Of Masters and Commanders

Life and freeware beyond Windows Explorer.

“To wives and sweethearts. May they never meet!” quips Captain Jack Aubrey during the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Nothing to do with wives and sweethearts, this is the story of a gutsy British frigate, the HMS Surprise and its combat with a French warship. Amazing cinematography, riveting performances (not just from Russel Crowe), soul stirring music, and an enthralling storyline with many twists in the tale. I’ve seen it several times. So should you.

And it is high time you graduated to becoming the total master and commander of your little PC’s file management system. Thing is, we have become so accustomed and dependent on that creaky, stodgy, podgy Windows Explorer for all and sundry file management tasks that we can’t seem to think beyond it. Anything above and beyond WE? Baah, quite impossible! Is there? Aye, aye captain! And it doesn’t require any courage to sail into the unknown. Just follow my wake and make these itsy-bitsy downloads…

A43
A43 is a zippy little freeware file management utility that offers a dual-pane views for quick-gun-Murgun file management, a speedy file finder, a rapid proggie launcher, and favorite buttons to fast-open oft used folders. It features an integrated text editor which can cope with files of unlimited sizes and has in-built zip/unzip features that can create self-extracting zip archives and be deployed both via drag-n-drop files, or click-to-open. A43 requires no installation so you can nip it on a pen drive and take it where ever you go. The program’s config info is stored in a local .ini file, no data is written to the system registry and it nibbles approximately 18 megs of RAM when in use—and 2-3 MB when idling.
OS: Windows XP, 2000
www.primitus.us/a43

CubicExplorer
This is an easy-to-use file manager-cum-browser that is powerful enough to handle multiple directories at the same time. Though a tad lean on meat, it has the basic ingredients in place: Tabbed browsing, a built-in text editor, bookmarks, file search, file quick viewing and thumbnails, free disk space info, and recycle bin control. And ah, it also support for multiple languages. A good tool for those who need something better then Windows Explorer to manipulate files, without the baggage of wading through a complicated and exhaustive feature set. Brawn hungry honchos may wanna look elsewhere. Else hang loose for the next release because yon lad has solid potential.
OS: Windows XP, NT, 2000, ME, 98, 95
www.cubicreality.com/ce/download

ExplorerXP
Despite the advantage of tabs, this drag and drop file manager is very Explorer-like in its work and feel. At just over 400 KB it is compact; and works fast. And unlike WE, it allows multiple folders browsing, offers file merge/split facilities, bristles with a single step multi-file rename tool, shows individual folder sizes, and boasts configurable keyboard shortcuts. In addition, it features advanced copy/move functionality, provides easy access to My Computer, Recycle Bin, My Documents and the Desktop, covers Unicode support and does USB devices. Good step up guys.
OS: Windows XP, 2000
www.explorerxp.com/index.html#download

freeCommander
FC reminds me of my Norton Commander on DOS days and is my personal fav. Here’s why: It is very user-friendly, has customisable dual-panel (horizontal and vertical) with optional tree views; built in file viewer to view files in hex, binary, text or image format; built-in archive handling for ZIP (read, write), CAB (read, write), RAR (read); nested archive handling, searching and viewing; and easy access to Control Panel, system folders, Desktop and Start menu. In addition to the de rigor file and folder copy-move-delete-rename file routines, you can “wipe” files, filter files, select files in either Windows or Norton Commander style, split files, modify file dates/attributes, compare and sync folders, calculate folder sizes, peg folder/program favorites, define columns for detailed view, abuse the DOS command line, connect to a network drive, get multiple language support… and more.
OS: Windows XP, 2000, NT, ME, 98, 95
www.freecommander.com/fc_downl_en.htm

XPlorer
Another quick loading, fast paced, small-footprint, multi-tabbed offering. Very Windows Explorer. But much better. Multiple tabs means that you can have a lots of locations opened at the same time for easy file management. There are loads of keyboard shortcuts--for virtually all commands making it a very snappy affair to use once you get the hang of it. It has an internal file viewer and editor, file toucher, splitter-joiner, wild card file selections, file filters and command prompt. In terms of memory, it takes up 16 MB of RAM and one meg of disk space (so again a highly-portable tool to carry along). Screen refreshes are a bit of an issue. But it has got the proteins for a definite looksee.
OS: Windows XP, 2003 2000, NT, ME, 98, 95
http://guti.webcindario.com/static.php?page=XPlorer