XYplorer

It takes a long time to manage large amounts of files and folders. You can end up with countless windows, crowding your desktop, and it will be difficult to tell which one is which. There are some features that come with Windows Vista or 7, which should make things a bit more comfortable, but they are not enough. You can make up for what Windows lacks with XYplorer. It has a familiar design and the options it offers will enable you to work a lot faster and with greater efficiency.

The setup package is only 2.21 Mb large, so it should not take long to download. It is compatible with operating systems from Windows 98 to Windows 7 and the installation process will not create any registry keys. This makes it possible to install it even on portable devices such as USB flash drives and use it on any other computer.

The interface works just like a standard explorer window. A tree like navigation pane on the left side lets you access your folders immediately and their contents will be displayed on the larger area on the right. Basic functions, like Back, Forward, Copy, Cut, Paste, Delete and others can be performed fast with the aid of the buttons found on the toolbar. Unlike an explorer window, XYplorer lets you create navigation tabs the same way you would in a web browser: by clicking a plus button, next to an existing one. This way, you can work with multiple folders on the same window. The software also offers a dual pane view mode. With a click on a toolbar button, the main area of the interface will look like Total Commander and you can create multiple navigation tabs on each pane.

Additional features can be brought up on the lower half of the window, after clicking a small button in the bottom right corner. These features are found under separate navigation tabs and they include a raw view of a selected file, an advanced search function, printing a report, and more. The Find Files tab will display a series of subtabs with a wide range of parameters for performing an accurate search task. The program can find a file by its name, size, date, contents, attributes and more. Each of these parameters can be customized by making use of dialog boxes, drop menus or check boxes.

Most of the options found in the top menus can also be found on the toolbar or in context menus. The ones you can only find in the top menus include setting up and running scripts, managing commands in order to automate them, synchronizing folders and more. You will have to take your time to figure out how to use them more efficiently, but when you do, they will save you a lot of valuable time.