freeware like Total Commander?

[Bjorn Simonsen]

Has there ever been another file manager, GUI, that is independent? The
way Winfile is? Works only with real files, not engaging in the virtual
folder eye tricks?

Interesting. Never worried about this you see, since Total Commander -
which I have been using for years now - always show me everything,
no matter what the shell says (still does).

OK, trying the ones I have recently downloaded to have a look at.
Test if they will show the <pagefile.sys> file I have in root of my
C: drive. Exploder will not show it while "Hide protected Operating
system files" is checked. Ok first made sure said setting was in
effect, test: Could no longer see pagefile.sys in my C:\ via Explorer.

Gyula’s Navigator (GN): Nope, big surprise. GN also crashed on me
when, while GN was open, I change the folder options in Explorer, then
returned to GN to re-read directory - crash. Indicating it is probably
more hooked into the shell than any of us like.

Turbo Navigator: Works, can see pagefile.sys.

A43: Nope, no go.

Pablo Navigator: No problems of this kind (but has other problems in
current release, like refuse to ren/move file from one drive to
another, only accepts ren/move operation on same drive. Also does not
honor turning off confirmation requests when copy using copy button.
so can not recommend just now...other wise it looks very nice, nice
and clean "Winfilish" look, sent e-mail to author, received prompte
reply, will look into it).

Tracker V3: Works, can see pagefile.sys.

I did not repeat the above "see it they will show pagefil.sys when
hidden by/in Explorer" more than a couple of times (turning view
on/off in E.), I might also have overlook some setting in the
individual FM that will allow "show all files" no matter what the
Explorer shell says. Therefor nice if others can confirm.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[omega]

Interesting. Never worried about this you see, since Total Commander -
which I have been using for years now - always show me everything,
no matter what the shell says (still does).

OK, trying the ones I have recently downloaded to have a look at.
Test if they will show the <pagefile.sys> file I have in root of my
C: drive. Exploder will not show it while "Hide protected Operating
system files" is checked. Ok first made sure said setting was in
effect, test: Could no longer see pagefile.sys in my C:\ via Explorer.

[...]

This was an interesting results report, with showing how some various
players reacted to that test.

Only, I was actually querying for something separate from that whole
species. Where it is more than an issue of something like hide/display
files that have the H attribute. Instead, the special folders...

Like the Fonts folder. Winfile shows only the dozen or so files that I
have there, at the windir\fonts location. When I ask Explorer what's
there, it lists additionally link files to externally-located Fonts that
are registered. Further, until I deleted the desktop.ini that was in that
folder, there was no visual distinction offered between files and links.

Or, the recycled folder. Explorer shows it in a virtual way. Winfile in
an actual way. In the latter case, c:\recycled, d:\recycled, e:\recycled,
they all show distinct contents.

Or the MSIE history folder. I can see what files are physically there with
Winfile, as opposed to what's been read up from the registry.

There are other examples that I am forgetting right now. Oh, except one
curious one. Explorer is especially keen about hiding desktop.ini files,
when they are in a directory that has the System attrib. Related, I once
counted the number of results its Find turned up for desktop.inis, against
using Powerdesk's Find, and there was a siginificant difference.

Naturally I am not against virtual folders. I think they're kool. And
certainly take advantage of the Desktop one all the time. Yet, at the
same time I have always been on the lookout for a GUI file manager,
besides Winfile, that ignores everything "imaginary," and only shows
actual "physical" locations.

 

[omega]

Like the Fonts folder. Winfile shows only the dozen or so files that I
have there, at the windir\fonts location. When I ask Explorer what's
there, it lists additionally link files to externally-located Fonts that
are registered.

An additional clarification here. I didn't mean .lnks. I have no .lnks in
windir\fonts. The links to files for this case is just a display Explorer
is inventing, based on what it is reading from the registry.

 

[omega]

Exploder will not show it while "Hide protected Operating
system files" is checked. Ok first made sure said setting was in
effect, test: Could no longer see pagefile.sys in my C:\ via Explorer.

Count the ways MSFT still refuses to fully respect us when we tell it
not to hide files. Here is a main one. When you have toolbars on the
startbar, that give fold-out display of directory contents... No DLLs.
We are /not allowed/ to see them!

This is 9x, but I doubt that MSFT has changed this behavior. Nor have
I ever heard that there is anything we can do about it. Might be other
filetypes too, besides DLLs, which it has decided to put on the top
shelf, where the children cannot reach... <G>

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

Only, I was actually querying for something separate from that whole
species. Where it is more than an issue of something like hide/display
files that have the H attribute. Instead, the special folders...

Not sure what you mean, other than you want to se what is on your
disk. "Hide protected Operating system files" is not standard Hidden
attribute. I think the ones that did not fail my little test should
show you what you want. Example font folder: Exlporer shows me 139
fonts (as the Windows Font Mangager does). Turbo Navigator shows me
165 files (it calles them objects, but never mind), TCMD 165 files. As
for recycle, they show files, not links. If we you want info beyond
that I think maybe we are talking disk editors? Or maybe something may
have escaped me here? Q: Have you tried any of FMs I listed?

