XYplorer Pro is a professional file manager for the Windows operating system that can be used in addition or as a replacement for Windows Explorer. A limited Home version is also available that retails for about half the price of the Pro version. Both versions come with free lifetime updates, and are offered as a portable and installed version.

Windows Explorer users should feel right at home when they start the program for the first time. The traditional two-paned interface displays folders on the left and the contents of the selected folder on the right. Unlike in Windows Explorer though, it is possible to customize the interface significantly to display more or less data on the screen.

A tap on F10 or a click on the Dual Pane button in the main toolbar adds another file browser to the system to make file operations and comparisons more comfortable.

XYplorer ships with many easy to access features that make life that much easier when it comes to day to day operations. Users will for instance notice the highlighting of some folders in the file manager. System files, junctions or encrypted files are color coded to improve identification. The same is done for several popular file types like executable files, web files or images. Advanced users can even go into the options and create their own folder and program groups that they want highlighted on the system. File type highlighting is disabled by default and can be activated with a click on the enable color filters button in the main interface.

When it comes to the application’s interface, everything is just a click away from being customized. Options are available to display an info pane to display everything there is to know about a file or folder in the open, a catalog with filtering and bookmarking options, multiple view modes to display files and folders in various formats, and tabs to display multiple locations and information next to each other.

The Info Pane displays information that are hidden in nested menus in Windows Explorer. It for instance displays all file properties and attributes, a preview and raw view, and version information. File properties can be edited right away with just a click of the mouse button.

File search is also displayed in the Info Pane which can be accessed directly if the pane is displayed, or with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-f. XYplorer supports Boolean and regular expression searches, filters (by size, date, file contents attribute) and options to search specific locations only.

Search results are displayed near instantly in one of the file browser panes. Files can be opened, modified, moved or deleted right in that pane. The file manager supports drag and drop operations, for instance from one file browser pane to the other to make copy and move operations more comfortable.

Catalogs, of which multiple can exist, act as favorites and file filters. The system is powerful, allowing users to run basic operations like opening a specific folder on the system to filtering a folder for specific file types or opening files with a selected program.

Another way to quickly find and work with files is the program’s tagging feature. Tagging buttons are not displayed in the toolbar by default but you can either add them by right-clicking on the toolbar and selecting the customize option or directly from the menu without making those customizations.

It still pays off to look at the customize toolbar menu as the menu offers dozens of buttons that are not displayed by default on the toolbar. This includes drive letters, the aforementioned tag buttons and even user defined buttons.

Advanced users find a large number of features at their disposal that improve the workflow further. Keyboard shortcuts, already available for many major program features, can be defined for more or less any program function. Shortcuts can for instance be added to user-defined commands, which work exactly as the catalog feature.

A scripting language is available for advanced operations. From saving last year’s doc files to a zip file, converting characters in text files or creating a formatted HTML document that lists all files of a directory. Examples are provided in the program’s help file and on the software’s homepage on the Internet.

The program’s configuration menu holds hundreds of configuration options that change the application’s functionality. From editing color filters and tags over fonts and templates to thumbnail dimensions and startup and exit behavior, it is all editable with just a click.

XYplorer’s list of features does not end here. Worth mentioning as part of the review are multi-level undo and redo options, queued file operations, a mini-tree view mode that displays only the folder structure of the currently selected folder and the flat view mode that displays all sub-folder contents in the file browser directly.

New users can take a look at some of the program’s core features on the tour index page. A 30-day trial version that is not limited in functionality is available for download at this page.

Verdict:

XYplorer Pro is a well thought out file manager for the Windows operating system. The standard version of the program, without any customizations done, is already that much better than Windows Explorer and many comparable file management tools. All major features and workflows are in reach and optimized for quick access.

The app begins to shine even more when you start to explore all under the hood options that it offers. From configuring keyboard shortcuts, the customizable tag and color highlighting system, and the portable version to XYplorer’s huge list of configuration options, scripting and the application’s speed and performance: it is what Windows Explorer should be but never will be.

The program does not come with an ftp client or native zip unpacking which some users may miss. The majority of users on the other hand will have specialized tools (like WinSCP or 7-zip) installed that offer a better functionality that any file manager could offer.

