New File Browser?

Endo_ · Joined: 28 Sep 2003 Posts: 162

Hi, after I installed Aston, I was happy to have the Explorer shell gone and have a much speedier PC. The only thing thats bugging me is that the system still uses IE when browsing files/dir. And I really wanna get rid of IE and put something smaller and faster in its place. I like the look and fell of the IE brwoser, but I just dont want it. I also want to get rid of IE and put another web broswer in its place, would this work fine, or would a different file browser be better? I know theres the trick to put the 95 explorer on the 98 system, but it looks very ugly. Any ideas would be great!
Thanks

Crazy World Alex · Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Posts: 127

Well there are many alternative file browsers for you to choose from, You might look at Servant Salamander 1.52, alot of people seem to like it and it is small, fast and free - check it out here
http://www.altap.cz/salam_en/freeware.html
or you could take a look at this page which lists tons of similiar apps
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Explorer_Replacements/index1.html
There is 7 pages of file managers there - it is the most comprehensive list I have found yet.

That said - I have yet to find a file manager replacement that I am happy with. I would like nothing more than to use something other than explorer to manage files on my PC but I have not yet found a replacement that will work for me. Most file managers are bloated with a ton of extra features that I don't need or want, and while they try to be so much more then just a file browser somehow they just don't deliver on some of the most basic things.

Of course I am perhaps alone in this opinion - because I don't like tree view and I don't like dual pane view and I don't need preview or compression handling, etc. etc. I like to open my folders and just see what's in the folders and the basic navigation tools on the top (and have lots of room in my window to see the contents of my folder), for copying and moving files I like to just open several windows and drag and drop, I have become very fast and efficient working this way over the years. There are only a couple replacements out there that even let you open multiple windows, of those many are limited in how many windows you can open (like 4) and further, most of them open each window (if they can at all) in a seperate process (sometimes using 12 megs of ram for EACH window). So I continually come back to explorer as it is perhaps a bit topheavy memory usage wise, at least it doesn't get much more topheavy even when I open ALOT of windows at the same time.

I personaly think a file manager replacement would be the perfect addition to Aston Shell (provided it was done right). It seems to me the natural next step for Aston to take over file management since then Aston would have replaced explorer completely (There just needs to be an option to use explorer still though because there is no pleasing everyone in this field). Also when it comes to file managers I think everyone has there own way of working so it is a mistake to think that treeview is better or dual pane is better or that the way you navigate directories is the smartest way to do it, this is a mistake.

There is still a need for a File Manager that does exactly what explorer does but is simply a bit more customizable and more streamlined - at the same time explorer is quite nice and it's strengths need to be built upon rather than completely redesigned.

*Anyone know how I can get rid of the little animated waving flag windows icon in the corner of my explorer file manager windows? I am on WinXP - that little waving flag is the last bit of MS branding on my computer (aside from start up and shutdown stuff which I don't mind).

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 4:36 am Post subject:

Hi there!
So many people are devoted to so many different types of file viewers it's hard to say what's better. Of the one's I see used the most, the following seem to be very popular:

WinCommander (and it's various incarnations) - A port of the old fashioned Norton Commander

2x Explorer - ugly, but very functional, with a good deal of customisablility

Ontrack Powerdesk 4 - Unsupported by the vendor, and a little hard to find. Very useful, as it can explore most archive type natively. Most people seem to reshack the ads out.

Opus - A VERY high power file viewer. If you can think it, you can probably write the function into OPUS yourself. HIGHLY configurable, but NOT - repeat NOT for the non-IT-professional.

Regards,

Eyes-Only · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 4:48 am Post subject:

PC?? 2x Explorer ugly? I use that almost exclusively (well, and occasionally PowerDesk) and I don't think it's "ugly".

I guess it's true that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Wink

CrazyWorldAlex? THANKS for that second URL that you gave! It's awesome! Woohoo! 7 pages of file managers---and can you believe it?! Some I've never even tried! I can't believe it...

Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge"

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 5:11 am Post subject:

Hi there!
The problem (to me) with file managers is that anyone who cares to undertake more than the basic functions of explorer has widely differing requirements. Accordingly, most replacements designed for those users also differ widely in the interface. Of all the replacements I've tried, Powerdesk is the most elegant, but it has not nearly as much functionality as other apps. 2x harkens back to winfile days, and is simplistic - some people would be turned off by it. Fortunately, there is an alternative I don't mention in my previous post, and that is explorer extensions. If you search long and hard enough, you will find a huge resource of tools to integrate into the right click menu, so that explorer.exe will again become tolerable.

