZIP, RAR, CAB, LHA, TAR, and many other archive types
• Make FTP connections as simple as opening a local folder
• Synchronize documents between folders and computers

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XYplorer is a simple to use file manager which replaces Windows Explorer with several enhanced functions and interface improvements.

Whatsmore, it's 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.

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FileAnt is a Windows File Manager (like explorer) on tabs (like UltraEdit-32), it is also a cool Ftp Client (like leechftp) and has nice features such as folder pie charts, and a viewer for commonly used file formats. It loads quickly from the tray and uses very little memory to achieve what it does.

The Ftp Client is multi-download (you can keep browsing while downloading lots of files). The Pie Chart features 2D telescopic browsing. Advanced tools let you modify file dates, sync folders, and change file attributes en masse. There is also a nice little mp3 player in the tray.

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FileMatrix is a multi-dimensional file manager which gives you the ability to navigate, organize and manage files effectively. The FileMatrix name comes from the fact that files are organized like a 3 dimensional matrix of files (files in a column, columns in a board, boards in the program).

This matrix gives you the power to quickly organize in groups the directories in which you navigate often, particularly by putting several directories side by side, and let's you access later each group with just a click of a button.The designed usage for FileMatrix is for the cases when you want to have several directories displayed side by side, either to see their contents simultaneously or to speed up copy / move operations among them.

To be more specific, if you want to manage and navigate through your pictures, FileMatrix's multi-column view and navigation style is the best system you can possibly use. This has nothing to do with a program being better than another, but with a system being better for this specific task.

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This All-in-one Windows Photo and Office Utility Suite lets you: batch convert, optimize, and print photos and images, manage documents from Acrobat PDF to Office Documents, create DVD/CD album and catalog, group rename, change properties, upload, download, and publish Web sites, plus integrated HTML, script, HEX, RTF, and text editors.

Its easy to use image tools let you work with groups of photos and give you professional results, like exact resizing, image quality adjustment, file size reduction, format conversion. Its quality is second to none!

It lets you create an album or catalog of your DVD or CD collections on your hard drive for easy management. You can enter comments for each file or for a group of files. It is fast, powerful, and easy to use.

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Windows File Explorer is a file manager for Windows similar to Windows Explorer. But Windows File Explorer uses a different approach: it features many options that Microsoft's Windows Explorer is missing like image preview and it has two fixed file views side by side (but can be change to a single file view) that is useful when copying many files from folder to folder.

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DualXplorer is a file manager with two lists for file operations, preview & editing of files, network operations, FTP client & server, compression tools, hex editor, and file & directory syncronization.

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SpeedCommander is a comfortable file manager. It builds on the proven two window technology and offers a multitude of exclusive features. Sort, copy, move or delete your files either using the keyboard or the mouse.

SpeedCommander reads and creates ZIP archives, Microsoft CAB files and fully supports ten additional compression formats. The newly expanded search feature will find files within all ten supported Archive formats. The internal file viewer displays over 100 graphics and text formats.

In addition, SpeedCommander contains a powerful text editor with numerous extras including syntax highlighting. With the integrated FTP client, you can both download files from the net and upload your own web pages. SpeedCommander even integrates a web browser for you to surf the web!

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All the shell goodies from windows explorer — none of the hassle! Plus all the features you would expect from a powerful tabbed dual-pane file manager, including Omni-Finder, a find files module that simply outclasses all known search tools. Don't take our word for it, seeing is believing!

xplorer² is a file and information manager that adheres to the philosophy "efficiency through simplicity". Without reinventing the wheel, it integrates the best features of Windows' shell architecture in a small, resource efficient package that's instantly familiar to work with. But look a little closer and you'll discover a whole new world under the surface that offers power, precision and flexibility, and will boost your productivity no end!

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A small and fast two-pane file manager with open plugin architecture. The ability to view content of files (text, html, over 40 picture formats, mp3), support for archives (zip, rar, arj, cab, tar/gzip, etc.) and intuitive user interface that is easier to learn and use, makes it a substitute for Windows Explorer.

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If you have many files distributed among different folders, and do not like to expand each time the same multi-level structure to reach your files, the Handy Folders utility is for you! Create a list of your favorite folders like you do in the Internet browser - but expand it to your own PC drives, LAN, or ftp sites, - and you will get to any of these folders with but one click!

A new customizable toolbar is added, providing quick access to your drives and predefined folders. The toolbar contains the icons of the disks on your PC, and the handy folder icon for accessing the predefined list of your favorite folders.