Giveaway

We have 19 XYplorer Pro lifetime licenses for this giveaway. Please leave a comment below to be included in the drawing. Let us know about the file management software that you are currently using.

Still, it felt strange that two process were started instead of just one. It took a bit of investigating to find the reason for this behavior.

When you look at both processes you will notice that they act independently of each other. You can see that for instance by looking at the memory usage or cpu utilization.

I’d like to point out that you need to make sure that the two explorer.exe processes, or at least one of them, is not malicious in nature. It is a good idea to check the path first, if you see a different path for one process you may have a virus problem. You can check both explorer.exe files then over at services like Virus Total to check the files for malicious contents.

A settings in the Folder Options configuration of Windows Explorer explains the existence of two explorer.exe processes. Open Windows Explorer and click on Tools > Folder Options. Switch to the View tab there and scroll down until you find the following preference: Launch folder windows in a separate process.

If the preference is checked you have found the reason why two explorer.exe windows are running on your system. You can uncheck the option to have only one Windows Explorer process running at any time on the system.

The core reason for enabling the option is stability. It is usually safe to disable the feature so that only one explorer process is running on the PC.

The items on the context menu are all in the registry and a simple registry hack can easily remove them. Note that this is for the more experienced user and there are registry management utilities available for those who are inexperienced with accessing the Windows registry directly. Also, before digging into the registry and making any changes; create a restore point so that if you cause any undue problems you will be able to reverse the changes.
To clean up the context menu by hacking the registry, open regedit.exe from the Start menu. The unfortunate part of this is that context menu items are not stored in one location in the registry. You can find most of the menu items for various files and folders by searching one of the following registry keys:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx

If the menu items are associated with specific folders, they can be found in one of the following two registry keys:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Items in the context menu will need to be changed differently depending on the location in the registry. Shell items are the easiest to find. For example, browse to the shell key under Directory.

To hide an item, use Shift+Right-Click and add a new string value in the right pane. Name the new string “Extended”.

This will hide the item from the context menu. You can also enter “LegacyDisable” for the new string value and this will disable the key. If you choose to delete the key entirely, export and save a copy first.

When dealing with “shellex” items, you will go to one of the keys listed above:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Determine the correct item by the key name in the left pane. Disable it by inserting a few dashes before the value item. This will not delete the item. In this example, SUPERAntiSpyware is disabled from the context menu in this manner.

Each key location indicated above will need to be searched to find the items you wish to remove (disable) from the context menu. For specific file types, use the Extended or LegacyDisable string values to disable. You will only need to edit the string with dashes for shellex items. This may seem tedious to some users while others may prefer these methods.

You can actually learn a lot by perusing the registry but it should always be done with great care. If you are inexperienced with this, create a full backup of the registry before playing around and, as mentioned, create a restore point

I for one posted my thoughts in a two posts about Windows 8 at the same day the OS was released. It needs to be mentioned that the release is an early preview version, it is not even a beta. This makes it likely that Microsoft will use feedback from users to fine tune the experience (Microsoft, if you are reading, please give me an option to disable Metro UI completely).

The first tweak that came out was a Registry hack and soon thereafter a program to disable Metro UI partially on the system. The hack would add the classic start menu known from Windows 7 to the desktop part of the operating system. It was still possible to switch to the Metro UI interface, but the tiles there were not functional anymore.

Today one of Ghacks’s readers recommended a program called Metro Controller which as he puts it is the answer for all users who do not want to work with the Metro UI. And to put icing on the cake, it is developed by Ghacks regular Happy Bulldozer.

The program offers the following functionality: Windows 8 users can either disable the majority of new features including Ribbon Explorer, the new Lock Screen or the Metro Start Screen, or they can only disable all Metro features.

All that needs to be done on the user part is to select one of the options. The program will work its magic and display a prompt to restart the computer.

I personally do not really mind Ribbon Explorer, which is why I selected to disable all Metro features.

Metro was completely gone from the system after the first restart. The start menu button displayed the standard start menu, and pressing the Windows key did not lead to Metro UI Start anymore.

The program can be used to rollback the changes. When you start it again after making changes, you get a slightly different menu that offers to enable the feature that you disabled again.

A word of warning. The program makes changes to the system’s Registry and dll files. It is probably not a big issue for a developer preview, as most users will have it installed in a virtual machine, as dual boot or on a test system.

