Looking for a windows explorer replacement

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chefry
  • Start date Start date
C

Chefry

I hope someone can help me here. I'm looking for a replacement for the Windoes Explorer.
Right now I'm using Powerdesk Pro 5 and one GREAT feature that I find really handy is File
Nfo. If you're not familiar with Powerdesk Pro 5, the File Nfo feature shows you the first
line of any text document in the explorer window, along with file name, date, size,
attributes, etc. I sort through and produce a lot of text documents so this feature is
fantastic.

Unfortunately, either Powerdesk Pro 5 doesn't like Windows XP, or Windoes XP doesn't like
Powerdesk Pro 5. In any event, it doesn't work well at all. Freezes, shuts down, takes
forever to do anything, etc.

Does anyone know of another Windows Explorer replacement that does the same thing. I've
tried a number of them but none seem to have the File Nfo feature. Lots have a view
button, but it's not the same thing.

Any help would be appreciated!
 
Chefry said:
Does anyone know of another Windows Explorer replacement that does the
same thing. I've tried a number of them but none seem to have the File
Nfo feature. Lots have a view button, but it's not the same thing.
Click to expand...

Total Commander, not-time-limited nagware, www.ghisler.com
has file info shown as tool tips as you hover the cursor over a file.
 
Total Commander, not-time-limited nagware, www.ghisler.com
has file info shown as tool tips as you hover the cursor over a file.
Click to expand...

I don't think we should be recommending this here. It's not just
nagware, it's shareware. Though you CAN continue to use it without
paying after the trial period is over, you shouldn't. The author's
selling it, not giving it away as an inducement to buy something else.
True nagware is something like MailWasher which is stated to be free
but nags you to make a paid upgrade.

I don't know about the legality of continuing to use Total Commander
after the trial period has expired but morally it can't be right to
continue to use a commercial product without paying for it.

What the individual does is up to them; who am I to take the high
moral ground? I'm not doing that. I'm saying it isn't good for the
reputation of a.c.f that we recommend what is clearly not freeware as
if it were freeware.
 
Chefry said:
Unfortunately, either Powerdesk Pro 5 doesn't like Windows XP, or
Windoes XP doesn't like
Powerdesk Pro 5. In any event, it doesn't work well at all. Freezes,
shuts down, takes
forever to do anything, etc.
Click to expand...

Hasn't been my experience over many months of regular usage. Solid as a
rock.

Alex Balfour
 
Michael Rainey said:
xplorer lite is free and has this feature (Quick View) - also previews
images.
Click to expand...

We are not talking about the same thing.

Nfo style file comments are written by the user, and are kept by the file
manager and shown as tool tip comments when hovering the mouse over the
file. A good file manager, like TC, moves and copies these file comments
together with the file, so it is available whereever the file is moved or
copied.

A quick view feature is a way to show the file in a way which is useful,
like showing a jpg file as a picture, a txt file in a text viewer window,
etc.. Ctrl-Q in TC gives a quick view of the file.

Another type of file information is general information about a file,
like size, date, etc..

I found a very good single pane file manager called a43 at:

http://www.shawneelink.net/~bgmiller/

It is pure freeware and works well in win98 even though the web site says
that it is supported only for win 2k and xp.

It has an interesting tool type info about every file when hovering on
it. (but not Nfo type). It shows general file info and content for some
file types, like zip files. It has good built-in zip file handling.

When I cannot use TC I used Turbo Navigator earlier, but it has no
handling of zip files, so now I use a43 as my second file manager instead
of TN.
 
Does anyone know of another Windows Explorer replacement that does the same thing. I've
tried a number of them but none seem to have the File Nfo feature. Lots have a view
button, but it's not the same thing.

Any help would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

PD Explorer 6 is by far the best Explorer replacement. Unfortunately, it's
very buggy as you have reported. It's not just you!

I have never ran across anything remotely close to either in the Freeware
domain. Everything I have tried leaves me dashing back to the Windows
Explorer.

I ended up installing a few Explorer enhancements and using it.

-- Bob
 
| www.zabkat.com
|
| xplorer lite is free and has this feature (Quick View) - also previews
| images.
|
|
| | >
| > > Does anyone know of another Windows Explorer replacement that does the
| > > same thing. I've tried a number of them but none seem to have the File
| > > Nfo feature. Lots have a view button, but it's not the same thing.
| >
| > Total Commander, not-time-limited nagware, www.ghisler.com
| > has file info shown as tool tips as you hover the cursor over a file.
| >
| >
| > --
| > Roger J.
|
Doesn't seem to be free. Total: EUR 19.95 / USD 25.80
 
Bob said:
PD Explorer 6 is by far the best Explorer replacement. Unfortunately, it's
very buggy as you have reported. It's not just you!

I have never ran across anything remotely close to either in the Freeware
domain. Everything I have tried leaves me dashing back to the Windows
Explorer.

I ended up installing a few Explorer enhancements and using it.

-- Bob
Click to expand...
Though not freeware I have to highly recommend Novatix Explorer Plus
 
Hasn't been my experience over many months of regular usage. Solid as a
rock.

Alex Balfour
Click to expand...

I'm running it on my laptop and it's been nothing but problems. Stable as a rock on my
desktop with Win2k Pro though.

I've even tried uninstalling and reinstalling a couple of time. No luck
 
I hope someone can help me here. I'm looking for a replacement for the Windoes Explorer.
Right now I'm using Powerdesk Pro 5 and one GREAT feature that I find really handy is File
Nfo. If you're not familiar with Powerdesk Pro 5, the File Nfo feature shows you the first
line of any text document in the explorer window, along with file name, date, size,
attributes, etc. I sort through and produce a lot of text documents so this feature is
fantastic.

Unfortunately, either Powerdesk Pro 5 doesn't like Windows XP, or Windoes XP doesn't like
Powerdesk Pro 5. In any event, it doesn't work well at all. Freezes, shuts down, takes
forever to do anything, etc.

Does anyone know of another Windows Explorer replacement that does the same thing. I've
tried a number of them but none seem to have the File Nfo feature. Lots have a view
button, but it's not the same thing.

Any help would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

I think some contributors have misunderstood what I mean by file Nfo. Lots of programs
will show file info in a little popup, date, size, etc, but the file nfo feature in
Powerdesk Pro 5 shows the first line of a txt file right in the file list. For example,
the mail view shows
file name, extension, size, file type, date modified, time, attributes, and file info.

If it's a txt file it shows the first line
If it's a zip, rar, etc, it shows number of files
If its a graphic (jpg) it shows size, ie 240x480
If it's an exe it may show a comment

etc.

I hope this clarifies things a bit

Thanks
 
xplorer lite does have the capability to type in a comment for each file.
The comments are displayed in a Comment column beside the file name. I
don't know how long the comments can be, or if this is enough of a feature
to help you.
 
VCom's Powerdesk is truly free and quite good. Some will tell you it is
nagware, but all I have ever seen it do along those lines is when you exit
the program it briefly (about half a second) displays a photo of the upgrade
box. (I'm using v5.0.1.6).

The upgrade does more stuff, but the free version offers real value.
 
I've had the same problems with PowerDesk 5 Pro and XP.

The reason I've been sticking with it is a couple of features I really like:
folder synchroniziation and FTP. I just click on my FTP site and I'm there
and can drag and drop files.

But I too need a reliable replacement. I don't think Ontrack should
even be selling such a buggy product. Kind of like owning a Yugo.
 
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