A Handy Folders icon will also be added to the system tray. This pop-up menu provides quick access to your drives and predefined folders, and right-click menu allows to configure your handy folders list.

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FileBoss provides the tools to put you in control of your files and folders. Whether you need to rename thousands, replicate a tree structure without its files, copy a group of files with graceful error recovery or many other file related tasks, you will find that FileBoss performs ordinary, and many not-so-ordinary, tasks in an extra-ordinary fashion.

FileBoss has the power, flexibility, creativity and robust features needed by professionals and demanded by today's large and intricate file systems.

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XPlorer is a substitute for the Windows Explorer, adding multi tabbed features. So it is possible to have lots of locations opened at the same time, while we can manage them in an easy and eficient way.

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ZTreeWin is a text-mode file/directory manager for all versions of Windows 95 and later. It has been developed as the successor to the legendary DOS file-manager XTreeGold (tm), which its owners have abandoned in today's GUI-centric computing world.

Anyone who has used that remarkable program would be aware of its superior capabilities as a text-mode, tree-structured file-manager - but would also likely be aware that its limited memory support, and lack of long filename support are today a major issue. ZTreeWin is a 32-bit Windows program that has been developed to provide all the powerful functionality of the past, (and much more!), while avoiding the limitations of the old DOS-based program.

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UFS Explorer is easy-to-use tool that allows you to browse your alternative filesystems and extract files from there. Now it supports user-mode read-only support for Ext2/Ext3 Linux filesystems as well as FAT fs support. It gives you a really efficient way to access your files, located on your disk partitions and disk images (VMWare, RAW) that are not accessible normally.

Key features of the program:

• Read-only access to Linux Reiser/Ext2/Ext3 filesystems
• Read-only access to BSD UFS/UFS2 filesystems
• Read-only basic access to MacOS X HFS+/HFSX and byte-swapped UFS/UFS2
• Read-only access to FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 with LFN
• Explorer-like filesystem browsing
• File search support
• Files recovery/extraction (for files larger then 16k - available after registration)
• Preserve file modification dates
• 3 file views: 'Large icons', 'Small icons' and 'Details'
• Folder/object group extraction
• Hard-disk auto-detection
• Partitions auto-detection basing on DOS/BSD/MacOS partitioning
• Supports Apple Mac OS-style hard disk partitioning
• Partitions probing: detect correct filesystem if partition label is invalid
• Smart filesystem caching
• Symlinks browsing, object properties and other utility features
• Hardware changes re-scan; opened devices management
• Files extraction from disk images! Supports VMWare 3,4,5 hard disk image files, RAW disk image files, both RAW and 'chunked' Apple MacOS disk image files (.DMG) with ZLIB compression support

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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.

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Frigate3 is a handy file manager with built-in file viewers (DBF, RTF, HTML, DOC, Excel), handy utilities (TreeNotes, StartUp Manager, Calculator, SmartPad, and Directory Size Manager) and a wealth of other options that make managing and browsing through files easy.

As a full-functional, advanced modern file manager, Frigate3 comes with network support, FTP file management (include SFTP and FTPS protocols) and various file compression and encryption options (zip, arj, rar, jar, ace, ha, lha, zoo, limit and hyper). The manager is equipped with a program-sorting feature that lets computer users quickly and easily make sense of media files stored on HDDs as well as external drives. In addition, the multithreaded program engine handles any number of concurrent file operations, such as copying, downloading, moving, searching, extracting, compressing and uploading files.

Other handy features of the file manager are folder comparison and size management systems, an advanced search system, built-in MP3 tag and text editors and other cool features. Another advantage of Frigate3 is that it comes with full install/uninstall support and can be used by anybody. Using the file manager is intuitive and requires no special knowledge.

The new version of the file manager comes with additional options that:

• Simplify writing (recording) files onto CDs
• Allow use of regular expressions within the Search system
• Give users the ability to view image files as thumbnails
• Utilize a new slide show option

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PowerDesk 6 is an advanced file manager providing more features and functionality than the limited file manager offered in Windows or other file management software. It completely replaces Windows Explorer, giving users a wide array of tools to search, edit, delete, move, sort, view and copy files.

PowerDesk Pro and PowerDesk continue to receive kudos from editors, writers, reviewers and users for years. It has won numerous awards and sparkling reviews from PC Magazine, Windows Magazine, and PC World, to name a few. Find out why the world's best file manager just got better today!

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