You can download Metro Controller from the developer website over at Win Aero.

By using certain operators and searching syntax, AQS allows for a significant level of precision with search results. As long as you learn the operators, you will be able to find specific results rapidly. This syntax is a gateway to specified search parameters. This saves time and overall effort. When a file needs to be found, the basic Windows Search option will work, but generally you are presented with a list of possibly related files. You would have to sort through the search results list to find the right file. AQS hones this down and gives you the control to quickly find specific files and applications. The syntax is easy to learn and need only be applied to awaken the AQS potential within Windows 7.

As in the screenshot above, open a Windows Explorer window and search for a term. “Microsoft” was selected in this search and it was narrowed down to the Documents folder as the selected area for the search. The following screen shot is a search for “Reader” on the main hard drive (C :).

This comes up with many different files. This user is looking for Screen captures, so eliminating the term “Adobe” would be favorable in order to find an SC Reader file. Simply add a dash before words you wish to eliminate from the search results.

This yields all files without “Adobe” attached to the filename. The SC file was discovered, as were other important files that may be of use. The point is that the search option changed and the simple syntax entry of (-) before a term negation will alter the search parameters.
Similar to Google, if you want to search for exact phrases, use quotation marks. In this example, the user has documents on social commerce. Social commerce is entered in quotations in the search field.

Apparently the file has multiple copies in a few different locations but it was found quickly nonetheless. Windows Search does not discern between letter cases, so the lettering in the search field is not case sensitive. These are the AQS operators involving text searches:

• NOT/- : Using “not” in addition to a prefix dash tells the search to exclude items in the following term.
• AND/+ : “And” and the prefix of the plus sign aims the search to solely include items matching both search terms.
• Use quotes (“”) to filter for a specified term or phrase

You can take this even further by using search filters. You can search by Kind, Date modified, Type and Size.

Some alternatives to using the mouse include the following syntax:

• search terms >mm/dd/yy
• search terms datemodified:mm/dd/yy..mm/dd/yy
• search terms date:past month

This is just an introduction to Using Windows 7 Advanced Search Operators. There are many options for searching with syntax. Some examples include:

• size:>=4mb < 12mb
• modified:September…yesterday
• type:music bitrate:>=180kbps

This is a phenomenal feature in Windows 7. The ability to use natural language in a GUI advanced search is definitely a wise addition to the geek toolbox.

I know quite a few users who drop the selection into the same folder in this case to cancel the drag and drop operation. Since the files and folders exist in that folder, the operation is canceled and no files are added, moved or copied. When I’m saying moved or copied I mean that you can select the type of operation after you have started dragging files around but before you dropped them in a new location.

If you drop them while holding down the Shift key on the computer keyboard you move the files, while dropping them without additional key will copy the files.

But it is not always this easy. Especially not if you mistakenly drop the selection on a folder in the Windows Explorer location. If you do that, files and folders get moved or copied into that folder.

The correct way of canceling a drag and drop operation is to click the right mouse button once you have started to drag the files and folders around.

Windows will automatically cancel the operation so that everything is returned to its initial state. This only works for drag and drop operations in Windows Explorer, and not in third party applications like Firefox or Google Chrome.

Do you use drag and drop in Windows Explorer? If so, did you ever encounter a situation where you had to cancel the operation?

Up until now Microsoft has revealed that they will improve the file management basics of the operating system, improve Windows Explorer with a new ribbon user interface, add ISO and VHD mounting and switch to a new Metro style desktop interface.

Especially the ribbon interface of Windows Explorer and the Metro UI have received criticism both in the form of comments on the official blog but also on Twitter and third party sites that reported about the changes.

Steven Sinofsky acknowledges that Microsoft knew that those two topics would receive criticism, especially from readers of the blog and followers on Twitter, and not so much from average users.

When you look at the comment count, you will notice that the Windows Explorer announcement post received more than 1100 comments, which is double the size of the article with the second largest amount of comments.

The post addresses the criticism without going into much detail.

Without repeating the first post, I would add that we do believe we have taken into account many of the criticisms we were certain would surface. We chose the ribbon mechanism, and to those that find that a flawed choice, there isn’t much we can do other than disagree.