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[omega]

Me confused, you are now blaming the *user interface* for actually
being *user friendly*? Maybe you are simply on the wrong plattform
Karen? (notice - I didn't say planet

Not at all. I rather like playing those games with my OS for who gets
the decisions about what is "user friendly." If I used Linux, I'd miss
out on those games.

The difference with the display situation described is that here there
is no means, that I am aware of, to have the OS respect one's wish to
not (parentally) have things hidden.

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

When you have toolbars on the
startbar, that give fold-out display of directory contents... No DLLs.
We are /not allowed/ to see them!

Me confused, you are now blaming the *user interface* for actually
being *user friendly*? Maybe you are simply on the wrong plattform
Karen? (notice - I didn't say planet

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[Semolina Pilchard]

Installation is letting a gigantic Active-X squid wrap around your hull.
A xillion HKCR registry insertions of the most entangled type. CLSID,
Interface, Typelib ...

Yup, that one's BAD and came off my PC very quickly.

F file manager
http://filemanager.free.fr/features.htm

looks very capable. Just looking at the feature list makes my head
spin. It seems very configurable as well. Out of the box, it uses
some keystroke configurations that I would find difficult to become
used to but perhaps that can be changed.

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

how i understanding
educational
i work in private school
is this educational use?

According to the licence page on their web site:

<quote>
"This software is free for personal and educational use. Price
for commercial use: $20 for 5 licenses. (Prices and
specifications subject to change without notice.)"
</quote>

A "free for personal and educational use" statement can be also be
seen in the programs Help - About menu.

I'm frankly not sure what they mean, like do they by "educational use"
mean educational institutions per se (all staff included), or only
teachers and students, or say anyone as long it is used for
educational purposes only (as in the classroom or say in any activity
that involves any form of teaching, studying, learning). Don't know.

On the other hand, the licence file found in the programs home
directory after installing it <lisence.rtf> reads:

<quote>
You are granted a free non-exclusive and non-transferable right
to use and distribute, for personal purposes the enclosed
software, and any associated documentation (the "Software"),
provided any copy must contain all of the original proprietary
notices.
</quote>

Not a word there about "educational use" (or its meaning),
"personal purposes" only.

If I where you I would e-mail them at <[email protected]> and ask.

If you do, then please kindly ask them to update either the
license file distributed with the program, or the website and the
programs help about screen, which ever is correct.
(And let us know how it goes).

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[David Simpson]

I sure wish I could have one for w98. I use winfile (SFN).

Have you tried the above NT version with W98? No go?

For the 16-bit SNF version you might want to try the
ini- directive explained in
"Using WINFILE.INI's LongFileNames= Setting
<http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=86993>

in the WINFILE.INI file's
[SETTINGS] section:
longfilenames=1

above directive does not exist, must be added.
Don't know if it will work, only one way to find out I guess

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

Didn't seem to make any difference in 98SE. Is it supposed to change
the display or just make the program aware of LFNs?

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

FileMaster
http://www.teammukippe.hostingpro.pl/site/index_eng/fm_main.htm
http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld/links.php?page=8&cat=014

Seems the first of the above URLs have some autoredirection enabled.
Got a brief glimpse of another page, before I ended up
at what seems to be the PRO site (shareware), here:
<http://www.teammukippe.com/homesite/index.php?styl=s0>
There I could only find for download
<ftp://ftp.teammukippe.com/fmpackxp.zip> for XP
<ftp://ftp.teammukippe.com/fmpack9x.zip> for Win9x.

Bot seems to be shareware versions.
"Download shareware version of FileMaster Pro! If you like it,
buy FileMaster 1.80, price: $25."

I disabled automatic redirection to make Opera stop at
the page I could only catch a glimpse of before being redirected
to the shareware page. So tried the initial URL again
<http://www.teammukippe.hostingpro.pl/site/index_eng/fm_main.htm>
and now I was not retorted.
On above page I could find for download
<ftp://ftp.teammukippe.com/fm170_install.zip>
(newest files inside archive dated march 2002)

But is it freeware? Don't know, hard to tell from the website,
and the readme in archive says to read the licence file,
but I am unable to open the cab files inside the archive, so
I guess only way to get to the licence is to install the software.
But guess what, I'm not going to. Grrrr, I just hate this.

My guess is that this was program once release for free, during
development, that has since turned shareware. That is the impression I
get from browsing above sites. But just guessing.

If any one can confirm - either way, please do.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

Didn't seem to make any difference in 98SE. Is it supposed to change
the display or just make the program aware of LFNs?

Latter I guess. See Karen's (omega) reply about the same.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[rir3760]

It was a dark and stormy night when "Spoon2001"

xplorer2 is a *debug* release

[Snip]

Yes, but I think it's very advanced and stable for an "Alpha"
release - 0.0.0.57 - the last alpha release before officially
moving to Beta status.

