Clover is an excellent replacement for standard Windows Explorer. Selecting a replacement for Windows Explorer

A program to improve the functionality of standard Windows Explorer. It allows you to integrate some functions into Explorer popular browser Google Chrome, such as working with multiple tabs in one window and creating bookmarks for frequently used files and folders.

Many people often make jokes about work operating systems Windows family. These are most often “advanced” users who switched to Linux and others like them :).

Many people, reluctantly, endure the inconvenience of working with a PC, gradually getting used to it. And only a few try to improve their system in any way by adding various useful features, which greatly facilitate the performance of everyday tasks.

In our article today, I would like to touch on the topic of improving Windows Explorer. Some users decided to get rid of it once and for all and use third-party file managers.

This is also an option, but usually many remain “attached” to standard means access to files. And precisely for such users third party developers They write dozens of different applications that significantly improve the good old Explorer.

It's no secret that the Explorer is based on the notorious Internet Explorer, only stripped down and adapted to work with the local file system. Program developers Clover, which will be discussed today, we decided that since the basis for the standard viewer Windows files is a browser, then let it be... Chrome!

Accordingly, by installing Clover, we will get a “Chrome-like” appearance of Explorer with the ability to create multiple tabs (instead of opening new windows) and bookmarks to quickly navigate to the desired directories!

But about everything in due time, for now I offer a small comparison of Clover with paid analogue, which improves working with files in Explorer - Xplorer 2:

Comparison with a paid analogue

Clover is not as functional as other similar utilities, but I liked it primarily because it practically does not change appearance Windows Explorer. This allows you to comfortably use standard sidebar tasks. That is, there is no need to relearn and remember what and where (in terms of functions) is now located - everything remains as it was, and even better :)

Program installation

Installation will not take you much time. Just download the archive with the program and run from it installation file. In the window that appears, click the “Next” button, and in the next window, select (if necessary) the installation location, click the “Install” button and wait for the installation process to complete.

After installation is complete, a program icon will appear on your desktop and the “My Computer” window will open, which will now look like this:

As you can see, virtually everything remained in its place, but three new things were added: it became possible to create tabs, the bookmarks bar was activated and a button was added in the form wrench to configure our program.

Clover program settings

First of all, let's take a look at the Clover settings menu:

To be honest, it slightly disappointed me... The fact is that, in fact, there are no settings at all :). All we can do is open new tab, new window and hide the bookmarks bar. Not too much, though I didn’t really want to :). Indeed, the fewer customization options, the less chance there is to mess up somewhere ;)

Interestingly, by selecting “About Clover”, we will see a window in which we can check if there are any updates for our program. By the way, it looks the same as the Chrome browser.

The “Help” item will send us to the official website of the program (by the way, it’s Chinese :)), and “Exit”, contrary to expectations, will not disable new functions, but will simply close the current window.

Working with bookmarks

As we found out above, bookmarks in Clover are the only thing that can be customized, so let's start with them:

There are several ways to add a bookmark to the desired folder or file:

1. Drag the folder (or file) icon to the bookmarks bar;
2. Select the folder and press the key combination “CTRL+D”;
3. Call context menu bookmarks bar and click “Add Page”.

In addition, as in “Chrome-like” browsers, we have the ability to group our bookmarks by certain folders. Call the context menu of the bookmarks bar and activate the “Add folder” item:

In the window that appears, in the “Name” field, enter the desired name for your folder and click “Save.” If you need to create several folders, this can be done by pressing the “ new folder" Bookmarks are added to the resulting folders using the same principles as to the bookmarks bar.

Using bookmarks, you can access any folders, files and even programs, thus getting great tool For quick call required functions!

Working with Tabs

Clover's main trump card is the function of adding tabs to Explorer:

As with working with bookmarks, the most convenient way to open required folders in new tabs is the method of dragging them onto the tab bar. In this case, the cursor will take the form of an arrow, which indicates whether you need to insert a new tab after the existing one, before it, or open it in the current tab (see screenshot above).