It is obviously difficulty to argue about new user interfaces but simply stating that Microsoft disagrees with the critics is not going to help “sell” the new interface. It is clear however that Microsoft is intent to go forward with the change, even though Mr. Sinofsky mentioned that Microsoft continues to refine the commands, settings and graphics.

One thing is sure though, Windows Explorer will ship with a ribbon interface.

Metro style, which has not received quite as many comments, will have a much bigger impact than Windows Explorer. Users will boot into Metro style, and it is not clear yet if they can opt-out of it to load the standard desktop right instead on Windows start.

Users who do not want to use Windows Explorer can download and install file management tool alternatives. With Metro UI, that does not seem to be possible.

Metro for Microsoft is a “reimagining of Windows”. A phrase that is used several times on the blog. It is not as simply as saying that Metro is the successor of Windows Aero, as it appears to be more than that for Microsoft.

For Windows 8, Metro style means a new type of app—an app that learns from and improves upon the current (and most popular) platform.

Microsoft is “fairly certain” that users will warm up to Metro once they are able to use it.

That diversity allows us to say with confidence that going from Metro style to the desktop will be harmonious—as harmonious as switching apps or sites is today. It will take orchestration at the top level to make moving seamless—that’s why you see things like switching between apps, snapping apps, or even using ALT+TAB between apps, and the desktop itself, all mechanisms that just work.

You can see Metro in action here:

What Microsoft fails to address, and likely for a reason, is how Metro and the standard desktop operations will play together on a day to day basis. While it seems possible to add program shortcuts, and maybe even files or folders to one of the Metro widgets on the screen, it looks as if it is more complicated to access folders and files that are not. How fast can you access programs that are not linked directly, and is that approach faster than using the standard start menu? How well do windows integrate into Metro? If I open a window, will it be shown in front of Metro? Will I use Alt-Tab to switch between windows? Without a taskbar visible, that seems to be one of the options remaining.

Many questions are left unanswered at this point in development. We might get some answers from the Build conference later this month, as Microsoft intents to reveal a lot about Windows 8 there.

I personally do not think it is all as bad as some users paint it. I only do hope that Microsoft adds the right level of customization to the operating system to please all kinds of users.

While it is possible to add favorite folders to Windows Explorer you sometimes may need to access a folder that is not in the favorites that you just had open. Instead of clicking your way to that folder again, you can make use of the folder history of Windows Explorer to do just that.

Please note that I’m only demonstrating this on Windows 7. Previous Windows operating systems may or may not have that feature included.

You find two locations in Windows Explorer that you can use to access previously accessed folders. The first option is the small down arrow icon next to the previous, next and up buttons in the top menu bar.

Just click the arrow icon and you will see a list of folders that you have previously opened in that session. Please note that the history is automatically cleared when you close the Windows Explorer window. A click on a folder in the history opens its location in the file management tool.

The second option to access previously opened folders in Windows Explorer is to click on the little down arrow in the path information field.

This opens another list of previously opened folders. Do note that the list differs from the other folder history listing. In fact, this listing is not deleted when the Explorer session is ended.

Are you using the folder history feature of Windows Explorer? Let me know in the comments.

Third party programs like Computer Customizer or Folder 2 My PC added that functionality to the operating system.

My Computer Manager is a free portable program for Windows that can be used to add files or folders to the My Computer display in Windows Explorer. When you start the program for the first time you see a minimalistic interface with options to add folders or files in a simple or advanced mode to My Computer or the Control Panel.

Simple mode comes without the customizations of the advanced mode. You basically pick a folder or file which is then added automatically to the selected location. You repeat the selection for every file or folder that you want displayed under My Computer or the Control Panel.

The advanced selection mode offers more customizations. You can select a custom name, the path and icons, as well as arguments if you want to add a file to the location.

All files and folders that have been added this way are displayed in the main program interface. Here they can be removed again if they are no longer needed.

Please note that there are no sorting options available in the program as items are sorted automatically in Windows Explorer.

You can use My Computer Manager to add favorite folders and programs to the My Computer dialog for fast access. The process is identical for adding folders or files to the Control Panel.

My Computer Manager is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Users can download the portable program from the developer website.

Start by opening Windows Explorer. In the address bar, enter %userprofile%\Links or C:\Users\[username]\Links and then press enter.

This opens the Links window and you will see the basic shortcuts that are set there by default. Now the limitation has been removed for the specific user. You can drag and drop a program shortcut from the Start menu, Desktop, or any other location where you may have shortcuts stored. The PC used in this example has a desktop file with dozens of shortcuts in it so that the desktop will remain uncluttered. By moving some of the more frequently used shortcuts to the Link folder in Windows Explorer, access is simple.

Notice that all of the added links are now listed in the Favorites list in the left pane of the Windows Explorer window. Single-click the link to open any of these programs and they will open immediately. If you want to change the order in which they are listed in the Favorites list, drag and drop from the left pane, not the right pane, to any position in the list. As you drag you will see a black line that reads “move here” when you have reached the desired location in the list.

To remove links, highlight the link and press delete. This will remove the link from the Links folder, but not from the original link location (Desktop, folder, etc…). You may sort the list of shortcuts alphabetically by name if you want to. Right-click Favorites in the left pane and select “Sort by name” from the menu and this will arrange the list of links alphabetically.

If you do not have many shortcuts that you use on your computer, this is not necessary at all. This is mainly for users who have many, many different programs that are utilized frequently. Adding these shortcuts to the Links library in Windows Explorer makes this multiple application use easier. Remember, you can also add shortcuts from the Start menu.

Task Manager, Command Prompt, Snipping Tool and Sticky Notes were added from the Start menu with the same drag and drop method. This is terribly easy to do, so if you want to do it, it takes no time at all and can ease application access considerably.

Sometimes no program is displayed at all, which leaves the user with no other choice than to search the Internet for a suitable program to open the file type.

OpenWith Enhanced improves the Windows Open With dialog. The program is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system. Once installed, it turns the Open With dialog into a more user friendly version.

The program uses a program association database that is constantly updated to suggest applications that can be used to open the selected file in the Windows operating system.

Installed programs are displayed with different backgrounds than programs that are not installed. A click on a program that is suggested but not installed will open the program’s home page on the Internet from where it can be downloaded to the local PC.

That’s handy for users who have no idea which program they need to open a specific file type, and users who would like to try out alternatives to programs already available on the system.

The program options are displayed with a click on Settings. Here it is possible to change the application backgrounds and label colors, the way programs are displayed in the Open With dialog, the sending of anonymous usage statistics and if the program should check for updates regularly.

Another interesting option is the ability to remove file associations for users on the system, and to remove Open With menu entries in Windows Explorer to clean up the context menu of Window’s native file management tool.

Lastly, a click on “look for the appropriate program on the Web” opens the OpenWith Enhanced database on the Internet.

Windows users can download OpenWith Enhanced from the developer website.

Windows Explorer will receive a complete redesign and will ship with many changes when the Windows 8 operating system comes out. Many users of Windows feel that the current file manager of the operating system is in desperate need of a redesign, or at least some form of optimization.

The biggest change is a new Ribbon based user interface that many Windows users know from Microsoft Office. Ribbons have been criticized in the past, especially by experienced computer users. The main points of criticism are that a ribbon interface takes up to much space, and that its tabbed interface does not speed up all operations.

The new Windows Explorer on Windows 8 looks like this:

You see the ribbon interface at the top. To make up for the space requirements the status bar was reduced to a single row in Windows Explorer. Other changes that are visible immediately are a new font used for displaying files and folders and the dynamic Tools listing on the title bar.

The Home tab of the new interface offers buttons for the most popular Windows Explorer features. Microsoft analyzed the command usage and found out that only two of the top 10 Windows Explorer commands are currently visible in the command bar in Windows 7. Windows Explorer on Windows 8 will provide access to all those commands directly from the Home tab.

If you are wondering, here is the top 10 Windows Explorer command list:

• Paste: 19%
• Copy: 11%
• Properties: 11%
• Delete: 10%
• Rename: 8%
• Cut: 7%
• Search: 7%
• New Item: 6%
• Open: 2%
• Edit: 2%

The Share and View tabs are always displayed in Windows Explorer.

• Share: The Share tab provides access to features like emailing or zipping files or printing and faxing documents.
• View: Options to enable or disable panes, change the view mode of a folder or grouping and sorting options.

Dynamic tabs are displayed in addition to that. They depend largely on the current location that is displayed in Windows Explorer. Disk Tools are for instance added as a tab to the computer location. Here it is possible to format, cleanup or optimize a drive, use the Bitlocker encryption or work with removable media and rewritable discs.

