Better Windows Explorer looks and behaves the way Windows Explorer will in Windows 8 Except that it runs in Windows 7
If you're eager to get a sense of what Windows Explorer will look like in
Windows 8--or simply want a different and more powerful alternative to Windows
7's file management tool--consider this free project of the CodePlex open-source
community. Running on Windows 7 (or the latest consumer preview of Windows 8),
Beta 1 of Better Explorer seems to have resolved some of the buggy behavior
users reported with earlier versions: I experienced none of the crashes I read
about in user reviews.
The most immediately visible difference between the current Windows Explorer
and Better Explorer is the use of the ribbon interface. Like the current
version, Better Explorer's menus are context-sensitive--they change depending on
what you're looking at--and so is the ribbon itself. Certain file or folder
selections produce tabs for special ribbons: For example, highlighting the
Libraries folder summons a Libraries tab, and selecting an image brings up an
Image Tools tab. Other special ribbons are available for folders, drives, and
search (the latter appears when you click in the search box next to the location
field).
Less immediately apparent, but highly useful, is Better Explorer's ability to
access multiple folders in tabs, eliminating the need to launch new Explorer
windows when you want to see more than one file or folder at a time. Simply
click New Tab (or Clone Tab to duplicate the current
selection) on the far right of the Home ribbon.
The ribbon, as usual, is particularly effective at exposing features hidden
in traditional menus--but Better Explorer in some instances goes beyond the file
management tools in Windows 7's Explorer by providing easy access to other
Windows features. The Drive Tools ribbon, accessible when you click on a drive
under Computer, has buttons for formatting, cleaning, and/or optimizing the
drive--features found in the System Tools subfolder of Accessories. The Image
Tools include buttons for rotating and flipping images, converting image files
to one of five popular file formats, and setting an image as desktop
wallpaper.
One other major addition in Better Explorer Beta 1 is a Conditional Select
button on the Home ribbon. This combines filtered search with selection,
allowing you to quickly highlight multiple files that meet criteria you specify
for name, size, date created, date modified, and last date accessed.
Better Explorer is not without flaws. In some cases, I couldn't find features
that are easy to access in Windows 7 Explorer--for example, I was unable to
figure out how to view pictures in an image folder as a slideshow. The constant
shifting of menus and ribbons based on context can be a bit confusing--for
example, a Manage menu item seems to come and go--and a couple of the special
ribbons have so few buttons that you wonder if they were really necessary. But
the convenient access that it affords to many file management and other features
make Better Explorer in many ways, well, better than its Microsoft cousin.