However, in reality there are much more possibilities for creating a tab:

1. The already mentioned drag and drop (opens the selected folder in a new tab);
2. Clicking the parallelogram button to the right of the last open tab (opens a new “My Computer” tab);
3. Keyboard shortcut “CTRL+T” (opens a new tab “My Computer”);
4. The “New Tab” item in Settings and in the context menu of the tab bar (opens a new “My Computer” tab).

Regarding the last point, I would like to talk separately:

In the context menu you can find another pretty convenient way creating a new tab - “Duplicate”. It allows you to quickly create a copy of the currently selected tab.

Besides useful points here will be “Open closed tab", which allows you to bring back recently viewed tabs that you closed, and "Pin a tab." Last function allows us to keep the necessary open tabs even after turning off Explorer!

In addition to the simple convenience of displaying several directories in one window, you can also easily drag and drop files and folders between open tabs, so that the need for multi-panel interfaces disappears by itself!

That's probably all there is to it :). It's time to take stock.

Advantages and disadvantages of the program

• expanding functionality without changing the appearance of Explorer;
• support for opening multiple folders in different tabs one window;
• a developed bookmark system for quickly jumping to the necessary folders and files;
• convenient tab management functions;
• moving files and folders between open tabs.

• not detected:).

conclusions

The conclusion suggests itself - if you are not used to using a variety of file managers in your work, then Clover will become great addition to your standard Explorer.

With its help you will not only simplify navigation through file system and copying data from one folder to another, but you can also organize your own shortcut bar for any programs or folders! And all this - without significant changes in the functionality of the standard Explorer!

P.S. Permission granted to freely copy and quote this article subject to indicating open active link to the source and preservation of the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny.

For many users since the days of the first Windows versions I have a negative opinion about Windows Explorer. Some of the complaints are well founded. The reason for this is Microsoft's inexplicable obstinacy in not implementing tabs or panels in this file manager. The rest of the Explorer interface and functionality has also changed little over the past five years. In this article I will try to tell you how to improve the work of the standard Explorer so that it becomes more friendly and convenient.

1. Use “Favorites”

Yes, we are unlikely to see tabs from Microsoft. Therefore, we will try to improve the usability of Explorer in a slightly different way. At the top of the tree panel there is an item with an asterisk and the inscription “Favorites”. This item is always visible, but for some reason it is rarely used. But in vain!

To place a folder there, simply open it in Explorer and click right key mouse on the asterisk (“Favorites”) in the left window of Explorer. Each user does not have so many folders that he regularly looks into. There is a place for them in the “Favorites”. Now you can get to the folder with “Tanks” replays or another frequently used tab in just two clicks. To do this, you don’t even need to clutter your desktop with folders or shortcuts for them.

2. Clean the context menu

With the installation of new programs, more and more new items appear in the context menu displayed by Explorer when you click the right mouse button. After a while, the menu grows and becomes inconvenient. The easiest way is to clean it using a utility that has special function in your arsenal of tweaks.

3. Add your functions to the context menu

Adding your own items to the Explorer context menu will require some preparation from the user. To do this you need to launch the editor system registry(regedit.exe) and find the branch responsible for the Explorer context menu. For experienced users Below is a picture with the indicated branch. They will figure out what to do next.

We encourage others to use only ready-made scripts that change the registry.

Here, for example, are ready-made scripts that add the items “Move to...” and “Copy to...” (“Copy to...”). Just download and run them.

4. Improving file copying

In earlier versions, before Windows 7, the copy dialog was terrible: copy conflict resolution could not be set uniformly for all files being processed. Now he has become much better. Therefore, this point is more relevant to owners of older versions of Windows. We suggest that they use a utility that integrates with Explorer and brings to it not only its own file copy dialog, but also its own algorithm accelerated copying in several threads.

5. Add tabs to Explorer

If, after all the operations you have done with the Explorer, it still seems inconvenient to you, do not despair. Install the program . It will create tabs in your Explorer.