Here is a video that showcases the new Explorer of Windows 8.

It is interesting to note that the Windows 8 Explorer will display more files and folders than Explorer of Windows 7. What I’m personally curious about is if Microsoft manages to get the view modes working properly in the new operating system. Another requested feature, the ability to display two Explorer panes with files in one Windows Explorer menu does not seem to have made it into the new version of Windows Explorer.

The most interesting part of the whole blog post is the end, if you ask me. Microsoft confirms that power users will be able to create their own personalized version by minimizing the ribbon ui and configuring a quick access bar instead. Plus, they get access to nearly every command available via keyboard shortcuts.

Here are a few screenshots that showcase the new design:

What’s your take on this new Explorer, and especially the Ribbon UI? (via Microsoft Showcases New Windows Explorer With Ribbon UI)

Editing entries of the context menu in Windows Explorer natively is complicated and problematic. It involves editing the Windows Registry directly. Most users do not want to keep the entries in the Windows Explorer context menu either, because it makes the menu look messy and might even result in clicks on the wrong items.

A program like Context Menu Editor offers a solution for Windows users who would like to remove entries from Windows Explorer’s context menu. The free program lists the available menus in a pulldown menu on startup. All menu items are listed, and the description, file location and details of the selected file are displayed as well.

Items are removed with a click on Delete From Menu. Some Windows users may need to start the program with elevated rights. This is done with a right-click on the program icon and the selection of Run as administrator from the menu.

Item names, descriptions and locations aid the user in finding the entries that they want deleted. A issue here is that the program does not display the actual context menu entries, but only the item’s name in its interface. It may sometimes be necessary to research a name on the Internet to find out if it is the right entry.

Entries that are deleted are removed from Windows Explorer immediately. It may pay off to have an Explorer window open to check the effects directly in the file manager.

Context Menu Editor offers menu editing for the File Context Menu, the Folder Context Menu and the Internet Explorer Context Menu.

The software is easy to handle which makes it powerful and at the same time dangerous, as it is possible to remove entries that are still needed on the system. A backup option to restore deleted settings is missing, which makes this even more serious.

Context Menu Editor is not the most sophisticated of editors available. Especially the lack of backup and the missing display of the actual entries are negatives. Interested Windows users can download the free program from the developer website. The software program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Classic Shell is a free software for Windows that brings back several of the features that were modified or dropped in newer versions of the Windows operating system. The full list of features includes:

• The classic Windows start menu with eight available skins
• Classic Windows Explorer
• Classic Internet Explorer 9

Windows users can select which features they want installed on their system during installation. It is possible to only install the classic start menu for instance, or only classic Windows Explorer. Installation requires elevated privileges and changes are immediately available and visible without a system restart.

The classic Windows start menu for instance is available right after the installation finishes. The classic Windows Explorer menu on the other hand is only partially available.

A right-click on the toolbar and the selection of Classic Explorer Bar enables the toolbar in Windows Explorer. A click on the options button opens a configuration menu with interesting settings. Here it is possible to add or remove toolbar buttons from the Explorer toolbar and configure other features of Windows Explorer.

Some of the things that you can configure here is a different location bar layout (disable breadcrumbs), change the navigation pane style to XP classic or simple, enable sort headers in all view modes or to replace the file and folder conflict dialogs (file exists for instance when copying).

Classic Shell adds three configuration options to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 web browser. It adds a caption to the title bar to display the page title there and shows the security zone and loading progress in the browser’s status bar.

Windows Vista or Windows 7 users who miss some of the features that they used to work with under Windows XP, should take Classic Shell for a test ride to see if it resolves some of the issues that they have.

The Open Source software is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. Downloads are offered at the program homepage over at Sourceforge.

Here is a screenshot of the thumbnail preview mode in Windows Explorer.

As you can see, supported image formats are displayed with their thumbnails in Windows Explorer. Now look at the following screenshot that shows the same folder on the system after disabling image previews in Windows Explorer.

Before I’m going to demonstrate how to disable and re-enable thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer, I’m showing you how to change the view mode. Most Ghacks regulars know how to do this, but there may be some users who would like to know how to make that change.

