Path Finder basically takes Finder's interface and adds many more powerful features plus it tweaks the interface to make it look and feel much better. Probably the best improvement you'll notice are a new dual pane browser, cut and paste support, a completely overhauled Leopard-friendly interface and it now supports Coverflow.

The number of features in Path Finder are too numerous to mention in full but some of the highlights are network share browsing which means it auto-detects Mac and Windows network volumes and it allows you to activate screen sharing from within the file browser.

In addition, it supports tabbed browsing, a bookmarks bar, a reload button and a find window, and filter inside the browser. At almost $40 for a full licence, Path Finder is not a cheap upgrade for Finder but it definitely adds a whole new world of functionality and ease of use to file browsing and management on your Mac.

If you get frustrated by Finder, or you simply need a better way to manage your files, Path Finder is a truly comprehensive solution.

Download Path Finder 6.0.0 in Softonic

And you can see why Google think the tool is fitting of a major release. Google Quick Search Box is a basically a Spotlight-style app that can search for just about anything both on and offline. In this way, it's very similar to Google Desktop, except it's far more discreet and lightweight and there's no annoying indexing to wait for.

Rather, Google Quick Search Box floats on your desktop ready for action whenever you need it. Previously, it only performed basic searches on your hard and online but this official release makes it an altogether more powerful proposition.

Google Quick Search Box can performs more through hard drive and online searches and it can even launch applications. As you'd expect from a Google product, searches are incredibly detailed and quick and results are displayed clearly. Search for 'Firefox', for example, and it immediately brings-up the Firefox icon ready for launching. In this way, Google Quick Search Box acts not only as a search tool, but as a launcher as well.

You can even customize Google Quick Search Box to search only those online sites that you choose such as YouTube, Wikipedia, Gmail and Google Docs. To search both your Gmail and Google Docs account, you need to enter your Gmail account credentials in the 'Accounts' section in Preferences. However, when I tried to search my accounts using Google Quick Search Box, the search seemed to hang for a while and no results were found. Whether this was a technical glitch or a bug I'm not sure, but it was a little disappointing.

There is also an impressive number of preferences in Google Quick Search Box for a small application. You can customize whether to show the Dock icon, configure a hotkey to reveal it, select which sites are searched and as already mentioned, add a Google account.

Google Quick Search Box has come a long way since it's initial release. Whether it's good enough to replace Spotlight I'm still not convinced but it's certainly in the right ball park.

Download Google Quick Search Box 2.0.0.1447 in Softonic

If you need to find information within those files then your task is even harder. It can be painstaking to go through them one by one while you look for the text you need to edit. Search&Replace is a powerful batch-processing application for text files which is designed to replace the content and names that you want to modify in just a click. It's aimed at those that have little or no computer knowledge so it's very straightforward to use.

So for example, let's say that you've got a 100 word documents with a wrong name in them. Search&Replace can go through them and in just a few seconds, replace the wrong name with the correct one or just delete them completely. The success rate is however dependent on your document or target words not containing any foreign or unusual letters. It uses the same principle to replace files names. If you've named several files wrongly, or they're all generic, you can search and replace them easily.

As long as you don't need to replace unusual characters, Search&Replace is a very fast and functional text searching tool that will fulfill most of your needs.

Download Search and Replace 1.5 in Softonic

The application lets you effectively print three types of lists: a full page, a media cover (basically a CD cover) and a file (which you can save in your Mac).

Download Print Window Advanced 4.0 in Softonic

Although it's not exactly the snappiest name for an application, A Better Finder Attributes allows you to change elements in OS X that Finder won't normally allow you to. It's particularly useful for changing Meta data of files such as EXIF data on photos and documents. This means that you can modify the creation date and time of any file if you need to.

However, A Better Finder Attributes does much more than this. The program also allows you to show invisible files, set color labels plus lock and unlock files. For OS X experts, this is not exactly essential but for those unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts behind it, it makes things much easier. Most recently, A Better Finder Attributes has been brought up to date with a slicker interface that features a simpler, single window although it now only works on OS X 10.6+.

A Better Finder Attributes helps you get under the hood of OS X even if you're a novice.

Download A Better Finder Attributes 5.11 in Softonic

The preference pane item is easy to enable. Set your trigger commands by choosing the right keyboard shortcuts, then adjust their behavior. One of the things that Witch really manages to enhance is the way you can browse not only through applications but also through minimized and foremost applications. Witch also lets you zoom in and close of minimized and foremost windows.

