Vista Explorer alternatives

[Taz]

Overall i'm very happy with Windows Vista, but I really cannot get along with Vista Windows Explorer. It doesn't remember any settings (position, size, view etc) and tries to be too clever for its own good by displaying files in a folder using the most 'appropriate' template for the file types in that folder. I don't want it to do this and I have customised various folders to display a simple detailed view sorted by last modified time (i've even modified the templates to try and achieve this). But Vista Windows Explorer doesn't remember these settings and reverts back to deciding the best view for each folder, overriding my preferences.

So, is there an alternative Windows Explorer for Vista that more closely resembles the Windows Explorer in XP?

[this_is_gav]

It's not free, but Directory Opus is better than the Win XP and Vista Explorer (though I guess not as rich on the eye-candy as the Vista one if that's important to you) if you fancy giving that a whirl. There's a fully functional trial of it.

It's pretty awesome, but I've not convinced myself to purchase it yet. If I used it on my PC I know I'd have to buy it for my HTPC, laptop and work PCs too and I can't justify spending that much when it doesn't that much extra.

[lawrywild]

I too have problems with Vista not remembering my explorer settings. Not sure why it's doing it but it's a pain in the ass..

[Taz]

Thanks guys, i've just downloaded a trial version of XYplorer from here:

XYplorer - A Windows File Manager and Explorer Replacement

I've been using it for a couple of hours and it works brilliantly! Even better than XP's Explorer! The look and feel is similar to XP Explorer. It remembers all your settings and has plenty of advanced features. However, I just installed it and used it and it does everything I want it to do.

The 30-day trial is free and it only costs £12.50 to buy. I'm fairly certain i'll be buying this. I also downloaded the trial version of Xplorer2 from here:

xplorer² Windows File Manager (Explorer replacement)

...but I didn't like this as much as XYplorer so have now uninstalled it.

[whr76]

Taz,

I found this forum via Google search on XYplorer, and joined here simply to thank you for your positive comments on it!

I'm a power user of it and 2nd most frequent poster to the XY support forums (as J_C_Hallgren), which you should check out if you've not done so already. You'll find that we users reply very quickly and the XY author is there frequently, and has on occasion reported/released a fix to a posted bug within 15 minutes! That's what got me SO hooked on the product! That speed and level of support is quite unique.

There are new features added sometimes daily via beta versions, and if you're planning on buying (and want to save a bit), I'd do it pretty soon before the pending price change and release of ver 7.0, which will formally introduce scripting (see xyplorer.com/xy7.htm) as well as some other new features...and the lifetime license is really worth it, IMO, even though the initial cost is a somewhat more. Oh, and for "this_is_gav": XY doesn't charge license per computer, it's per user, unlike Dir Opus.

BTW, one of the features that is planned to be added shortly is "Folder Specific Settings" which will allow you to define how YOU want to see a particular folder...You can help guide XY development in that area via the forum at xyplorer.com/xyfc/index.php

So...please come join the fun there and be a part of XY! You'll likely get addicted, I'm almost sure of it...and we also have a great wiki via this link: xyplorer.com/xywiki.htm.

Hope you don't mind this plug for XY, but as you can see, I'm hooked on XY!

(And because I'm brand new here, I couldn't post the actual URL links so modified text vers will have to suffice)

[0iD]

Cool, I'm going to give this a punt too

[Taz]

I've been using XYplorer for several days now. I'm very happy with it. I'll evaluate it for a few more days before buying it.

One thing I did notice was that, after I got Vista SP1 a couple of days ago, XYplorer was hesitating occasionally when I selected files. I'll keep an eye on this over the next few days. I had turned indexing back on for both my HDDs and restored my special folders (Music, Documents, Pictures, etc) back to their defautl locations so this may be a contributing factor. Other than that, no issues.

I used to use a product called 'TreeSize' that showed you the amount of disk space used by directories on your HDD - that's a feature built into XYplorer.

So, other than the hesitation when browsing folders (which appears to have stopped now), I am very happy with XYplorer.

[whr76]

There's a number of things that XY can do which even I, as a two+ yr user of it, still either haven't used or forget that it can do...the one feature that I needed which led me to XY was ability to search for a file based on time, not just date, which XY does very well! I wanted to find all files modified on my system in last few minutes and XY has that built-in on File Find via a pull-down.

Another feature I use often is the Color Filters which show various file types in different colors, such as HTM in blue, XLS in red, etc...can't do that in Win Expl!

And...the Catalog! I have one-click access to my frequently used files and folders...have you seen how that can be of great use yet, I hope?