I agree with you in the stability part, so far it has not crashed my
PC and that says a lot for xplorer2 being an alpha release but at the
same time it's so slow compared to 2xExplorer to be used in a daily
basis.

I use xplorer2 0.0.0.57 as my file manager and am very happy with
it. It has features I doubt you'd find anywhere else.

Bad scrap panes are the most singular (original?) part of
xplorer2 and they are disabled in the current version (xplorer2
0.0.0.59 is the first /free/ beta), they are going to be enabled only
in the future payware version.

Regards

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

Speaking of....you can get a LFN aware copy of WinFile.exe (aka File
manager) file version 4.0.1371.1 from WinNT 4.0 SP4,
D/L link in line 71, right column,on:
<http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm>.

First, a note about the above: just noticed something odd. The above
version will not display the \WINNT directory on my C: drive. My guess
is it is hard-coded not to do that, not sure why though. Another thing
that is "new" with this version, compared to the old Win 3.1 version
(and I assume win9x), is that it shows the name of the file system
next to the drive letter in the directory tree pane, like C:\-NTFS,
F:\-FAT32.

Secondly, the old "FM Step Up" plus a few other File Manager addons,
all formerly shareware - now free. Mostly 16-bit stuff but also FM
StepUp for NT. I remember trying shareware Fm StepUp years ago on
Win3x.

FM StepUp for Windows 3.1x/95/98 (16-bit version) FREE!
FM StepUp NT for Windows NT 3.5x/4.0 (32-bit version) FREE!
FM Toolbar for Windows 3.1x/95/98 (16-bit version) FREE!
FM Guardfor Windows 3.1x/95/98 (16-bit version) FREE!
<http://www.winability.com/fmutils/>

Thirdly, from the same site, but more current, a file manager:

AB Commander LITE for Windows XP/2000/NT/Me/98/95
<http://www.winability.com/abcommander/lite.htm>

<quote> (from <http://www.winability.com/free/>)
A simple to use file manager and Explorer replacement. Offers
dual-panel user interface, command prompt, folder navigation
tools, favorites list, and more. Closely integrated with the
Windows user interface, fully supports shell extensions. Highly
customizable and user friendly. This is a free, light-weight
edition of our full-featured product AB Commander.
</quote>

Finally, they also offer a: "FunFormat Screen Saver"
<http://www.winability.com/free/>
<quote>
If you set up FunFormat as the screensaver on your friend's
computer, then whenever the idle time is up, FunFormat begins to
imitate the formatting of the primary hard disk.
</quote>

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

I sure wish I could have one for w98. I use winfile (SFN)

Found a link on the FM StepUp utils page (see other post)
to "FmLfns 1.1 - File Manager Long File Name Support for Windows
ME/98/95" <http://www.wincorner.com/home/fmlfns.html>
from <http://www.wincorner.com/>
Not sure about freeware status or not, but it looks that way.

Let me know if it works

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

Found a link on the FM StepUp utils page (see other post)
to "FmLfns 1.1 - File Manager Long File Name Support for Windows
ME/98/95" <http://www.wincorner.com/home/fmlfns.html>
from <http://www.wincorner.com/>
Not sure about freeware status or not, but it looks that way.

whoops...extraced the hlp file from the exe,
and it says shareware, sorry about that.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

First, a note about the above: just noticed something odd. The above
version will not display the \WINNT directory on my C: drive. My guess
is it is hard-coded not to do that, not sure why though.

Or, more likely it seems - a bug.
Found a more recent version (v 4.0.1381.91)
<ftp://ftp2.granit.ru/Microsoft/NT/ServPack4/Year2000/SP/i386/winfile.exe>
which did away with the "feature", or more likely bug.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen

 

[zlotowinfo]

If I where you I would e-mail them at <[email protected]> and ask.
If you do, then please kindly ask them to update either the
license file distributed with the program, or the website and the
programs help about screen, which ever is correct.
(And let us know how it goes).

i understand frequently

if you can e-mail them
and inform me
how then understanding
educational use

 

[John]

Download link for > Our Free version of PowerDesk 5 provides a number
of the features of our more powerful PowerDesk Pro edition. This is
fully usable without any time-limits.

http://www.v-com.com/product/pd_free_trial.html

 

[Bjorn Simonsen]

i understand frequently

if you can e-mail them
and inform me
how then understanding
educational use

I am not sure I understand what you say in the above.

Are you simply saying you understood what I suggested and will
e-mail them your self, and let us know what you learn?

Or are you asking if I can e-mail them for you?

For your information I did send (e-mail address removed) an e-mail message my
self, shortly after my last reply to you here. I sent a short notice
noting the inconsistency found in their licensing information for
Gyula's Navigator. I also included a Google link to our messages about
it here. If they will reply or not, here in this group or in e-mail to
me, I don't know. Hopefully they will at least update either their web
site or the licence file that comes with the program.

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen