Tabs are just better
Tabs in a File Manager are awesome – who knew? I fell in love with Firefox for tabbed browsing a long time ago (gushingly so) but never felt any need for a better File Manager. Until some time back that is, when a Lifehacker article got me to try out some alternative File managers. It’s true – once you have tabs in an application, you can never go back.
The number of alternative File Managers for Windows is just staggering. Here’s a sample list:
1. Xplorer 2
Several of these programs usually offer more features in a “Pro” version.
I personally went with Directory Opus – it was the only program I found that closely matched the default Windows Explorer interface I’m comfortable with ((namely, drive “groups”, control panel under the My Computer link etc )) but with plenty of power features (rename and copy in one click – sweet!)
File Manager replacements seem to be highly individualistic (Mark Pilgrim’s post about Window Managers rings true here) so trying each one out for a little while is the only way to decide. Virtualization software like Sandboxie is really helpful here.
Eventually, one of these Explorer replacements will feel just right. And just like every other great innovation, you are going to wonder how you ever lived without it.