You can click on the view mode icon in Windows Explorer to change the view mode of the current folder. A click on the icon itself allows you to flip through all available view modes, a click on the down arrow displays them all for selection in list form.

You can change the setting when you are in Windows Explorer. You can alternatively click on the Start Menu and then on Computer to open the Windows Explorer menu. Click the Organize link and there on Folder and Search Options.

Switch to the View tab in the configuration window that opens up and put a mark into the Always show icons, never thumbnails option in Windows Explorer.

The changes take effect immediately, and images that have been shown as previews are now shown with their icons instead. Removing the check mark from the setting will revert the changes. (via)

The result is always the same: You need to manual fix the copy job by locating the files that were not copied properly. Sometimes you need to stop an application from running or accessing a file before you can do that.

WinMend File Copy is a free program for the Windows operating system that not only promises to copy files up to 300% faster than Windows Explorer but also to keep a queue of all files and folders that need copying. That’s handy if Windows throws errors during the copying or moving of files.

Using a program like WinMend File Copy on the other hand may not be as comfortable as using Windows Explorer as it does not integrate into Windows Explorer. This makes the application less usable for copying a limited amount of files.

The copy software shines when it comes to copying large files and lots of files. A copy job consists of one or multiple files or folders that you add to the program with the help of buttons in the interface. The only other setting that is mandatory is the destination folder that you need to select as well.

WinMend File Copy can be configured to overwrite, skip or match and overwrite files of the same name. The only other setting available is the buffer size for the process which is set to 10 MB by default.

Another benefit of WinMend File Copy is the ability to copy files from multiple folders and locations in one go which is not possible in Windows Explorer.

Windows users who are looking for a queue based copy program for Windows can download the latest version of WinMend File Copy from the developer website. The program is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

This has changed with the installation of SageThumbs, a free program for Windows that extends the image format support of Windows Explorer.

Instead of seeing broken image previews in Windows Explorer that looked like shown on the screenshot below, I was able to fix the issue and make the thumbnails and previews display again.

The following screenshot shows the same Windows Explorer window after the installation of the SageThumbs software.

But SageThumbs does more than just repairing the Windows Explorer image preview and thumbnail functionality. The program adds support for a total of 162 image formats to Windows Explorer, with options to add another 26 image formats via XnView Plugins.

Now it is possible to review image formats like psd right in Windows Explorer. Support for more image formats and better thumbnail previewing is the core feature of the program, but not the only one. The software adds a new entry to the right click menu in Windows Explorer that displays several additional features on selection.

Here it is possible to set the selected image as the wallpaper image (stretched, tiled or centered), send the image or the thumbnail by email or convert the image to jpg, gif or bmp.

Especially the conversion options are handy as it takes only two clicks to convert an image to another format.

The program options have settings to enable or disable file type support. This can be helpful if another program is already offering previews for the image format, or if you do not want to see previews in Windows Explorer.

The only setting that appears to be missing is a quality setting for image format conversions.

SageThumbs fixed the broken Windows Explorer image thumbnail and preview issue on my system. This in itself makes it an invaluable tool for users who experience the same or a similar issue. The developer has created 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the program which all can be downloaded from the project’s Google Code web site.

Gest is a specialized portable program for the Windows operating system that adds mouse gesture support to Windows Explorer. The program uses the four directions up, down, left and right to define commands. Several default commands are already configured and ready for use. It is for instance possible to create a new window, close a window or go up one level with some easy mouse gestures.

You draw the gesture by holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse in the directions that the command is associated with. If you wanted to go up on level in the directory structure, you would right-click and move the mouse up. Alternatively, if you wanted to minimize the window you would right-click and then draw down, right and down again to do so.

The commands can be customized in the program’s settings. You can change the gestures there and for some commands, like the new window command additional parameters.

Some commands have two or even more gestures associated with them, so that it is possible to execute the command with one of the available gestures. A small box appears on screen once you start using your mouse in Windows Explorer to draw gestures on the screen. The box displays the directions and acts as a visual aid. It will automatically go away if a gesture has been drawn that is already associated with a command. The program suggests to create a new gesture if it is not know yet. Only the default commands are available for selection for this new gesture. It would have been nice if additional commands would be available, for instance to copy, move or send selected files or to create a new folder. The option to add a new gesture to an existing command can be disabled right in that box.

A few other options are available in the program settings. You can change the mouse sensitivity or mouse trail options here, or configure the program to start with the Windows operating system.

The recognition rate of the mouse gestures is excellent. Windows users who would like to control some Windows Explorer commands with their mouse can download the latest version of Gest from the developer website. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and Vista. It has limited support under Windows XP.

The developer has published a tutorial on the website that new users can use to learn the program’s functionality.

If you open Windows Explorer under Windows 7, you will notice a toolbar sitting between the navigation and search, and the sidebar and file listings in Windows Explorer. It contains items such as Organize, Open, Share With or New Folder.

Custom Explorer Toolbar offers customization options for that toolbar in Explorer.

When you first start the portable software, you will notice that everything is configured on one screen. A list of available buttons has been placed prominently in the interface. These functions can be selected via checkboxes. Each item is listed with its title and a description of its functionality.

Next to the items are folder types which define under which folder types the buttons are displayed. An example would be the slide show button which makes only sense when a picture folder is opened.

The Action pulldown menu defines whether the selected buttons are added to the Windows Explorer toolbar or removed from it. Just select Remove the specified toolbar buttons or add the specified toolbar buttons to do so.

The Toolbar mode pulldown menu defines when the selected buttons should be displayed in Windows Explorer. The buttons can either be configured to show up when one or more items are selected, or none.

A clcik on the Do It button sets the values in the Windows Registry. The changes are effective immediately, you may need to close all Explorer windows before they become visible.

Here is a list of all buttons that can be added to Windows Explorer this way:

• Burn, burn the selected files and folders to disc
• Close, close the active window
• Layout, configure this folder’s layout
• Copy, copy the selected items to the Windows clipboard
• New Folder, create a new, empty folder
• Slide show, display all of the selected videos and pictures in a slideshow
• Include in library, include the selected folder in a library
• Nobody, Makes the selected items private so that other people cannot access them
• Delete, deletes the selected files and folders.
• Cut, moves the selected items to the Clipboard
• Search on website, open the website to view all search results
• Organize, organize the selected folder’s contents
• Paste, paste the contents of the clipboard
• Redo, redo the last action
• Remove Properties, remove properties from the selected file
• Rename, rename files and folders
• Select all, select all items in the folder
• Email, send selected files as attachments in the default email client.
• Print, send the selected files to the default printer
• Share with, share the selected items with other people on the network
• Details, Library, Navigation pane, preview pane, menu bar, hide or show
• Properties, display the properties menu for the selected file or folder
• Sync, Sync files with your computer
• Undo, undo the last action

Windows 7 users can download Custom Explorer Toolbar from the official Nirsoft website.

The right-click tweaker displays ten different features and options that can be added to the right-click menu of the Windows operating system. It includes the following options:

• Create File List: Create a file list of the current folder.
• Copy to Folder: Copy the selected files and folders to another folder.
• Move to Folder: Similar to copy to folder, but files and folders are moved instead of copied.
• Open in Notepad: Open the selected items in the Notepad text editor.
• Administrator Command Prompt: Launch an elevated command prompt from the current location.
• Encrypt: Encrypt and decrypt files using the NTFS file system’s encryption options.
• Print File List: Print the current file list on a connected printer.
• System Configuration Utility: Launches the system configuration window to manage startup related tasks and settings
• God Mode: Add all Control Panel applets to the context menu
• Problem Steps Recorder: Launch the problem steps recorder from the current location.

The second program, My Computer Manager, can be used to add files or folders to My Computer or the Windows Control Panel. These folders and files can then be opened directly from those locations.

The right-click cascading menu shortcuts creator can be used to add cascading menus to the right-click menu. Files and folders can then be added to those menus easily.

Right-Click Shortcuts Creator works only under Vista or Windows 7. Offers to add or delete files and folders to the Windows right click menu. It basically offers the same as the cascading menu creator, with the difference that items are displayed on the root level and not in cascading menus.

Send To Manager finally offers to add and remove items from the Windows Send To menu.

All of the tools are easy to use, even inexperienced computer users should not have problems using them. The changes take effect immediately on the system, which means it is directly possible to test them on the system.

Right-Click Enhancer’s focus lies on adding features to the various context menus of the operating system. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating system. It should be compatible with Windows Server systems as well. The program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. The program is available at the developer’s website.