Anyone knows a good (great) alternative to Windows Explorer?

Hey fellows

I'm quite new to Windows 7 and I'm looking for a good alternative to Windows Explorer.

I use it a lot and I look for something able to explore files in two panes, tabs and other functionalities like "favorites" links to folders.

On XP, I used to have UltraExplorer, which is quite nice but sometimes (rarely) buggy.
I tried it on Windows 7 but it lacks proper context menu functionality. It doesn't have all third party options that appear on the main Windows Explorer. It's a shame :/

So, have you any suggestions?
(freeware apps preferably )

 

Check out "Classic Shell" ( Want a Windows XP style start menu and Explorer in Windows 7? Try Classic Shell)

or

PowerDesk ( Download PowerDesk - Shareware Software - Tucows)

or

Free Commander (and others) [ http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/30/featured/7-best-free-windows-explorer-alternative.html]

And also, check here:

15 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed – Simple Help

 

hmm
I'm not looking for a "classic" feel, the Windows Explorer from XP was very limited too.

I'll take a look on PowerDesk, never tried, but most of those on the list you posted I already tried. The list is quite dated (seems from 2006) and I would like to see if anyone knows some more modern alternatives. Most of those apps were already older when the list came up, so probably they won't work properly on Windows 7.
Actually, I searched a lot before sticking to UltraExplorer, it is a shame it does not work that great on Windows 7.

 

If you want the ultimate Explorer replacement, take a look at Directory Opus.

 

I tried that! It`s awesome!

But is waaaay too expensive.
I plan to go for a free alternative...

 

look at the usual shareware sites and search for something like tabbed explorer.

Loads of options will come up, the best/popular ones do in fact cost $$

 

That's a shame.

I rather ask for suggestions in a forum like these because then I'll avoid any bloatware or malware...

Maybe I'll have to keep UltraExplorer... its very effective, but sadly it haven't been continued and now it won't work properly with Windows 7. I rather stay with this one and get used to its limitations than going for costly software.

 

that's another "know your tool and be good at it" compared to "just buy the best tool, even if you can't handle it" situation.

i know my tool (explorer) very well, and thus beat most that use some other thing like ultraexplorer or similar at usage. i'd definitely never pay for any of those. if you know your tool (might be explorer, or ultraexplorer) very well, you won't be much more efficient at any other anyways.

 

yep, totally agree with you.

I can say I know well both tools - Windows Explorer and UltraExplorer. The first is quite limited for me and the last is great, but seems that is not very much compatible with Windows 7. So I'm looking for other one, I've tried a lot of them some years ago and now I thought that maybe someone around here would know a good modern alternative.

Is really everybody satisfied with the default Windows Explorer?? I mess with a lot of files and folders all the time and I can't be productive on that.

 

Total Commander. Simple interface, very functional, includes simple FTP client.

 

yes i use windows explorer for all my file handling (local and networked stuff) and i'm very satisfied with it.

so maybe you don't know that tool that well?

btw, one reason to be satisfied with the default tools for me: they're always there. i often have to fiddle or work with systems that are not mine (and i have a lot of systems that are mine). so having non-default stuff is actually a lot of work + annoying when they're not there. so i prefer to just learn the default tools to perfection.

 

But there is any way to get dual panel or tabbed panels on Windows Explorer?
That's pretty basically what I'm looking for... I've tried some other just now (Q-dir) who did this but sucked, as it won't have basic common sense functionalities, like closing tabs or opening in new tabs from the explorer with the middle button.

Sometimes I fiddle on others pc, but usually its not the same case as when I'm at my pc fiddling on my own stuff, jumping from one directory to the other. I do use Linux a lot too, mostly at work, and its default file manager also have tabbed and dual panel. So its quite frustrating using the limited Windows one.

I've been using Windows 7 for not much more than a month, so I still miss some features of it, but I haven't found any way for Windows Explorer to be better. It just seems even simpler than the old XP, it doesn't even had the menu bar by default... I would love to use just the default tools "to perfection", but I wouldn' t if they simply lack functionality or were design for more "starter" users that would get lost by the menu bar.

Right now I'm using UltraExplorer most of the time and when I need something that is only accessible through the context menu (like Tortoise SVN) I open up Windows Explorer just for that :/

 

i use more than one window (guess what, the os is called windowS, one can have as many windows as one wants to).

do you know about windows snap? and the shortcuts [winkey+left] and [winkey+right] and [winkey+up] and such?

i never understood those who wanted "two folders in one window". i can have as many folders on my screen as i need. each in it's own region, called "window".


edit: the video: Aero Snap

 

hmmm that win+arrow is new to me!! thanks hehehe

but snap I use all the time, mostly when I use two different applications at the same time, like a latex editor and the resulting PDF.
But I usually have several windows opened (I really don't use to maximize anything, except that apps that really use the screen real-state) and I really don't want more than one file manager floating around among them... when I focus it I like to acess everything I need easily, but when I'm doing something else, I rather leave the screen for other windows.
And that is very confusing (at least for me) to have several windows explorer windows opened at the same time... that's the reason I decided switching to something more practical a long time ago!

EDIT:
Just see you added a video for snap.
You would really use your whole screen to browse two folders? heheh
I have UltraExplorer opened here with dual panel and it takes half the screen length and a little more of its height...

 

well. it might be confusing to you, but that doesn't make other stuff more practical. actually imho, the reverse is true (might sound weird).

i use more than one word-window, more than one excel-window, more than one internet-window (chrome), etc.. it's WINDOWS, not single-apps-with-tabs, or something. and it's really not confusing (at least if one knows all the funky keyboard shortcuts, and other shortcuts in explorer, favourites, pinned folders, homegroup, etc).

but to each it's own. i can't help you with other explorers. my suggestion was to explore the default explorer to get more out of it. as it's always there for you [winkey+e], it's the best choice for me. except for bulk renaming of files, it serves me very well. then again, nothing served me well so far for bulkrenaming. i was quicker just code the stuff up myself..

 

Ok, so you open each internet page on a separated Chrome instance?
heheh

As well as the internet browser I like my file browser to be organized in a single windows among other applications windows. But that's me. You that started arguing heheh

But thanks anyway for your point, I see it. The winkey+arrow tip already got me

 

differnt tasks yes. (consider one chrome for webdev, one for browsing pages as this, and actually one for each pinned webapp like facebook, imo.im, gmail, google reader...).

i used "tabbing" way before it was available on any browser. i had tons of ie widnows open (before firefox was out), and xp created a nice tab-collection of all those windows automatically in the taskbar.

if you pin your taskbar to the top, you actually notice that it's very much just like tabbed browsing: your tabs being the windows.

tabbed control is just the same as windows control, without the choice of placing them as you want, resizing them as you want, or anything else. other than that, tabs are the same. they're castrated windows.

once you've understood that, you suddenly stop searching for tabbed everything. as your os has that feature by default, just much more flexible (try to place tabs side by side in a browser.. no issue with windows, but with tabs?)

 

Yeah, this way you pointed is old from the time people used just a couple of webpage each time...

When people started running more and more pages at the same time, browsers started to have tabs.

That's the same here with my file manager... I dont want 5 windows of it sharing the same organization space that every other tones of apps opened.

By adding tabbed apps (when it does apply, like on web browser and on file managers) you win one more degree of organization. If you mix them all together I call a mess and yes it feels confusing. Just go alt-tabbing through all of them.

it's not that I avoid opening more than one instance for each app, I do have two firefox opened here, as I want to have direct eye acess to both of them, but each one have more tabs opened.

When you compare tabs to windows yes they seem castrated, but they aren't the same thing! The have different purpouse since they apply for the same app!
Just like two panels of folders, each one with its own tabs, sharing the same main app window (menu bars, just one tree-view on the left)... If there would be two instances of that, I call a waste of useful space on the screen.

