Clover Brings Tabs to your Windows Explorer

There are several options available for those who want to add tabs to Windows Explorer – something Microsoft should probably have done themselves when they redesigned the app for Windows 8, including the previously reviewed Tab Explorer, QTabBar and QDir. One app I have been using on a couple of our home computers is called Clover, and it’s a great free solution.

Let me point out up front that the app comes from a Chinese web site, which may be cause for concern, so before downloading it I did some research via Google and, after downloading, I gave it a good scan, but everything checks out safe.

The next step is installing the extension, and that will require an extra step because it comes packed in a RAR format. There are several free options for unpacking these files, but I like RARzilla best. Once that’s out of the way then you can proceed with the installation, which only takes a few seconds.

Now that the app is installed, you can access it by clicking either the Windows Explorer icon or the Clover icon. Either way, you will see the Clover icon appear in your taskbar. You will immediately notice a web browser-like tab interface at the top of the window, complete with a small “new tab” button to the right of the open tabs.

If you’re a fan of keyboard shortcuts then you can also use “Ctrl-T” to open a new tab. In addition, you can get the option in the context menu that is available when you right-click a tab. The context menu gives some additional functionality including:

• New tab
• Duplicate
• Pin tab
• Close tab
• Close other tabs
• Close tabs to the right
• Reopen closed tab
• Bookmark all tabs

You can grab a copy of Clover for free by visiting their site (translated by Google). It’s been checked and is adware and spyware free and it works easily and seamlessly with Windows. While the site touts compatibility with Windows XP, Vista, and 7, it works just as well with Windows 8 Release Preview.

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