The real trick when using Witch is to not get lost in all your keyboard shortcuts. You do not need to customize them all. Instead choose a few triggers that you will likely use often. Witch can take a little bit getting used to, especially for users not comfortable with keyboard shortcuts, however once you have gotten the hang of it you should really feel better control over your applications and windows.

Witch is a smart preference pane that lets you quickly switch between all your windows, whether foremost or minimized.

Download Witch 3.6.1 in Softonic

You can easily enable or disable AFS and SMB network file systems. Ideal for small networks, SharePoints is used at its best when you properly configure it, by setting elements like idle disconnet and log properties.

The program has enough advanced features for anyone who's never really delved into them to get a bit lost.

Download SharePoints 3.5.4 in Softonic

Fiwi provides the 2 symmetrical Finder windows on the desktop, side by side in columns or alternatively one on top of the other in rows. For easy access, it's best to drag Fiwi into the dock (so you can access it even if no Windows are open) or you can move it to the left sidebar of any Finder window, under Places, just above the desktop icon.

Whether Fiwi is more useful that just transferring files simply by dragging and dropping or using the "Send to.." option is debatable. It takes some getting used to although when you have, you can easily see that it could speed up your work flow, particularly if you're transferring multiple files between the same folders.

Fiwi is an interesting alternative to standard file management on a Mac although whether it will be useful to you depends on how regularly you transfer files.

Download Fiwi 2.0.8 in Softonic

In addition, you can drill down to the contents of sub-folders and even add your own folders using FolderGlance. A menu-hover function allows you to preview files in a folder simply by holding your mouse over them and most recently, FolderGlance has been updated (free to users of version 2.5+) to allow access of your files and folders directly from your Menu Bar.

One of the most useful features of FolderGlance is the ability to edit contextual menus. So for example, instead of getting lots of useless 'Open With...' options, you can ensure that just one application that you regularly use is offered. The other major benefit is that moving files between folders - especially deeply buried folders - is so much easier with Folder Glance than having lots of Finder windows open.

FolderGlance is a powerful addition to Finder that will enhance the way you manage files and use your contextual menu.

Download FolderGlance 3.0.0 in Softonic

Normally, you have to go into Terminal and "cd" to the folder you want to access. With OpenTerminal, simply click its icon or use the Finder's contextual menu and a terminal with the correct path shows up ready to use. OpenTerminal runs in the background discreetly and responds instantly when needed. For those that want to modify it, the developer has also made the source code available.

If you want a slightly easier way to access folders in Terminal, OpenTerminal makes life a bit easier..

Download OpenTerminal 2.0.7 in Softonic

The friendly GUI shows thumbnail views of all your files and you can close up or zoom in on any one of them with the loupe function. Double clicking on an item will open it in a popup window. Any file can be flagged for future reference or hidden. You can also view and edit information for files, like adding tags to make them easier to find.

Leap was a bit sluggish at startup, when it referenced all files in the system, but once up and running it worked well. Given the number of search possibilities at hand, you're bound to find what you're looking for. If there's one other little complaint we could place, it's that the interface can feel a bit crowded, what with all the lists and different items present in the program window.

Leap is an excellent program giving you multiple ways of finding any file in your Mac.

Download Leap 2.0.2 in Softonic

Unfortunately, there's no obvious way to do this in Finder and iVisibilityX makes things easier by enabling you to toggle them as quickly as possible. iVisibilityX sits in your menu bar and simply requires you to click on the iVisibilityX icon every time you need to toggle the visibility of your icons.

To use it, select the files and folders you want to hide in Finder and choose the desired option in the menubar. The actions are self explanatory - if you want to view hidden files in Finder, simply choose "Show hidden files in Finder" in the menubar. There's little more to it than that. It would be useful however if there were some record of which files and folders you have hidden as it's very easy to lose track of them the more you hide.

If you want to keep your folders and files protected, or you just want to clean up Finder for a while, iVisibilityX is a simple but effective solution.

Download iVisibilityX 1.0 in Softonic

FinderPop fits discreetly in your menu bar and can be called up any time, either by clicking on the little icon or via keystroke.

Not only can you change the appearance but you can also exclude items, choose what submenus to show in FinderPop or set the number of items that FinderPop remembers.