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

BestSync Folder Synchronizer allows you to synchronize, mirror, backup, encrypt and/or compress data between folders, removable media, network drives or FTP servers, along with a wide range of possible options and functionalities.

You'll be able to synchronize files between two folders in single direction or bi-direction, synchronize with FTP servers (useful for updating web pages) and encrypt and compress data, which will come in very handy when copying private information to a USB device.

Tasks can be scheduled in different ways, triggered by means of several events (inserting your USB device, mounting a network drive) or even run as Windows services.

BestSync Folder Synchronizer also integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer by adding a new command to context menus, from which you can easily encrypt, compress, decrypt and decompress files.

Download BestSync Folder Synchronizer 2008 3.6.18 in Softonic

You could pretty much consider FileZilla an open source success story. It's popular, works well and fast, and regularly updated.

If you're looking for a solid FTP client what more could you ask more? In fact, FileZilla is not just limited to FTP, but also handles FTPS and SFTP for secure transfers of multiple files on multiple servers. The interface gives you a quick outlook of all your transfers, sites and disks and makes it easy to drag and transfer. I also quite like the QuickConnect feature to access your favorite server in seconds.

FileZilla is known to be fairly fast, and can also resume downloads and handle very big transfers, I'm talking here higher than 4 GB. You can set both local and remote filters for things like images, explorer files or CVS and SVN directories or even create your own. FileZilla also includes a tool to compare directories in terms of file size or modification time.

The application can guide you when setting up your network and lets you set speed limits in case you don't want to overload your bandwidth.

One thing really missing from FileZilla though is a scheduler to automatically set transfer times.

Despite lacking a scheduler, FileZilla is an excellent open source FTP client. It's stable, fast and very efficient. Highly recommended.

Download FileZilla 3.1.1.1 in Softonic

When you live and work away from your home town (or even your home country), as many people do these days, it can sometimes be difficult to stay in touch with the folks back there.

One of the best ways to keep your friends and family posted on what you're up to is to share your photos with them. This can get a little boring for them though if you're just emailing them the shots, so it's a good idea to create a web gallery to hang your pictures in a more elegant fashion.

If you don't your HTML from your elbow then PhotoOnWeb provides a good way of creating a cool online gallery with ease. All you need to do is load your photos, select a template then publish the gallery on your PC, on your FTP server or on the server provided with the software.

If you've never worked with servers before then don't worry because the program pretty much takes care of the nuts and bolts for you. Although not as powerful as using the Flash authoring tool, it's a great free tool for anyone who wants to communicate with home without actually saying anything.

Download PhotoOnWeb 0.8.6 in Softonic

Titan FTP Server is one of those rare FTP servers that aims to cater for both home users and huge commercial enterprises. Because of this, it's a bit daunting for beginners although if you get the hang of it, you'll find yourself with one of the most powerful FTP servers out there.

The good news is the user interface is very simple and straightforward to use meaning the server is fairly simple to setup and maintain. For home users, the functionality does not extend much more than this although it does offer configurable upload/download ratios and disk quotas and you can control the way that files are shared on your system.

For large businesses, Titan FTP Server offers unlimited user accounts (in the professional edition) and the power to appropriately manage them. It also offers bandwidth throttling and configurable maximum transfer speeds that allow you to customize the bandwidth given to any user or server.

The security features are particularly impressive as they should be when serving big businesses. Titan FTP Server features SSL for secure file transfers, S/Key MD4 and MD5 password encryption, enabling or disabling of anonymous access, and the ability to permit or deny access based on IP address. This is an excellent FTP server although business users will get much more out of it than home users.

Download Titan FTP Server 6.23 in Softonic

Backing up your company data is probably one of the most important things you'll ever do via your PC.

If the worst happens, you'll always have somewhere to start from again but you need to know that those backups are reliable and thorough which is what FileFort claims to do. FileFort is an easy to use file backup program that automatically backs up your business data to virtually any type of storage media including CD, DVD, Blu-ray and remote FTP servers.

The FileFort backup process can be fully automated to kick in at a time convenient to you although it's recommended that you do it overnight if it's a large amount of data as it can take a while. FileFort has obviously been designed with beginners or backup phobic in mind taking you through backups and scheduling of backups in easy steps. It's the flexibility of FileFort that possibly marks it out though - it can be run from your hard disk or network folder, uploaded to a remote FTP server using Fling FTP Software or written to a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disk using FileFort's own integrated "Express Burn" utility.

FileFort enables business users to perform through and automated backups to any medium while you concentrate on the more important aspects of running a business.

Download FileFort 2.03 in Softonic

As far as FTP clients go, Core FTP Lite is one of the most comprehensive out there. It allows you to do pretty much anything that you can do with FTP transfers. It features everything from SFTP (SSH), SSL, TLS, IDN, browser integration, site to site transfers to FTP transfer resume, drag and drop support and command line transfers.

Where Cute FTP really distinguishes itself is through it's security features. Not many FTP clients support so many different security protocols meaning you can upload and download to FTP servers with peace of mind. This is essential if you're administering a website that holds. The list of features doesn't stop there though and is truly mind boggling. It also supports Auto retry of failed transfers, bandwidth control throttle, remote file searching and .htaccess/.htpasswd editing amongst many many more.

If you're looking for a fully comprehensive free solution to FTP transfers, then you can't do much better than Core FTP Lite. If you're new to FTP transfers however, you'd probably be better off with something a bit simpler.

Download Core FTP Lite 2.1.1573 in Softonic

If you're looking for a webcam that doubles up as a webcam, image capturing device and even a security camera, then you should take a look at CamUniversal.

What's really interesting about this app is that it includes a network server so that you can send images and viewing information from one PC to another which makes it an ideal monitoring device. There is a built-in motion detector which allows you to select which areas of the video are tested for motion, when, where and how. In this way, it allows you to target a specific part of your house or home without worrying about the consequences. The program also features video recording functions, picture capturing, external program execution, log file creation, sound playing, FTP transfer, email sending and there is also a scheduler. You can upload the images to an FTP server, a webpage or use a company LAN to distribute the images. Probably the only major problem is setting-up the software to work with your webcam - it doesn't seem particularly friendly with all webcams and you may not be able to get it up and running at the first attempt.

A useful webcam tool that doubles up as a security camera but may cause some problems during setup.

Download CamUniversal 3.5 in Softonic

If you’ve ever had to publish, send or receive particularly large files sizes, you’ll know that it can throw up all kinds of problems – crashed servers, blocked inboxes and transfers that suddenly just hang-up. Pando aims to take the pain out of this process and according to the developers, 3 million people agree that it does exactly that.

Pando is based on a P2P network that enables you to send files of up to 1GB in size by e-mail or by publishing it to the web. It supports all multimedia file types including video, audio and photos meaning it’s great for people who deal with audio-visual files regularly.

For most users, the major benefit will be with e-mail attachments and the good news is, there's no need to change your existing e-mail client. Pando works by creating a torrent-like link file which you can then send in the body of your e-mail for the recipient to click on. There’s no need to be online when the recipient downloads the file and there’s no compression, FTP or dodgy web uploading applets to deal with. The reason you don’'t need to be online is because Pando sends files to its "super-node" servers, which means that there's always at least one "seeder" online at any given time. This seed is guaranteed for 14 days so even if you log off, your recipient can still view it. Obviously, the more people that share it too, the faster the download.

For those unfamiliar with FTP, Pando is fantastic since it works on the same principle as a Bittorrent client. Once the small interface is opened, you can drag and drop or select “add-file” to create a ".pando” file which you can then e-mail to whoever you want once it is uploaded.

The main drawback is that the recipient has to have Pando installed to receive the file. If you transfer files to someone regularly, this is not a problem but if it’'s just the odd file you want to send, then it could be a nuisance to ask someone to install it just to see your file. Be warned also that Pando cannot guarantee security although the developers assure that Pando has 256bit AES end-to-end encryption built in making it technically one of the most secure ways to transfers files online today. The only way that someone could realistically compromise your security however is by hacking into your e-mail account.

Whilst Pando is obviously open to abuse by sharing illegal files, most people go to the major Torrent sites to do that, meaning Pando is refreshingly free of any copyrighted material flying around and causing problems. Overall, it’'s a great solution for those unfamiliar with FTP who need to send big files regularly.

Download Pando 2.1.5.5 in Softonic

If you're looking for a highly professional, no nonsense FTP server then you can't do much better than FTP Serv-U.

In this latest release, the developers have completely re-engineered Serv-U FTP Server from the ground up to be faster, more secure, and more flexible. Particularly for those seeking a highly secure FTP server, this is a rock solid product that will give you peace of mind. Serv-U supports high-grade 128-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encrypted communications using FTPS and HTTPS. When using FTPS or HTTPS, file transfers and remote administration sessions are secured meaning that no one can see, interrupt or access in anyway the transfers you may be making. However, this is a pretty standard feature for FTP clients but what's great about FTP Serv-U is that you can completely restrict access to the entire File Server, specific domains, or even individual user accounts with powerful IP access rules. You can even specify a domain name that allows dynamic DNS to grant access for mobile users - great for if you need to administer your files on the move from your mobile device.

Highly secure and rich with features, this is one FTP server that no professional administrator should ignore.

Download FTP Serv-U 7.2.0.1 in Softonic

High speed Internet connections are quite common now but that doesn’t mean we don’t sometimes need some help when it comes to downloading game demos, videos, MP3 collections and other big files. So, even if you’re enjoying the fastest router in the neighborhood, take a look at Internet Download Manager, because it really has a lot to offer.

This excellent app will take care of all your downloads from the moment you install it on your PC. You can add new download tasks from the program’s interface but the usual thing is to let it capture the links. This means that every time you click on a certain file type (which can be specified through configuration options), IDM will handle the download for itself rather than letting the browser do the job. It’s a really handy option because everything is automatic: no changing from one app to another, no copying and pasting links, just no hassle at all. Also, it works with all major web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.

Once IDM captures the link, you can either start to download the file right away or add it to a download list for later, which can be a good alternative if you need all of your bandwidth for the moment and plan to leave the computer on during the night. Downloads can be classified into custom categories right before starting them and can also be resumed if the connection is lost or broken for some reason.

As regards download speeds, Internet Download Manager does meet expectations, although it all depends on your Internet access. That is, don’t expect to download at the speed of light if you’re still using one of those old-fashioned 56K modems. Anyhow, IDM achieves quite satisfying download rates as a result of establishing multiple thread connections to servers. Also, it displays a small window with some interesting information about the download process: transfer rate, data downloaded so far, time left and a neat progress bar for each thread.

The program’s configuration menu displays a wide range of functions and tools devoted to handling your downloads, such as checking files for viruses directly from IDM with your own antivirus system or limiting the amount of bandwidth used by the program. There’s also support for server authentication and proxy, FTP and HTTPS servers.

The fact of the matter is, we couldn’t really find anything wrong with Internet Download Manager. It does its job and does it pretty well, so even if your Internet connection speed is far beyond the usual limits, you should definitely give it a try.

Download Internet Download Manager 5.14.3 in Softonic

Synchronisation is becoming increasingly important with so many different portable devices able to handle huge amounts of data - the ability to work on the road has never been easier which is why Super Flexible File Synchronizer was made.

Super Flexible File Synchronizer can back up data and to synchronize PCs, Macs, servers and notebooks. Everything is neatly organised in multiple profiles and it supports FTP servers, ZIP compression, data encryption, and a scheduler for automated backups. In Windows NT/2000/XP, the Super Flexible File Synchronizer scheduler can run as a service - without users even having to log on which makes it a good solution for network administrators wanting to make sure users continually back up their data.

The GUI is elegant and well designed with Super Flexible File Synchronizer allowing you to choose files and folders across the whole folder hierarchy in tree-views. Super Flexible File Synchronizer also features support for e-mail notification, profile categories, and various filters. Super Flexible File Synchronizer is most effective when used via the scheduler though - it can be configured to backup to an FTP server without any need to even log on.

Cross platforms, an attractive interface and quick synching make Super Flexible File Synchronizer a decent proposition for anyone working on the move.

Download Super Flexible File Synchronizer 4.22.103 in Softonic

FTP Now is a fast, multi-threaded Windows FTP client software with the look-and-feel of Windows Explorer. It makes moving files between the Internet and your computer as simple as local file manipulation. Whether uploading a Web page, an image, or downloading music and software or transferring various files between your computer and any FTP server, FTP Now will get the job done easily and fast, it is suitable for beginner and expert.

Download FTP Now 2.6.92 in Softonic

Your webcam can be much more than just a communication device - it can help protect your property while you are away.

Webcam Monitor provides you with email notification along with a photo directly into your mailbox as soon as a motion or noise intrusion is detected by your webcam. You can customize alerts so that you can even receive video and audio recordings, snapshots with date and time, alarms and SMS notifications. In addition, you can automatically upload recorded video, audio, and snaps to an FTP server of your choice. It goes far beyond just monitoring small areas though - you can also monitor large areas using multiple cameras with recording sessions set to start and end at any time of the day.

All movement and any monitored activity is recorded in an event log for quick reference later. On the other hand, if you want your security cam images to be broadcasted live on the internet, you can set up a web site where the images are constantly updated by WebCam Monitor. In addition, limited enhancement is possible as you can digitally zoom any camera up to 200 and configure one or several cameras to focus on one particular area.

Webcam Monitor can turn your webcam into a powerful security monitoring device that you can control from any location.

Download Webcam Monitor 5.05 in Softonic

FileZilla has become one of the most popular FTP clients on the net and with good reason - it's fast, reliable and packed with lots of cool features.

Now things just got better with the introduction of a portable version that you can take anywhere - superb for web administrators of all abilities and backgrounds. Like it's bigger brother, the program supports the resuming of downloads and uploads, detects when a connection has timed out and features support for firewalls, SFTP, SSL and more. Best of all, it's retained the drag and drop functionality of the original too so it's easy enough for use for anyone not familiar with FTP clients. The interface and preferences are a bit limited but you can see at a glance all of your transfers. It also includes a handy "Quickconnect" function which basically allows you to reconnect to your most frequent FTP sites instantly. You'll also be impressed by the general speed of the application although it does tend to drop connections as a security timeout feature which can be annoying. You can also set limits on how much of your bandwidth it uses if you're worried about it hogging it.

The classic FTP client that you can now take anywhere - what more could you ask for.

Download FileZilla Portable 3.0.11.1 in Softonic

Mass Downloader is a Windows download manager application that makes it easy to download video/audio streams and files from Internet sites at the maximum available speed. Download resume is supported. Multiple channels technology significantly reduces download time.

Mass Downloader supports a wide range of downloads: from usual and secured (HTTPS) Web sites, FTP servers, Real Media and Microsoft Media stream servers. The support of stream protocols makes it simple to download stream video and audio for offline viewing.

Mass Downloader also allows you to browse Zip archives before loading them and to choose only the desired files to download.

Mass Downloader has an excellent Internet Explorer-like user interface. Mass Downloader allows you to download specific files by filename, which differs from Offline Explorer in that Offline Explorer lets you speed your way through downloading entire web sites.

Download Mass Downloader 3.5 in Softonic

How many times have you tried to save streaming media locally but realised you don't have the appropriate tool? Net Transport (NetXfer) can do just that for you. Net Transport downloads MMS and RTSP streaming in multiple threads with perfect video & audio quality.

There are some other great features, like "Site Manager" which allows you to keep the active connection with the remote servers. In addition, the support for both SSL and SSH is hardly found in other upload/download tools.

Main Features:

• Simple but powerful "File Manager" to categorize and manage downloaded files
• Simple multi-user management
• Inbuilt "Site Explorer" lists the directory structure of the remote server
• FTP reuse mechanism uses one connection to get different files from the same site
• Assign every working thread a different proxy to break certain site restrictions
• Proxies with NTLM authentication can penetrate local firewall, like Microsoft ISA 2000
• Adjust the bandwidth usage of Net Transport
• Monitor browser click
• Can automatically shutdown the system or hang up the modem
• NTLM authentication is supported for both MMS and RTSP
• Use multi-threads for both MMS and RTSP to significantly reduce the time of downloads
• Automatically parse streaming script such as .asx, .smi to acquire real URLs
• Support SSH encryption for both HTTP and FTP
• Flexible "Scheduler Manager"

Download Net Transport (NetXfer) 2.62.468 in Softonic

RaidenFTPD is an easy-to-use ftp server software for Windows™. With this handy tool you can share your files with friends, provide file download services to customers or even setup your own private network file server. Not only are all the basic FTP server features built-in, it also features various advanced features such as SSL/TLS, UTF8, UPnP NAT traversal and more.

Download RaidenFTPD 2.4.3620 in Softonic

Writing PHP code and testing it on-the-fly can be a real hassle but this offering from DzSoft promises to ease the pain of coding by acting as a virtual server that can process code and display the results.

DzSoft PHP Editor is primarily a code editor, and includes the majority of features that you’d expect from this type of software. However, while most rival code editors tend to generalize, offering syntax highlighting for a multitude of languages PHP Editor is specifically tuned to the needs of web programmers who are working with the Hypertext Preprocessor language. Evidence of this can be found in the inclusion of common code and functions libraries and the ability to run and preview your work.

At first glance the program doesn’t appear to have a particularly intuitive interface. The design wouldn’t be out of place in Windows 95 and the main editor window is a typical reproduction of Notepad with each line numbered for easy reference. What appears to be a navigation bar on the left offers some hope of functionality, and once you get stuck in to coding it really delivers. The explorer bar tracks everything and records the location of each include, function, variable, and class you use. Should you wish to specifically save a reference point you can add up to nine bookmarks, although you can’t assign names to them - an addition that would have helped clarify what function each snippet serves.

To use the run and preview feature you must install PHP on your PC, a simple operation when compared to setting up your computer as a server that can process PHP. With a syntax check also included, this tool comes highly recommended to anyone that will be writing significant bodies of PHP. DzSoft PHP Editor may be a little rough around the edges, but with its outstanding functionality, that can be forgiven.

Download DzSoft PHP Editor 4.2.0.0 in Softonic

Large files are always difficult to share online. Free file sharing sites are a pain, not everybody has an FTP server to share stuff and sharing them by email can take ages – if your email server can handle a 10MB email attachment at all.

Fortunately now there's another way to share big-sized files using email: Podmailing. Of course it doesn't work the usual way (message plus attached file) but more like as a P2P client or maybe I should say P2M client, which is the right way to name this file sharing protocol. The idea is not new (see Pando) but Podmailing has launched to add more choice to the P2M market.

The program is really easy to use. Simply click on the "New" button, select the files or folders you want to share, enter the email addresses and add a message. That's pretty much everything, although bear in mind that you must leave the program open (and your Internet connection on) in order to send the file.

The addressees of your podmail will receive a message in their inboxes with a link to download the file, which they'll be able to do very comfortably from their own web browser without the need for any third-party apps. Anyway, there's also the possibility to download the file via Podmailing or using the BitTorrent protocol (which also works with Podmailing, as this program is also a torrent client).

The main drawback I found is that you have to wait until the file is completely uploaded before starting to download it directly from the browser, so if your friend wants to share a 9GB file you'd better be patient. At least you can always start downloading it right away by using the Podmailing app or any BitTorrent client, which don't require the file to be finished uploading. Also, uploaded files are saved for 30 days on the Podmailing's servers.

Podmailing is a new client for the P2M protocol with which you can easily share large-sized files on the Internet. It may not be the fastest method but it's reliable and above all, very easy to use.

Download Podmailing 0.10.0 in Softonic