I think you can't prove that using tabbed apps is someway wrong, its just different than the way you use to do. I rather have more layers of organization, so I prefer tabs to handle several folders. But that's just me!

 

btw, I love Foxit reader. It opens PDF files on tabs
Sometimes I have several papers opened and I won't like at all to get them mixed up with other windows.

That's most strange that Windoes version of Adobe Reader doesn't have tabs, on Linux it does. And Foxit Reader doesn't. Odd!

 

if you read up how tabs work on chrome, you notice they are not "the same app" anymore. no, they are individual instances of chrome (check taskmanager).

they are just castrated windows (which, in case of chrome, you can drag out to have them full windows when you need more flexibility).

tabs are ment for fullscreen single-task-view of multiple windows. so they make sense in a browser, where you normally only read one page at a time.

but as explorer is, for browsing, a one-thing only thing (there you don't need tabs), or for working with data a multiple-thing-at-the-same-time-thing (there, tabs can't help you), it makes not much sense to have tabs in there.

yes, they are an additional layer of organisation. no, they would not gain me anything at all. as said, i can do everything you do, i can do it just as fast, without any further clutter. i have full windows support (aero sneak peak to quickly access all my "tabs"), if one "tab" hangs i can continue with the others (not possible still in most tabbed apps), and i can arrange them side by side (not possible in about any tabbed app).

once you realize that it's all the same, you'll start laughting at tabs being "the big revolution" people made it to be.

oh, and in pre-tab-days, i had up to 30 browser windows open at the same time. advantage to firefox later? if one crashed, only that one crashed.

looked like this back then:



but my main point stays: instead of searching for the perfect tool, how about learning to get used with the tools you have, and thus getting, for free, the perfect tool. if you can learn to not be confused by having multiple windows open (and you should, as ANY desktop os gui relies on this), then you get all the advantages you would have from your perfect dreamed of tool, at no cost, and with any application (multiple windows is great not just for explorer).

that was my suggestion. fix the problem on your site instead of trying to find a fix for the pc. if you can handle that, explorer is about perfect. and it'll be everywhere, any time there for you. even in safe mode, even in the recovery tools while fixing the pc. suddenly, any pc will feel home to you. fixing the problem at the source gains you a lot.

 

In terms of functionality its the same. Chrome uses separated processes just because they thought it would make it more robust.

I already agreed on the aspect, but it doesn't bother me that they differ in functionality compared to "windows". It's actually a good thing. And why is that "non-castrated" thing so important for you? Is Chrome the only tabbed app you're familiarized with? Why dont you use IE? The default tool isn't good enough?

Why fullscreen? Why can't I have several windows of "single-tasked" applications? Even that they also can be viewed simultaneously inside their main window...
I really like having similar tasks confined to the same screen space (window). And if I need to , I open two instances of the main windows and arrange the tasks as it fits best for what I do. But have them on different screen areas always is a limitation on my point of view.

Thanks for enlighten me about what I need for what I do. It seems you must know very well my routine on the computer (or you assume yours apply to every one).

Do you really think it is news to me? I use Windows intensively since Win95.

I think this is very antiquated and messy. I simply prefer internal tabs multitasking on apps and apps multitasking on the OS. You may not prefer the same, but thats you and I simply can't agree on that.

Thanks, I already got that posts ago and you don't need to insist that much. It doesn't apply that much for me because most of other computers I would use (at the university) wouldn't even use Windows on it.
And actually, I don't bother being not that productive when on someone else's computer, I want to be the most on mine. That's why I customize it to my needs.

I think you simply choose to ignore alternatives. Do you really think Windows developers are the only ones capable of doing the best? It must be some kind of Windows Church or something.



Directory Opus, as Thermal Compound recommended, is AWESOME. It's much more powerful than the native Windows Explore and if you can't agree on that you're just being ignorant.
But is way to expensive... But I would buy it if I had the bucks for it.