File manager programs
Windows explorer works well but has limitations, and there are programs out there which work considerably better. My own favourite is ZtreeWin. It’s been around since Adam was a sparkle. IT savvy members of my own family laugh at me because I use this relic, but they’ve not actually tried it.
It has a remarkable history which goes back to the days of DOS when it was known as Xtree, and was the very first GUI. It is the granddaddy of all the tools we now take for granted. You know those dinosaurs that grew feathers? Well, they became eagles, and in the right hands thats exactly what Ztree is. Ztree really flies.
Some things it does really, really well:
- Navigate through large numbers of directories and drives; sort filenames alphabetically, by size, extension, date etc;
- Interact with other programs – for instance, I can view an image file and then open the editor from the viewer, or directly open the image in a graphics package depending on the file extension
- View the source of an html or php page, or open it to edit it with a text editor, or open it in a browser window, all within seconds.
- File compare function to shows the difference between two versions of a file.
- Much much more…
Some things it does not do very well:
- Copy & or move directories. For this is is better to use Windows Explorer.
- Drag and Drop. Ditto above.