News and Reviews > Mini-Reviews by Members
xplorer², a powerful windows file manager and explorer replacement / alternative
f0dder:
Ugh, recursive size calculation? That's a thing to avoid like the plague.
umeca74:
well i did say that the aforementioned Contents column doesn't do exactly what you're after, no? Why don't I turn the table round and ask you to present us with a TC column that does a summary/non-recursive column like x2 does it? :)
or perhaps TC's "mini-scrap" pane (View menu) equivalent that can be used for bookmarks, drop stack, even regular file management?
http://www.zabkat.com/pic/s2a.png
there's ups and downs in all programs and your end choise is a compromise. You may be 100% satisfied with TC but that doesn't mean that it is objectively superior to xplorer2. I urge you to have a look at the tour and the various demo videos:
www.zabkat.com/tour1.htm
www.zabkat.com/x2facts.htm
i rest my case!
nikos
JohnFredC:
You may be 100% satisfied with TC
--- End quote ---
Lordy I am incredibly not... you should read my posts over there sometime. My problem with switching from TC is that it offers some specific things I cannot live without.
OTOH TC's folder tree implementation is awful (though in one way (only) it's better than xplorer2's: at least TC will display a second tree in the right panel). Its tab implementation isn't as robust as SpeedCommander's (by the way: how do you lock a tab's root folder in xplorer2? or restrict navigation to only up or down the tabs folder hierarchy?). I hate TCs unmoveable button bar (mostly), though it is still more functional than xplorer2's. TC seems to have trouble from time to time with Network shares, especially in more recent versions: very bad in a file manager! And TC doesn't currently support Unicode (a huge shortcoming in today's world... funny no one has mentioned that!)
Why don't I turn the table round and ask you to present us with a TC column that does a summary/non-recursive column like x2 does it?
--- End quote ---
If I get a chance I'll see about using one of the many TC file/folder-count column values (via the column content plugins) to demonstrate that. However, showing the count of files and folders only one level down (that is: no recursion) seems useless to me. Why would you want to ignore the subfolders' contents?
The xplorer2 "mini-scrap" is OK... as a replacement for a kind of folder tree (since it appears to link to whatever is the active tab), but seems only "half" implemented. It acts more like a list of favorite short-cuts than a virtual file container. It's immovable, too! Why not take that little window and put it in a tab, instead? Then a user could treat it as just another file tab (albeit with "virtual contents"). Indeed why not mulitiple mini-scraps, one in each tab?
The TC plugin community has created several "scrap" or "virtual" file container plugins that behave like the xplorer2 mini-scrap except you can have as many of them as you want since they appear in their own tabs, you can create new "virtual" folder hierarchies in them, and navigation occurs within the same panel (not in some other panel), there is no need to explicitly save the contents since they persist between sessions automatically (no need for a settings option for this), etc. etc.
The TC plugin architecture design means a user doesn't have to settle completely for the TC author's personal vision of a usable file manager (thank goodness, because he and I differ considerably on that). TC is more like Dopus in many regards: both can be viewed as toolkits for creating personalized file managers. Dopus concentrates on the flexibility of the GUI toolkit whereas TC concentrates on supporting the widest range of file systems, packers, viewers, editors, and metadata engines (via its open plugin design). The rest of the file managers in the landscape are more about each individual author's personal vision about how to manage files. Just because xplorer2's GUI does not work the way I personally think a file manager should (and I can back that up with specific examples), does not mean it isn't useful to many others.
There is no perfect file manager, but the less a file manager is implemented toward a specific metaphor of use and the more flexible it is to user configuration (via GUI elements, plugin architecture, what have you), the better chance it will have to approach perfection for any individual user. Speed of file copying or compatibility with Windows Explorer or a hodge podge of functions, each individually powerful, which nevertheless are not flexibly integrated into a coherent whole, do not a complete file manager make!
IMHO and with all due respect to all the hard working and talented file manager authors out there, as well as to those users whose file management tasks are more casual by nature.
gussan:
I totally agree with JohnFredC, when he says "if you need industrial strength file management, not just easy drag and drop (and possibly you may not even know yet that you do)... go to the trouble to learn TC". In fact to learn the full potential of TC and configure it to your liking takes a while, but the effort is worthwhile. I have used it since version 3, and until now I can't say that I master all features TC offers. TC out of the box may look very simple, but you may try Total Commander PowerPack 1.7 (http://www.softpedia.com/get/File-managers/Total-Commander-PowerPack.shtml), wich comes ready with the best plugins.
With this terrific file manager you can manage almost every aspect of your computer, from task management, uninstall management, registry editing, cd-dvd burning, and the list goes on and on. Its plugin architecture makes it the best option for me, and as JohnFredC explained very well "The TC plugin architecture design means a user doesn't have to settle completely for the TC author's personal vision of a usable file manager".
Its price is terrific, I have not paid for an uppgrade since version 3, and it is portable (no extra price like xplorer2). TC uses a unique .ini file to store its settings, it means you can take your installation or move to another system without any concern about missing configuration registry keys. For this and many more reasons I really recomend TC, as the best.
f0dder:
I don't see the point of having a lot of non-file-management functionality crammed into a file manager. I can see how archive handling and ftp support can be useful to some (though I prefer separate applications for that myself), but things like uninstall, registry editing, etc? Why?!
Yeah, it might give bragging rights, but imho it's silly.
EDIT: at least total commander does start relatively fast, even though it's a bloated 2.7meg (uncompressed) executable... but of course it bitches about being modified after I decompressed it with UPX. Silly software author.
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