Free Commander - Powerful Windows Explorer!

Bored of the banality of your Windows Explorer? Well, I guess I have found something for you. While ferreting out for some new softwares I found this rather interesting and impressive substitute for the windows explorer.

Free Commander is a free and light weight file explorer/manager which contains lots of functions which make it more preferable over the basic Windows Explorer. It has a decent interface full of icons and it really does make navigation within your system a less tiresome affair.

Features

1. Dual Panel with Tabs
This is what makes it highly desirable. No matter how well you cascade or arrange or windows, hopping between them is always a headache. With its Dual Panel interface Free Commander makes file transfers by dragging and dropping a lot easier. Both the panels can be used independently and can be arranged vertically or horizontally. Both panels have tabs on top which represent the different drives and the network places on your system and work independent of other tabs. Thus switching between drives becomes a touch easier. In case you don’t want two panels, you can convert one of the panels to tree view and work in the other one. As for the tabs, you can create sub-tabs for your folders too.

2. Built in Compression tool
The versatile software is accompanied by a built in compression tool which helps you pack and unpack files. This however has its limitations. While you can read or unpack from almost all common package types, packing is possible only into a zip file or a cab file.

3. File splitter
To handle large files, the software offers you a file splitter which can break a file into several smaller fragments of desired size.

4. Folder Comparison and Synchronization
In the folders menu you will come across various useful functions like folder comparison , synchronization, make folder list etc. The file filter is quite useful among these as it helps you see files with a particular extension type.

5. Others
Certain other features include an in built file viewer that helps you view the binary and hex files, DOS box, run command, a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts etc. You can even access the start menu and control panel with a single click from within the window.

What’s Lacking?
Well, by providing so much for free the developers have increased my expectations from the software. A few more features such as increasing the number of panels, a sidebar, a few look and feel related options could do wonders for this already great software. Also a word of text along with each icon could have made the interface a little more descriptive.

Bottom Line
Overall a fine utility it does indeed leave the basic windows explorer far behind. A few more additions as suggested above would make the software peerless. However even in its current form it is a must try for all I would say.

Software Details

Version:2007.10
License:Free
Homepage: Free Commander
OS Requirements: All windows Versions

Rating

4 Dinos out of 5