Replace Window’s File Explorer with a more powerful alternative to make managing folders and files much easier.
The best file managers provide a faster, more convenient way to transfer files on your PC than the software already bundled with it. Windows has changed dramatically over the last few years, but File Explorer (formerly known as Windows Explorer) has remained largely untouched and, frankly, it could be improved upon. Transferring files and folders between locations is a cumbersome process that often involves opening two Explorer windows and dragging icons between them. Once you’ve started transferring a big chunk of files, there’s no way to pause and restart the process, you can’t create a new folder without digging into a menu, and forget batch renaming – it’s not happening. This can be especially problematical in the modern age of document management and online storage, when handling multiple files across multiple accounts needs to be managed much more simply and easily. Here we’ve rounded up the best alternatives to Explorer, which will make managing your files faster, easier and more intuitive. Most of these third party file managers can be set to replace Explorer as your default app, though we recommend testing them thoroughly first. We’ve also featured: Total Commander (formerly File Commander) has been around for 25 years, and its developer lives by the maxim ‚if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it‘. It’s not flashy and uses a classic design with two vertical panels, but each update introduces modern additions like support for cloud storage services and native Windows 10 features. Total Commander is a great choice for transferring large volumes of files thanks to its background process manager, which lets you check progress, pause and resume transfers, and set a speed limit. Its interface is uncluttered for fast navigation, it offers customizable keyboard shortcuts, and there’s a built-in file archiving tool for creating and extracting archives in all the most common formats. Total Commander is also expandable via plugins. Optional features include the ability to sort images by size, search for text strings within PDFs, and edit music metadata without opening any other applications. Total Commander is distributed as shareware; you can try it free and share the EXE file with others, but after 30 days you’re prompted to buy a license for €37 (about US$45, £30, AU$55).