I have used a bunch of different file managers in my practice, starting with Norton Commander and ending with quite modern Total Commander and Double Commander. Therefore, I declare to you with all responsibility - Windows Explorer is quite good! Suddenly? Try to tame him using the suggested tricks!

The most common work with a computer and system is copying, moving and other work with folders. This can sometimes be inconvenient, especially when you need to work with multiple folders. Usually they open several necessary folders and collapse them. Then they switch between them, which also causes some inconvenience.
Some install third-party file managers and somehow solve it this way.
But in this article I will show you a program that will simply replace Explorer and make the work much more familiar and convenient.

Many of us large quantity spent time at the computer on the Internet. We are using different websites, but browsers based on the Chrominium engine (not necessarily Google) are becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, its interface is most familiar to us, just like other browsers.

In general, EJIE Technology has developed a program that replaces Windows Explorer and makes it look like a browser. Sort of Chrome Explorer it turns out =)

Take a look and you will immediately understand what I mean:

Please note that when you right-click on a tab, the same context menu that is present in browsers opens:

And here, just in case. list of hotkeys for working with tabs in this Explorer:

Open in new window.
- Open a new tab.
Hold down the key while clicking on a folder - Open folder in a new tab in background.
- Open the last closed tab.
- Switch to the tab with specified number positions on the tab.
- Switch to last tab.
- Transition to next tab.
- Go to previous tab.
- Close the current window.
- Close the current tab or pop-up window.
- Open and close the bookmarks bar.
- Save the current tab as a bookmark in your bookmarks folder.
- Save all tabs as bookmarks in the bookmarks folder.

The screenshot above shows the settings. Everything is clear there, but regarding the topic I would like to clarify that themes from Google Chrome With .crx. So you can download your favorite theme from your browser and install it yourself.

Other program features:

If you frequently perform file operations in Windows or navigate your computer using the standard Windows Explorer, then most likely you have noticed that sometimes it is missing a number of additional functions, such as advanced and pre-configured filters and coloring of files by conditions, or the ability to select various ways display files, for example, display at least two different open folders in one window. However, whatever the reasons, you can always use file managers How alternative to standard Windows Explorer. And about one of them, namely about XYPlorer will be discussed in this article.

Note: Remember that Windows Explorer is just a program, so as with any other program, you are free to use the one that suits you best.

XYPlorer Free This file manager for Windows, which is already more than ten years old. There is a paid and limited free version, which does not contain any advertising or any pop-ups or anything like that. And don’t focus on the word “limited”. In terms of functionality, the free version can easily be compared with similar file managers.

As you can see, the program interface is designed quite neatly and is very similar to the Explorer interface, so it can easily be considered as replacing Windows Explorer. There is one area for the file tree and two areas for different folders. There is one in the tree area interesting feature This highlighting the current path, starting from point " Computer", so if you are a visual person and it is easier for you to follow the path not along the line bread crumbs, then you will definitely like this feature. Areas for different directories are made in the form of components with tabs, so if you need, for example, to structure files that have accumulated over a couple of years, then this can be done without constant search necessary open window among a mountain of Explorer folders.

If we consider the program in terms of distinctive functionality, then you will definitely appreciate its ability to tint files depending on conditions (for example, " created/modified in the last week"), the ability to select files using checkboxes, pre-configured filtering rules, great amount customizable little things, the ability to mass rename files, support for hot keys, the ability to set color labels, which is especially convenient when you need to re-sort documents and directories, and much, much more.

XYPlorer It comes in both a portable version and with an installer. A check on VirusTotal showed that the program does not contain viruses. XYPlorer supports enough big set Windows versions, including latest versions. Download the program and find Additional information you can at this address http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php.

Note: To install the Russian language, you need to open the program in top menu choose " Help", and then " Select Language".

Now, you will always have at hand a good replacement for the standard Windows Explorer.

• ShareX is a program for taking screenshots from the screen with the ability to post it on the Internet

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