17 ms·

Original Windows File Manager with enhancements

247 points by chungy 9y ago

cowmix 9y ago
I can't believe I'm saying this... but someone please port this to MacOS. Finder is still a hot mess.
- ygra 9y ago
  Does Wine run on OS X? Because I guess a straight port would actually have to be a rewrite.
  - comex 9y ago
    Yes.
- willio58 9y ago
  Out of pure curiosity, what about finder is a mess to people these days? I feel like I can move around it smoothly and I use it many times daily. Adding some services like opening a file/folder in terminal has also helped me a lot.
  - lev99 9y ago
    How can I quickly open a directory in Finder? If, for example I want to go to ~/source or ~/pem what is the quickest way to do this? I've used macOS for about 2 years now, and I never found a method to do this that is intuitive. Windows Find has a large directory bar at the top where a user can go to any directory by just typing it.
    - akandiah 9y ago
      Hit Command+Shift+G and it will pop up with a dialog box requesting the path.
    - zf00002 9y ago
      cmd+space, type in folder path.
      - saagarjha 9y ago
        This opens Spotlight, though, instead of just using Finder.
        donatj 9y ago
        And? Parts of the OS should work together, not be islands
        saagarjha 9y ago
        Yes, but if I was in Finder I'd expect to stay in Finder to perform a file-related operation…
      - nsxwolf 9y ago
        This should not be downvoted. This actually works pretty well.
    - simscitizen 9y ago
      Cmd+Shift+G to bring up a go to location sheet.
    - mikeplaysgames 9y ago
      I think you're looking for Shift-Command-G. Here's a list of other useful shortcuts for Finder and other contexts. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236#finder https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236#finder
    - salgernon 9y ago
      cmd-shift-g => ~/source/ This also works in application file dialogs. Personally, I've always preferred the Mac OS <= 9 Finder. I don't care for applications that have a web-browser-esque back-arrow to get to some presumed previous context. I'd much rather have multiple windows viewing the same content. (In Xcode, for instance, I loathe the default "one window to rule them all" behavior and I end up using CMD-shift-O and typing there name of the file I want to open - even if it was one that I know is already opened recently. Back arrow takes me to "some content" - but I have to look carefully to know what that content was. But if I'm able to place two windows side by side, I can easily cmd-twiddle between them and know which is which based on its location on my screen.) All that being said, I do everything from Terminal anyway. (where you can type 'open ~/Documents/' to jump to that location in the Finder.)
    - pletnes 9y ago
      If you’re in the terminal, just use «open /what/ever». Open = doubleclick, works for files, too.
      - majewsky 9y ago
        Note that "open" is Mac-specific. On Linux (and possibly BSD), one can use "xdg-open" to the same effect.
    - geraldcombs 9y ago
      Along with the other suggested methods you can type type `open ~/source` or `open ~/pem` from the command line. I use it all the time to open /tmp in Finder.
    - fiddlerwoaroof 9y ago
      In addition to cmd-shift-g, cmd-shift-h will open a new finder window in your home directory from the desktop and will change the current directory of any finder window or file dialog to your home directory.
      - eltoozero 9y ago
        Shift-Cmd-A: Applications Shift-Cmd-H: Home Shift-Cmd-U: Utilities Shift-Cmd-C: Computer
  - akandiah 9y ago
    No functionality to cut and paste for one... Adding extensions (for example installing XtraFinder) has become a pain due to the new security features that need to be turned off.
    - wumms 9y ago
      Instead of cut & paste you can copy (command+c) & move (command+option+v).
      - fiddlerwoaroof 9y ago
        Interesting, I thought I remembered something about this, but I always forgot the details. It's worth mentioning that you can discover a lot of these details by opening the edit menu, pressing the option key and seeing how the menu items change. On the Mac, the Option key is frequently used to distinguish related actions: e.g. clicking on the wireless or sound icon will display one menu while option-clicking on either icon will provide another, more detailed, menu.
        eltoozero 9y ago
        Also you can force an unprompted shutdown/restart by holding option when selecting the Apple > shutdown/restart menu items. Alt/Option also toggles the “quit” on dock context menu to “force quit” without waiting for the app to go unresponsive or invoking the command-ESC force quit dialog.
    - SPBS 9y ago
      I know that at least since El Capitan there was already the 'cut and paste' built in, you just have to Cmd-Opt-V instead of Cmd-V after Cmd-C-ing a file. Slightly different paradigm but essentially the same as Ctrl-X Ctl-V in windows.
  - Benjamin_Dobell 9y ago
    I don't mind the design too much, my biggest issue is all the bugs. - Files not displaying until you navigate away from a directory and return again. - The visibly selected file not being the actual selected file. This is most obvious if you hit spacebar to preview contents and it previews the wrong file contents (typically one file above in the list). However, it can occasionally happen with copy and paste, meaning you paste the wrong file! - Crashes. I don't actually use Finder all that often, typically command line. Nonetheless, I do still experience the occasional Finder crash. However, in addition to bugs, there is one design issue that I dislike: - "Recents" being the default when you open a new window. Finder tends to come to a grinding halt unless you swap location quickly as macOS does who-knows-what trying to determine your "recents".
    - makecheck 9y ago
      Go to Preferences in the Finder and change the setting under "New Finder windows show:" to do something else (such as show your Home directory).
    - srgpqt 9y ago
      In Finder preferences, you can set the default finder view to somethng other than Recents. Anecdotally, i’ve never experienced any of the other issues in 15 years of using macOS. YMMV i guess.
      - Benjamin_Dobell 9y ago
        > In Finder preferences, you can set the default finder view to somethng other than Recents. Cheers :) > Anecdotally, i’ve never experienced any of the other issues in 15 years of using macOS. I've only got just over 10 years up my sleeve, but I suspect most of the issues I run into are because I don't exclusively use Finder. File system changes originating from other processes (typically terminal) seem to be what trips Finder up.
    - fiddlerwoaroof 9y ago
      The Command+, preferences window lets you change the default folder. I don't think I've really experienced the other things you list.
  - jeswin 9y ago
    One, a tree view to navigate the directory structure is missing in Finder. Sadly, Gnome decided to copy this as well. I can't explain well enough why the treeview is better, you'll have to use it. 1) less mouse travel for switching, 2) you can expand multiple branches simultaneously and switch back and forth easily.
    - squiggleblaz 9y ago
      I used to like winfile. Then I switched to the GNU command line, before eventually adopting ROX-Filer. ROX-Filer, now ageing, has no treeview. I do not miss it. (I'm about to tell you my experience. Not because it contradicts yours or because I believe you're wrong, but just because it's different. I'm a different person, so it's no surprise.) I have no solution to (1). It's not something that worries me. The solution to (2) is for it to be conceptually light and easy to have multiple windows open. I use "new window on button 1" and single click to open. This more-or-less does the trick. However the thing which really converted me was the shear ease of using ROX-Filer by keyboard; it gives you access to a nice command-line style interface insofar as you can navigate to the folder you want easily and you can pick the operation first, then the files (i.e. on the commandline you say "rm thisfile", but most guis require you to say "thisfile delete it". ROX-Filer lets you say press DEL and then select the file.) It also has super awesome navigation. And I think most of all, you can switch modes (i.e. between navigating and interacting with files) with the keyboard - ESC or / depending on direction. Most other file managers require you to use the mouse or the TAB to switch modes, and if it's TAB you can't predict how many times you need to press it.
    - saagarjha 9y ago
      > a tree view to navigate the directory structure is missing in Finder I'm not sure I understand. Doesn't Finder have a tree view?
      - donatj 9y ago
        It does.
      - miles 9y ago
  - gschier 9y ago
    Having to press CMD+Down to enter a folder, or not being able to cut (only copy) files. It was designed to be used via mouse for only the most basic of operations. I used Ubuntu for years and much prefer the Nautilus (not sure if they still use that) file manager.
    - derefr 9y ago
      > Having to press CMD+Down to enter a folder Personally, this has grown on me. It makes sense that Enter edits the filename, because the filename is a form field, and the Enter key seems to be assigned universally by the OSX HIG to switch the keyboard's arrow keys et al between having movement between form fields, and movement of the text caret inside a form field. Basically, consider your desktop to be an Excel spreadsheet. Would it make sense for Enter to not do what it does? It also, separately, makes sense that CMD+Down enters a folder (or, y'know, opens files/starts applications), because it's the complementary operation to CMD+Up. You go "up out of" a folder; you go "down into" a folder (or document, or application.) Nicely, unlike with Enter (which is overloaded with text-editing uses), this allows there to be a universal HIG-approved accelerator for an application's "descend" or "invoke" (or hopefully both) action. (But if that isn't a sensible justification, some people just take the stance that Enter being "edit this field"—being a system-wide universal—has priority over whatever the Finder might want to use it for, so the Finder just has to get its own accelerator. Thus, CMD+Down.) See also: CMD+[ and CMD+] as universal Back/Forward shortcuts. If they were anything else (say, if Back was mapped to Backspace), they couldn't be universal. But nothing was already using CMD+[ and CMD+], so they're free to be a universal convention. (Seriously, they work in iTunes! And in System Preferences!) > not being able to cut (only copy) files People think this functionality isn't there in the Finder, but it is! It just... has slightly different semantics than in all other apps... for some reason. From https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201236 https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201236: > Option-Command-V — Move: Move the files in the Clipboard from their original location to the current location. IOW, you don't decide whether something is a "cut" or a "copy" when starting the async-buffered-drag-and-drop-operation; you decide whether something was a "cut" or a "copy" when performing the drop part of the async-drag-and-drop-operation. (Which is similar to the synchronous drag-and-drop operations you perform with the mouse: to turn a "move" into a "copy" of a dragged file, you hold the Command key as you let go of the mouse button. You're modifying the drop event, not the drag event.)
  - beedogs 9y ago
    Finder is an abomination. The fact that it sometimes just simply stops updating the directory contents of a remote fileshare is enough to make me distrust it. It's so poorly implemented and buggy that sometimes I just open a terminal window to move files around.
  - ramijames 9y ago
    Even after a decade on macos, I find it incredibly irritating that I can't just edit the path to go to another directory. No, go to folder is not the same. For development purposes this is doubly irritating.
    - mherrmann 9y ago
      You may be interested in (my) https://fman.io https://fman.io. One of its most useful features is a Sublime Text-like GoTo command (Cmd+P) for jumping to a directory.
      - rhabarba 9y ago
        In theory, yes. In practice, its license disappointed.
        oblio 9y ago
        What’s wrong with its license?
        deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
    - eltoozero 9y ago
      You can command click on the icon in the titlebar to drill down in the path if you like that better. Also it works everywhere there are document proxy icons in the title bar. Final cool tip, you can drag and drop the tiny file/folder icon in the titlebar, it’s a proxy for the file/folder itself. Oh and that icon goes grey when the file isn’t saved and that’s also when the close button gets a dot... As long as we’re talking macOS tricks: you can enable tabbing through the UI with Command-F7 and space activates the outlined button, while enter always activates the “solid” button.
    - speby 9y ago
      I dunno... a quick Cmd-Shift-G is pretty easy & will let you edit the path however you like. And as someone else mentioned, a Cmd-Click on the title/path area of the window will let you move up the path arbitrarily.
  - eXpl0it3r 9y ago
    I'm not macOS user so it's not a surprise that whenever I have to use Finder I get stumbed quickly, however reading the full thread here, it becomes quite obvious that while Finder can do pretty much everything like any other file browser, it tends to not be very intuitive about it. You need to know all the commands on how to open a path, navigate one directory up, etc.
    - craigds 9y ago
      After 5 years of being a macos user it still hasn't grown on me. Then again, neither did Nautilus when I was a Linux user for ~8 years. For me, it's faster and easier to just use the CLI than try and figure out how these GUI file managers behave. If I need to switch to Finder after navigating somewhere for some reason, `open .` is handy.
- d99kris 9y ago
  You can probably run it through Wine. I do that with Total Commander, which is another nice file manager.
  - chrisper 9y ago
    Total Commander is not free, is it?
    - ygra 9y ago
      Far Manager is, if you're looking for a free modern NC clone.
    - mbeex 9y ago
      I was paying ~30EU (or Deutsche Mark - I don't remember) almost 20 years ago for lifetime. This software is worth a lot more.
tramtrist 9y ago
Compiled on Windows subsystem for Linux and then ran on win10... what a strange world...
- nobunnysapro 9y ago
  The best part is how WSL is installed from the UWP app store.
tramtrist 9y ago
Please port explorer as well from windowz 2000....
- einr 9y ago
  Yes please. Or actually, fuck it, just recompile Windows 2000 for AMD64, delete the Windows 10 source tree, and call it a day.
  - josteink 9y ago
    While I think Windows 2000 without a doubt was the best version of Windows available for a good while... Does anyone remember its missing WiFi-support? It’s almost non-existent USB2-support? It’s absolutely atrocious boot-times (even compared to NT4, especially compared to Windows 98)? Made even more painful by its absolute rebootey-ness after updates? There’s lots of warts here your memory is probably glossing over. I’m pretty sure if I were to ditch Win 10 now and go for a Windows reboot, I’d base it on the technologically much improved Win 7.
    - lmm 9y ago
      Don't forget the registry key that you had to set to make it not corrupt disks larger than 128gb. Why anyone thought "corrupt my disk" was a sensible default I will never know.
    - einr 9y ago
      I used Windows 2000 in a VM about a month ago so my memory is fresh. The warts are real, of course, but I was struck by how cohesive, clean and friendly it was compared to every Windows version since. It still feels like peak Windows to me. Once they merged and consumerified NT, it was all downhill from there. Windows 2000 just gets out of your way and works. It's such a refreshing feeling in 2018 using computer software that doesn't try to sell you anything or steal your data. You are right about the boot times but on a modern-ish system with an SSD, it's no big deal. And obviously, if you were to do this, you would also backport support for newer hardware like Wifi, USB2 and 3 ;) I don't miss a lot of UI things from newer Windows, either. I do like being able to hit the Windows key and start typing to find stuff. Also, being able to snap windows to the left half/right half of the screen. So the ideal Windows would be Windows 2000 with the hardware support and selected UI improvements of Windows 7 :)
factsaresacred 9y ago
A screenshot would go a long way to help sell this (think there's one in the comments here). On the topic of file managers, I'm hooked on Dopus and using anything else feels like working with one hand tied around my back. Incredible how something so seemingly unimportant can add or subtract to your productivity. Also incredible how native file managers still suck.
rhabarba 9y ago
I prefer this one to the Explorer. Even decades later. Sorry, Microsoft.
- diroussel 9y ago
  Using fileman to navigate network fileshares was always much faster than using explorere. And x10 so when the fileshare contains .xml and .docx files, as explorer tries to read them just to decide on the icon.
rhabarba 9y ago
Also, there should generally be more MDI applications. I use the Otter Browser for this one feature.
- sparkie 9y ago
  I miss old Opera (before it became a cheap Chrome variant), which had a great MDI and supported tiling and stacking of open tabs.
  - rhabarba 9y ago
    I never liked (old and new) Opera, but Otter is lovely. Still based on that Google engine though. Seems like it is "the standard" in our decade.
- monochromatic 9y ago
  MDI apps are not great with multiple monitors.
  - rhabarba 9y ago
    You can run one on each monitor, each containing multiple MDI windows. Still better than one window per monitor IMO.
  - badsectoracula 9y ago
    This isn't really any different from apps that use tabbed interfaces and the solution is the same: allow creating multiple toplevel frames.
thought_alarm 9y ago
That takes me back. In the WinNT 4.0 days my NTFS hard drive would become so heavily fragmented that it would take Explorer over a minute to display folder listing as it hunted around for file icons and other metadata. And then Explorer would randomly decide to rebuild its icon cache a freeze up for another minute. The built-in defragmenter did nothing to improve things. Our idiot IT guy said I should compile less often. I had to resort to WINFILE to do anything with the file system, at least until I convinced my boss to get me a Norton Speed Disk license. And yet when Win2K came around I refused to upgrade. It'll be too slow and buggy, I figured.
- jaclaz 9y ago
  >The built-in defragmenter did nothing to improve things. There was NO built-in defragmenter in Windows NT 4.0, it came first in Windows 2000.
  - abdulhaq 9y ago
    Jerry pournelle used to rave about the golden bow defragger
    - jaclaz 9y ago
      >Jerry pournelle used to rave about the golden bow defragger Yes, that would be (for those not familiar with the matter) Vopt, the article on Wikipedia quotes Jerry Pournelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vopt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vopt Now (since early 2016) "abandonware/free" for all: https://web.archive.org/web/20160816083906/http://www.goldenbow.com/nudownload.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20160816083906/http://www.golden...
  - Rhinobird 9y ago
    That would explain why it didn't do anything.
  - thought_alarm 9y ago
    Diskeeper Lite was what I had in mind. It didn't defrag the directories.
sundvor 9y ago
Ahhh. This is brilliant, I had forgotten how useful this was - especially the compactness. The windows sizing was a bit confused by my 3400x1440 initially, but once arranged it is very well behaved. The ability to have the one app running which contains multiple file system views that I can arrange internally is awesome. It can certainly help with the cognitive overload that sometimes is my alt tab navigation. I love this new company that Microsoft has become.
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
  > I love this new company that Microsoft has become. I'm not sure if it's sarcasm or not, but there is no "new" Microsoft. Their sole aim is to use all means to crush competition; they will embrace open source when it suits them and doesn't pose any threat. When they work on Linux, they do so to make it easier for people to run Linux instances on their proprietary cloud. They were losing bad on many fronts so some changes were inevitable, but fundamentally nothing changed at all. You can see the fundamental contempt for the user with the telemetry settings in Windows 10, with pushing upgrades to everyone, with ignoring users' settings and so on. Even something as simple as dual-booting is still problematic after so many years: even with Windows 10 you have to still install Linux after Windows. If you install Linux first, Windows will happily overwrite its boot sector. As if Linux didn't exist.
  - setquk 9y ago
    Yep. Some comments: 1. Most of the MSFT open source stuff is either trash or completely unmaintained. Only a couple of high profile projects are maintained and they jam opt-out telemetry in if you like it or not (despite hundreds of comments requesting them to go away). Even Scott Hanselman getting involved in one of our tickets got it nowhere. Same strong arming and disregard for customers. 2. Shoehorning your tech on and blurring the lines between platforms is how you keep your tentacles growing. Who the hell wants powershell and SQL Server for Linux? We just want it to work properly on windows rather than having two problem domains. 3. MSFT's marketing and blogging machine is immense now on the level of May's "strong and stable" which is covering up for reduction in QA and enterprise support while prices are climbing and entire product lines are being burned (windows phone) 4. Fingers in ears. They don't listen to customers. The only way forward is tying you into a monthly sub for everything or forcing you to use their tools or platform. Same turd, different coloured glitter.
jamesrom 9y ago
Does anyone have a screenshot they could share?
- shanselman 9y ago
  https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/983200047541006347 https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/983200047541006347
  - sundvor 9y ago
    Cheers! You can also do this: Tree => Indicate expandable folders. (Edit: Makes it easy to see what's expandable; new feature?).
- jd3 9y ago
  https://twitter.com/johndduncan/status/983204197389754368 https://twitter.com/johndduncan/status/983204197389754368 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaUK5VcWsAAyq5K.png:orig https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaUK5VcWsAAyq5K.png:orig
- devdimi 9y ago
  https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaVMXVgW0AAg5-j.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaVMXVgW0AAg5-j.jpg
tmzt 9y ago
Anybody know if Paint from 3.1 is available like this, the one with the color replacer tool?
- einr 9y ago
  No need; if you can get your hands on a copy of PBRUSH.EXE from Windows NT 3.51, it will run on modern Windows. It is functionally and cosmetically exactly the same as the Windows 3.1 Paintbrush, but compiled as a true 32-bit application.
badsectoracula 9y ago
I made a quick build: https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png It is neat and i like how it remembers the sizing and open folders, but it really shows how much Microsoft has neglected Win32 and MDI in particular: the theme is still the same used 12 years ago in Vista and while i am not a fan of the Win8 nor the Win10 theme (my favorite theme is the classic theme), the inconsistency sticks out like a sore thumb. And of course beyond the lack of a visual update (that would take perhaps 1 hour to fix), there are visual glitches like this one: https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png (notice the black corners on the window at the right - ironically they happen because of the non-rectangular shape of the titlebar, which would not be the case if the Windows 8 or 10 themes were used since those are rectangular). And i suppose at this point it doesn't make much sense to mention missing features, like double clicking the top edge to maximize a window :-P. Which sucks because i always liked MDI applications. I know that some studies or whatever have shown that novices often get confused, but personally i find the idea of having a "group" of windows inside the application that manage them to make more sense - especially for visual stuff, like image editors where i can open two views of the same document in different zoom levels. And i also find being able to move and resize the subwindows in any way i want (not limited to splits and such which i find more annoying and a waste of space than helpful). Having said that i always always disliked, from the first day i saw it, the visual change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to make minimized windows look like tiny titlebars (they were called buttons but there is nothing button-y about how they ever looked in any version of Windows from 95 to today) instead of icons. mIRC adding a taskbar-like panel was a much better idea (you could say that novices would again be confused, but from what i remember from the late 90s and early 2000s, that didn't stop people from using mIRC :-P), but just sticking with icons would be fine too (i think icons inside the MDI area were supposed to be used for something else that i don't remember now, but i do not think any program ever used that). EDIT: added a tiny feature to search multiple wildcards separated by semicolons :-) - https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png The code style is kinda weird though (3 spaces for each indentation level?) and seems that several comments are out of date :-P.
- blattimwind 9y ago
  The Win95 styling of the toolbar and some other oldie-looks are likely due to a missing application manifest, not because Win32 doesn't support the newer visual styles.
Jaruzel 9y ago
For a long time there was a copy of this floating around called 'WinFileNT', I don't know where I got it, or if it was legit or not. It is still able to run on Window 10 I think. A while ago I installed FreeCommander[1] which basically a WinFile clone. It's good, but I found my self not really using it, as side by side Explorer windows basically do the same job. EDIT: Aha. It was File Manager for NT -> http://www.mdgx.com/xptoy.htm#FMNT http://www.mdgx.com/xptoy.htm#FMNT -- [1] http://freecommander.com/ http://freecommander.com/
saiya-jin 9y ago
I have yet to see an file manager on any OS that would ever come near Total commander. 2-pane approach is SO fast and effective, tabbing is there for maybe 15 years. Plus by one of the best visual 2 text files comparison tool, really powerful file system search (goes also into archives recursively), good multi-rename tool and tons more. You know, all filesystem tools you need in 1 program. Every time I look at people using Win file manager or similar things on other OSes my eyes bleed how clunky it is and slow people using it are (and I am normally very patient person). It is paid, but one of best investments into software. Or keep having one extra click on the button during startup (which is against shareware license though). Unfortunately, all alternatives/clones are light years behind.
chrisper 9y ago
There is a "bug" that calling "winfile.exe C:\" will open Windows Explorer.
jackson1way 9y ago
I have been looking for a Windows Explorer replacement since Windows 95 and only found what I want 2 years ago: XYplorer (https://www.xyplorer.com https://www.xyplorer.com) It's not free, but worth every penny. I have looked for a free replacement for years and always ignored it, which was a mistake. XYplorer is very well maintained, 0% CPU cost, 1% RAM cost, highly-configurable, has very nice features. Someone really put some thoughts into the UI and UX. I really like the Ghost filter. Ctrl+P is great. Oh and it remembers all opened tree views after restart, so your workspace is exactly the same after a reboot.
m-p-3 9y ago
Screenshot I've taken, since there's none on the GitHub page https://i.imgur.com/F9DtASh.png https://i.imgur.com/F9DtASh.png
- sixothree 9y ago
  This is what I don't quite understand about the github atmosphere. How is it considered perfectly normal to introduce an application "...with enhancements" and not include a screenshot.
  - organsnyder 9y ago
    I think it's mainly a tooling issue—readme files are repo "homepages" by default, there isn't an easy way to inline an image in Markdown (nor should you want to), and people don't want to pollute a repo with binaries.
    - sixothree 9y ago
      This is why I am disappointed GitHub has become the defacto standard. It's not clear what this is or even why this exists. And that seems to be the case with the vast majority of projects on the site.
      - jimwalsh 9y ago
        So you want a better readme on most projects?
        sixothree 9y ago
        I think the readmd is the problem. There is something about the github itself, or the culture around it is the issue, since the problem seems so pervasive. I would prefer the site fosters better project information. Compare github project pages to what you would find at the now defunct codeplex. The difference was night and day.
      - 9y ago
gwbas1c 9y ago
Screenshots would be cool!
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
reiichiroh 9y ago
I remember how I still preferred managing files in Norton Commander in DOS instead of Windows at the time.
- aidenn0 9y ago
  Norton Commander had rabid fans all the way into this century.
  - cJ0th 9y ago
    to be fair, I am use midnight commander these days ;)
deadmetheny 9y ago
Now all we need is a port of progman.exe that's compatible with newer versions of Windows.
dole 9y ago
Q-Dir's my explorer replacement of choice: up to 4 (tabbed) explorer windows, configurable layout, tons of features under the hood, unicode support, portable, small, free to use. For some reason I could never stick with Norton/Total Commander.

247 points by chungy 9y ago

cowmix 9y ago

I can't believe I'm saying this... but someone please port this to MacOS. Finder is still a hot mess.

ygra 9y ago
Does Wine run on OS X? Because I guess a straight port would actually have to be a rewrite.
- comex 9y ago
  Yes.
willio58 9y ago
Out of pure curiosity, what about finder is a mess to people these days? I feel like I can move around it smoothly and I use it many times daily. Adding some services like opening a file/folder in terminal has also helped me a lot.
- lev99 9y ago
  How can I quickly open a directory in Finder? If, for example I want to go to ~/source or ~/pem what is the quickest way to do this? I've used macOS for about 2 years now, and I never found a method to do this that is intuitive. Windows Find has a large directory bar at the top where a user can go to any directory by just typing it.
  - akandiah 9y ago
    Hit Command+Shift+G and it will pop up with a dialog box requesting the path.
  - zf00002 9y ago
    cmd+space, type in folder path.
    - saagarjha 9y ago
      This opens Spotlight, though, instead of just using Finder.
      - donatj 9y ago
        And? Parts of the OS should work together, not be islands
        saagarjha 9y ago
        Yes, but if I was in Finder I'd expect to stay in Finder to perform a file-related operation…
    - nsxwolf 9y ago
      This should not be downvoted. This actually works pretty well.
  - simscitizen 9y ago
    Cmd+Shift+G to bring up a go to location sheet.
  - mikeplaysgames 9y ago
    I think you're looking for Shift-Command-G. Here's a list of other useful shortcuts for Finder and other contexts. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236#finder https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236#finder
  - salgernon 9y ago
    cmd-shift-g => ~/source/ This also works in application file dialogs. Personally, I've always preferred the Mac OS <= 9 Finder. I don't care for applications that have a web-browser-esque back-arrow to get to some presumed previous context. I'd much rather have multiple windows viewing the same content. (In Xcode, for instance, I loathe the default "one window to rule them all" behavior and I end up using CMD-shift-O and typing there name of the file I want to open - even if it was one that I know is already opened recently. Back arrow takes me to "some content" - but I have to look carefully to know what that content was. But if I'm able to place two windows side by side, I can easily cmd-twiddle between them and know which is which based on its location on my screen.) All that being said, I do everything from Terminal anyway. (where you can type 'open ~/Documents/' to jump to that location in the Finder.)
  - pletnes 9y ago
    If you’re in the terminal, just use «open /what/ever». Open = doubleclick, works for files, too.
    - majewsky 9y ago
      Note that "open" is Mac-specific. On Linux (and possibly BSD), one can use "xdg-open" to the same effect.
  - geraldcombs 9y ago
    Along with the other suggested methods you can type type `open ~/source` or `open ~/pem` from the command line. I use it all the time to open /tmp in Finder.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 9y ago
    In addition to cmd-shift-g, cmd-shift-h will open a new finder window in your home directory from the desktop and will change the current directory of any finder window or file dialog to your home directory.
    - eltoozero 9y ago
      Shift-Cmd-A: Applications Shift-Cmd-H: Home Shift-Cmd-U: Utilities Shift-Cmd-C: Computer
- akandiah 9y ago
  No functionality to cut and paste for one... Adding extensions (for example installing XtraFinder) has become a pain due to the new security features that need to be turned off.
  - wumms 9y ago
    Instead of cut & paste you can copy (command+c) & move (command+option+v).
    - fiddlerwoaroof 9y ago
      Interesting, I thought I remembered something about this, but I always forgot the details. It's worth mentioning that you can discover a lot of these details by opening the edit menu, pressing the option key and seeing how the menu items change. On the Mac, the Option key is frequently used to distinguish related actions: e.g. clicking on the wireless or sound icon will display one menu while option-clicking on either icon will provide another, more detailed, menu.
      - eltoozero 9y ago
        Also you can force an unprompted shutdown/restart by holding option when selecting the Apple > shutdown/restart menu items. Alt/Option also toggles the “quit” on dock context menu to “force quit” without waiting for the app to go unresponsive or invoking the command-ESC force quit dialog.
  - SPBS 9y ago
    I know that at least since El Capitan there was already the 'cut and paste' built in, you just have to Cmd-Opt-V instead of Cmd-V after Cmd-C-ing a file. Slightly different paradigm but essentially the same as Ctrl-X Ctl-V in windows.
- Benjamin_Dobell 9y ago
  I don't mind the design too much, my biggest issue is all the bugs. - Files not displaying until you navigate away from a directory and return again. - The visibly selected file not being the actual selected file. This is most obvious if you hit spacebar to preview contents and it previews the wrong file contents (typically one file above in the list). However, it can occasionally happen with copy and paste, meaning you paste the wrong file! - Crashes. I don't actually use Finder all that often, typically command line. Nonetheless, I do still experience the occasional Finder crash. However, in addition to bugs, there is one design issue that I dislike: - "Recents" being the default when you open a new window. Finder tends to come to a grinding halt unless you swap location quickly as macOS does who-knows-what trying to determine your "recents".
  - makecheck 9y ago
    Go to Preferences in the Finder and change the setting under "New Finder windows show:" to do something else (such as show your Home directory).
  - srgpqt 9y ago
    In Finder preferences, you can set the default finder view to somethng other than Recents. Anecdotally, i’ve never experienced any of the other issues in 15 years of using macOS. YMMV i guess.
    - Benjamin_Dobell 9y ago
      > In Finder preferences, you can set the default finder view to somethng other than Recents. Cheers :) > Anecdotally, i’ve never experienced any of the other issues in 15 years of using macOS. I've only got just over 10 years up my sleeve, but I suspect most of the issues I run into are because I don't exclusively use Finder. File system changes originating from other processes (typically terminal) seem to be what trips Finder up.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 9y ago
    The Command+, preferences window lets you change the default folder. I don't think I've really experienced the other things you list.
- jeswin 9y ago
  One, a tree view to navigate the directory structure is missing in Finder. Sadly, Gnome decided to copy this as well. I can't explain well enough why the treeview is better, you'll have to use it. 1) less mouse travel for switching, 2) you can expand multiple branches simultaneously and switch back and forth easily.
  - squiggleblaz 9y ago
    I used to like winfile. Then I switched to the GNU command line, before eventually adopting ROX-Filer. ROX-Filer, now ageing, has no treeview. I do not miss it. (I'm about to tell you my experience. Not because it contradicts yours or because I believe you're wrong, but just because it's different. I'm a different person, so it's no surprise.) I have no solution to (1). It's not something that worries me. The solution to (2) is for it to be conceptually light and easy to have multiple windows open. I use "new window on button 1" and single click to open. This more-or-less does the trick. However the thing which really converted me was the shear ease of using ROX-Filer by keyboard; it gives you access to a nice command-line style interface insofar as you can navigate to the folder you want easily and you can pick the operation first, then the files (i.e. on the commandline you say "rm thisfile", but most guis require you to say "thisfile delete it". ROX-Filer lets you say press DEL and then select the file.) It also has super awesome navigation. And I think most of all, you can switch modes (i.e. between navigating and interacting with files) with the keyboard - ESC or / depending on direction. Most other file managers require you to use the mouse or the TAB to switch modes, and if it's TAB you can't predict how many times you need to press it.
  - saagarjha 9y ago
    > a tree view to navigate the directory structure is missing in Finder I'm not sure I understand. Doesn't Finder have a tree view?
    - donatj 9y ago
      It does.
    - miles 9y ago
- gschier 9y ago
  Having to press CMD+Down to enter a folder, or not being able to cut (only copy) files. It was designed to be used via mouse for only the most basic of operations. I used Ubuntu for years and much prefer the Nautilus (not sure if they still use that) file manager.
  - derefr 9y ago
    > Having to press CMD+Down to enter a folder Personally, this has grown on me. It makes sense that Enter edits the filename, because the filename is a form field, and the Enter key seems to be assigned universally by the OSX HIG to switch the keyboard's arrow keys et al between having movement between form fields, and movement of the text caret inside a form field. Basically, consider your desktop to be an Excel spreadsheet. Would it make sense for Enter to not do what it does? It also, separately, makes sense that CMD+Down enters a folder (or, y'know, opens files/starts applications), because it's the complementary operation to CMD+Up. You go "up out of" a folder; you go "down into" a folder (or document, or application.) Nicely, unlike with Enter (which is overloaded with text-editing uses), this allows there to be a universal HIG-approved accelerator for an application's "descend" or "invoke" (or hopefully both) action. (But if that isn't a sensible justification, some people just take the stance that Enter being "edit this field"—being a system-wide universal—has priority over whatever the Finder might want to use it for, so the Finder just has to get its own accelerator. Thus, CMD+Down.) See also: CMD+[ and CMD+] as universal Back/Forward shortcuts. If they were anything else (say, if Back was mapped to Backspace), they couldn't be universal. But nothing was already using CMD+[ and CMD+], so they're free to be a universal convention. (Seriously, they work in iTunes! And in System Preferences!) > not being able to cut (only copy) files People think this functionality isn't there in the Finder, but it is! It just... has slightly different semantics than in all other apps... for some reason. From https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201236 https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201236: > Option-Command-V — Move: Move the files in the Clipboard from their original location to the current location. IOW, you don't decide whether something is a "cut" or a "copy" when starting the async-buffered-drag-and-drop-operation; you decide whether something was a "cut" or a "copy" when performing the drop part of the async-drag-and-drop-operation. (Which is similar to the synchronous drag-and-drop operations you perform with the mouse: to turn a "move" into a "copy" of a dragged file, you hold the Command key as you let go of the mouse button. You're modifying the drop event, not the drag event.)
- beedogs 9y ago
  Finder is an abomination. The fact that it sometimes just simply stops updating the directory contents of a remote fileshare is enough to make me distrust it. It's so poorly implemented and buggy that sometimes I just open a terminal window to move files around.
- ramijames 9y ago
  Even after a decade on macos, I find it incredibly irritating that I can't just edit the path to go to another directory. No, go to folder is not the same. For development purposes this is doubly irritating.
  - mherrmann 9y ago
    You may be interested in (my) https://fman.io https://fman.io. One of its most useful features is a Sublime Text-like GoTo command (Cmd+P) for jumping to a directory.
    - rhabarba 9y ago
      In theory, yes. In practice, its license disappointed.
      - oblio 9y ago
        What’s wrong with its license?
        deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - eltoozero 9y ago
    You can command click on the icon in the titlebar to drill down in the path if you like that better. Also it works everywhere there are document proxy icons in the title bar. Final cool tip, you can drag and drop the tiny file/folder icon in the titlebar, it’s a proxy for the file/folder itself. Oh and that icon goes grey when the file isn’t saved and that’s also when the close button gets a dot... As long as we’re talking macOS tricks: you can enable tabbing through the UI with Command-F7 and space activates the outlined button, while enter always activates the “solid” button.
  - speby 9y ago
    I dunno... a quick Cmd-Shift-G is pretty easy & will let you edit the path however you like. And as someone else mentioned, a Cmd-Click on the title/path area of the window will let you move up the path arbitrarily.
- eXpl0it3r 9y ago
  I'm not macOS user so it's not a surprise that whenever I have to use Finder I get stumbed quickly, however reading the full thread here, it becomes quite obvious that while Finder can do pretty much everything like any other file browser, it tends to not be very intuitive about it. You need to know all the commands on how to open a path, navigate one directory up, etc.
  - craigds 9y ago
    After 5 years of being a macos user it still hasn't grown on me. Then again, neither did Nautilus when I was a Linux user for ~8 years. For me, it's faster and easier to just use the CLI than try and figure out how these GUI file managers behave. If I need to switch to Finder after navigating somewhere for some reason, `open .` is handy.
d99kris 9y ago
You can probably run it through Wine. I do that with Total Commander, which is another nice file manager.
- chrisper 9y ago
  Total Commander is not free, is it?
  - ygra 9y ago
    Far Manager is, if you're looking for a free modern NC clone.
  - mbeex 9y ago
    I was paying ~30EU (or Deutsche Mark - I don't remember) almost 20 years ago for lifetime. This software is worth a lot more.

tramtrist 9y ago

Compiled on Windows subsystem for Linux and then ran on win10... what a strange world...

nobunnysapro 9y ago
The best part is how WSL is installed from the UWP app store.

tramtrist 9y ago

Please port explorer as well from windowz 2000....

einr 9y ago
Yes please. Or actually, fuck it, just recompile Windows 2000 for AMD64, delete the Windows 10 source tree, and call it a day.
- josteink 9y ago
  While I think Windows 2000 without a doubt was the best version of Windows available for a good while... Does anyone remember its missing WiFi-support? It’s almost non-existent USB2-support? It’s absolutely atrocious boot-times (even compared to NT4, especially compared to Windows 98)? Made even more painful by its absolute rebootey-ness after updates? There’s lots of warts here your memory is probably glossing over. I’m pretty sure if I were to ditch Win 10 now and go for a Windows reboot, I’d base it on the technologically much improved Win 7.
  - lmm 9y ago
    Don't forget the registry key that you had to set to make it not corrupt disks larger than 128gb. Why anyone thought "corrupt my disk" was a sensible default I will never know.
  - einr 9y ago
    I used Windows 2000 in a VM about a month ago so my memory is fresh. The warts are real, of course, but I was struck by how cohesive, clean and friendly it was compared to every Windows version since. It still feels like peak Windows to me. Once they merged and consumerified NT, it was all downhill from there. Windows 2000 just gets out of your way and works. It's such a refreshing feeling in 2018 using computer software that doesn't try to sell you anything or steal your data. You are right about the boot times but on a modern-ish system with an SSD, it's no big deal. And obviously, if you were to do this, you would also backport support for newer hardware like Wifi, USB2 and 3 ;) I don't miss a lot of UI things from newer Windows, either. I do like being able to hit the Windows key and start typing to find stuff. Also, being able to snap windows to the left half/right half of the screen. So the ideal Windows would be Windows 2000 with the hardware support and selected UI improvements of Windows 7 :)

factsaresacred 9y ago

A screenshot would go a long way to help sell this (think there's one in the comments here). On the topic of file managers, I'm hooked on Dopus and using anything else feels like working with one hand tied around my back. Incredible how something so seemingly unimportant can add or subtract to your productivity. Also incredible how native file managers still suck.

rhabarba 9y ago

I prefer this one to the Explorer. Even decades later. Sorry, Microsoft.

diroussel 9y ago
Using fileman to navigate network fileshares was always much faster than using explorere. And x10 so when the fileshare contains .xml and .docx files, as explorer tries to read them just to decide on the icon.

rhabarba 9y ago

Also, there should generally be more MDI applications. I use the Otter Browser for this one feature.

sparkie 9y ago
I miss old Opera (before it became a cheap Chrome variant), which had a great MDI and supported tiling and stacking of open tabs.
- rhabarba 9y ago
  I never liked (old and new) Opera, but Otter is lovely. Still based on that Google engine though. Seems like it is "the standard" in our decade.
monochromatic 9y ago
MDI apps are not great with multiple monitors.
- rhabarba 9y ago
  You can run one on each monitor, each containing multiple MDI windows. Still better than one window per monitor IMO.
- badsectoracula 9y ago
  This isn't really any different from apps that use tabbed interfaces and the solution is the same: allow creating multiple toplevel frames.

thought_alarm 9y ago

That takes me back. In the WinNT 4.0 days my NTFS hard drive would become so heavily fragmented that it would take Explorer over a minute to display folder listing as it hunted around for file icons and other metadata. And then Explorer would randomly decide to rebuild its icon cache a freeze up for another minute. The built-in defragmenter did nothing to improve things. Our idiot IT guy said I should compile less often. I had to resort to WINFILE to do anything with the file system, at least until I convinced my boss to get me a Norton Speed Disk license. And yet when Win2K came around I refused to upgrade. It'll be too slow and buggy, I figured.

jaclaz 9y ago
>The built-in defragmenter did nothing to improve things. There was NO built-in defragmenter in Windows NT 4.0, it came first in Windows 2000.
- abdulhaq 9y ago
  Jerry pournelle used to rave about the golden bow defragger
  - jaclaz 9y ago
    >Jerry pournelle used to rave about the golden bow defragger Yes, that would be (for those not familiar with the matter) Vopt, the article on Wikipedia quotes Jerry Pournelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vopt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vopt Now (since early 2016) "abandonware/free" for all: https://web.archive.org/web/20160816083906/http://www.goldenbow.com/nudownload.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20160816083906/http://www.golden...
- Rhinobird 9y ago
  That would explain why it didn't do anything.
- thought_alarm 9y ago
  Diskeeper Lite was what I had in mind. It didn't defrag the directories.

sundvor 9y ago

Ahhh. This is brilliant, I had forgotten how useful this was - especially the compactness. The windows sizing was a bit confused by my 3400x1440 initially, but once arranged it is very well behaved. The ability to have the one app running which contains multiple file system views that I can arrange internally is awesome. It can certainly help with the cognitive overload that sometimes is my alt tab navigation. I love this new company that Microsoft has become.

dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
> I love this new company that Microsoft has become. I'm not sure if it's sarcasm or not, but there is no "new" Microsoft. Their sole aim is to use all means to crush competition; they will embrace open source when it suits them and doesn't pose any threat. When they work on Linux, they do so to make it easier for people to run Linux instances on their proprietary cloud. They were losing bad on many fronts so some changes were inevitable, but fundamentally nothing changed at all. You can see the fundamental contempt for the user with the telemetry settings in Windows 10, with pushing upgrades to everyone, with ignoring users' settings and so on. Even something as simple as dual-booting is still problematic after so many years: even with Windows 10 you have to still install Linux after Windows. If you install Linux first, Windows will happily overwrite its boot sector. As if Linux didn't exist.
- setquk 9y ago
  Yep. Some comments: 1. Most of the MSFT open source stuff is either trash or completely unmaintained. Only a couple of high profile projects are maintained and they jam opt-out telemetry in if you like it or not (despite hundreds of comments requesting them to go away). Even Scott Hanselman getting involved in one of our tickets got it nowhere. Same strong arming and disregard for customers. 2. Shoehorning your tech on and blurring the lines between platforms is how you keep your tentacles growing. Who the hell wants powershell and SQL Server for Linux? We just want it to work properly on windows rather than having two problem domains. 3. MSFT's marketing and blogging machine is immense now on the level of May's "strong and stable" which is covering up for reduction in QA and enterprise support while prices are climbing and entire product lines are being burned (windows phone) 4. Fingers in ears. They don't listen to customers. The only way forward is tying you into a monthly sub for everything or forcing you to use their tools or platform. Same turd, different coloured glitter.

jamesrom 9y ago

Does anyone have a screenshot they could share?

shanselman 9y ago
https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/983200047541006347 https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/983200047541006347
- sundvor 9y ago
  Cheers! You can also do this: Tree => Indicate expandable folders. (Edit: Makes it easy to see what's expandable; new feature?).
jd3 9y ago
https://twitter.com/johndduncan/status/983204197389754368 https://twitter.com/johndduncan/status/983204197389754368 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaUK5VcWsAAyq5K.png:orig https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaUK5VcWsAAyq5K.png:orig
devdimi 9y ago
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaVMXVgW0AAg5-j.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaVMXVgW0AAg5-j.jpg

tmzt 9y ago

Anybody know if Paint from 3.1 is available like this, the one with the color replacer tool?

einr 9y ago
No need; if you can get your hands on a copy of PBRUSH.EXE from Windows NT 3.51, it will run on modern Windows. It is functionally and cosmetically exactly the same as the Windows 3.1 Paintbrush, but compiled as a true 32-bit application.

badsectoracula 9y ago

I made a quick build: https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png It is neat and i like how it remembers the sizing and open folders, but it really shows how much Microsoft has neglected Win32 and MDI in particular: the theme is still the same used 12 years ago in Vista and while i am not a fan of the Win8 nor the Win10 theme (my favorite theme is the classic theme), the inconsistency sticks out like a sore thumb. And of course beyond the lack of a visual update (that would take perhaps 1 hour to fix), there are visual glitches like this one: https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png (notice the black corners on the window at the right - ironically they happen because of the non-rectangular shape of the titlebar, which would not be the case if the Windows 8 or 10 themes were used since those are rectangular). And i suppose at this point it doesn't make much sense to mention missing features, like double clicking the top edge to maximize a window :-P. Which sucks because i always liked MDI applications. I know that some studies or whatever have shown that novices often get confused, but personally i find the idea of having a "group" of windows inside the application that manage them to make more sense - especially for visual stuff, like image editors where i can open two views of the same document in different zoom levels. And i also find being able to move and resize the subwindows in any way i want (not limited to splits and such which i find more annoying and a waste of space than helpful). Having said that i always always disliked, from the first day i saw it, the visual change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to make minimized windows look like tiny titlebars (they were called buttons but there is nothing button-y about how they ever looked in any version of Windows from 95 to today) instead of icons. mIRC adding a taskbar-like panel was a much better idea (you could say that novices would again be confused, but from what i remember from the late 90s and early 2000s, that didn't stop people from using mIRC :-P), but just sticking with icons would be fine too (i think icons inside the MDI area were supposed to be used for something else that i don't remember now, but i do not think any program ever used that). EDIT: added a tiny feature to search multiple wildcards separated by semicolons :-) - https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png The code style is kinda weird though (3 spaces for each indentation level?) and seems that several comments are out of date :-P.

blattimwind 9y ago
The Win95 styling of the toolbar and some other oldie-looks are likely due to a missing application manifest, not because Win32 doesn't support the newer visual styles.

Jaruzel 9y ago

For a long time there was a copy of this floating around called 'WinFileNT', I don't know where I got it, or if it was legit or not. It is still able to run on Window 10 I think. A while ago I installed FreeCommander[1] which basically a WinFile clone. It's good, but I found my self not really using it, as side by side Explorer windows basically do the same job. EDIT: Aha. It was File Manager for NT -> http://www.mdgx.com/xptoy.htm#FMNT http://www.mdgx.com/xptoy.htm#FMNT -- [1] http://freecommander.com/ http://freecommander.com/

saiya-jin 9y ago

I have yet to see an file manager on any OS that would ever come near Total commander. 2-pane approach is SO fast and effective, tabbing is there for maybe 15 years. Plus by one of the best visual 2 text files comparison tool, really powerful file system search (goes also into archives recursively), good multi-rename tool and tons more. You know, all filesystem tools you need in 1 program. Every time I look at people using Win file manager or similar things on other OSes my eyes bleed how clunky it is and slow people using it are (and I am normally very patient person). It is paid, but one of best investments into software. Or keep having one extra click on the button during startup (which is against shareware license though). Unfortunately, all alternatives/clones are light years behind.

chrisper 9y ago

There is a "bug" that calling "winfile.exe C:\" will open Windows Explorer.

jackson1way 9y ago

I have been looking for a Windows Explorer replacement since Windows 95 and only found what I want 2 years ago: XYplorer (https://www.xyplorer.com https://www.xyplorer.com) It's not free, but worth every penny. I have looked for a free replacement for years and always ignored it, which was a mistake. XYplorer is very well maintained, 0% CPU cost, 1% RAM cost, highly-configurable, has very nice features. Someone really put some thoughts into the UI and UX. I really like the Ghost filter. Ctrl+P is great. Oh and it remembers all opened tree views after restart, so your workspace is exactly the same after a reboot.

m-p-3 9y ago

Screenshot I've taken, since there's none on the GitHub page https://i.imgur.com/F9DtASh.png https://i.imgur.com/F9DtASh.png

sixothree 9y ago
This is what I don't quite understand about the github atmosphere. How is it considered perfectly normal to introduce an application "...with enhancements" and not include a screenshot.
- organsnyder 9y ago
  I think it's mainly a tooling issue—readme files are repo "homepages" by default, there isn't an easy way to inline an image in Markdown (nor should you want to), and people don't want to pollute a repo with binaries.
  - sixothree 9y ago
    This is why I am disappointed GitHub has become the defacto standard. It's not clear what this is or even why this exists. And that seems to be the case with the vast majority of projects on the site.
    - jimwalsh 9y ago
      So you want a better readme on most projects?
      - sixothree 9y ago
        I think the readmd is the problem. There is something about the github itself, or the culture around it is the issue, since the problem seems so pervasive. I would prefer the site fosters better project information. Compare github project pages to what you would find at the now defunct codeplex. The difference was night and day.
    - 9y ago

gwbas1c 9y ago

Screenshots would be cool!

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

reiichiroh 9y ago

I remember how I still preferred managing files in Norton Commander in DOS instead of Windows at the time.

aidenn0 9y ago
Norton Commander had rabid fans all the way into this century.
- cJ0th 9y ago
  to be fair, I am use midnight commander these days ;)

deadmetheny 9y ago

Now all we need is a port of progman.exe that's compatible with newer versions of Windows.

dole 9y ago

Q-Dir's my explorer replacement of choice: up to 4 (tabbed) explorer windows, configurable layout, tons of features under the hood, unicode support, portable, small, free to use. For some reason I could never stick with Norton/Total Commander.