After all, I prefer to load my machine with as little software as possible.

Regards

Crazy World Alex · Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Posts: 127

I know my post was a bit long winded - I have a tendency to go overboard that way.

But at the end I asked if anyone knows a way to ditch those pesky Windows icons in my explorer windows (not IE - the file manager windows). I can't stand those Icons in all my file manager windows, They are driving me iinnsaaAAnNE).

Maybe I got a class action suit here (mental anguish and trauma) Wink

Just Kidding - though I DO want those icons to be gone.

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 5:39 am Post subject:

Hi Alex,
what you can do is copy the following into a text file named something like NoMS.reg - as usual, I make NO assertions as to the efficacy of this registry tweak, and you undertake to try this purely at your own risk.

----Begin cut and plaste below
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\ShellBrowser]
"ITBarLayout"=hex:0c,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,74,00,00,00,1a,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,\
17,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,6a,00,00,00,26,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,56,\
00,00,00,02,00,00,00,29,00,00,00,57,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,a8,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,04,00,00,00,09,00,00,00,55,01,00,00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\Explorer]
"ITBarLayout"=hex:0c,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,74,00,00,00,1a,00,00,00,13,00,00,00,\
33,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,6a,00,00,00,26,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,e1,00,00,00,df,\
01,00,00,04,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,bd,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,20,00,00,00,8d,01,\
00,00,03,00,00,00,09,00,00,00,b8,00,00,00

---End cut and paste

Regards, and good luck!

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 5:44 am Post subject:

One more thing.
If you feel like REPLACING the spinning icon in Internet Exploder, rather than removing it, have a read of http://www.astonshell.com/news/news.php?news=detail&id=32 - I've even included an Aston "throbber".

Regards,

Crazy World Alex · Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Posts: 127

Sweet! Once again you totaly rock PC. Now I can go pretend I'm not using explorer as a file manager, at least until I come upon one that I like better.

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2003 6:44 am Post subject:

Hi Alex,
don't forget to read that article for tips on customising the toolbar background - that way you will be sure to look even less like an MS clone.

Regards,

Crazy World Alex · Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Posts: 127

Well I followed your article - very useful - but I don't see any way to "change" the windows logo in my file manager windows. Everything else worked fine. I was able to change the still and animated pictures in the top right of my IE Browser windows, and I changed the background image of toolbars (file manager and IE) but there does not seem to be an option in X-Setup or gpedit.msc to change the little logo in the top right corner of my file manager windows.

I have not tried your registry fix to get rid of theme entirely yet because I would much rather just change them. One other question - if I do use the reg fix is there a way to undo it in the future?

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 4:08 am Post subject:

Hi there,
as far as I know, apart from figuring out the exact resource explorer.exe uses, and resource hacking that file - replacing the "throbber" with the modified version, I don't know of a way to change the file explorer throbber.

As for the registry "fix" I have provided, if you wish to have the potential to restore the previous setting, just navigate to the keys indicated in the patch, and back those strings up to a set of *undo.reg files.

Regards,

Crazy World Alex · Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Posts: 127

OK - thanks PC,

I am scouring the net right now trying to find a way to do this. if I find the answer I'll let you know.

Crazy World Alex · Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Posts: 127

Well I have found various info but nothing yet that will let me change the windows flag in the file manager. If anyone can help me figure out what resource to hack I would be very grateful.

Looking through explorer.exe with a resource hacker I found several .bmps of the little flag logo and changed them into my own logo (after backing up explorer.exe of course) and found the only way to get windows to use my modified explorer.exe was to switch into safe mode with command promt and swap the file out from there. That worked and after reboot I checked the resource of explorer.exe and it was indeed using my modified version but it did not change the flag in my explorer windows - So I swapped it back out for the original.

Help me ditch the windows logo please Twisted Evil

The_PC_Mechanic · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:43 pm Post subject:

Hi there!
I'm not sure if this will work, as I haven't tried it myself, but if you open :winnt\system32\browseui.dll in a resource hacker you can take a look at the bitmap strings marked bitmap\304\1033, bitmap\305\1033, bitmap\306\1033 and you will see the bitmaps that are used for the browser throbber. Knowing that explorer.exe and IE borth share resources, and of course that there are common settings, I would guess that this file contains resources for both programs. Why not (AT YOUR OWN RISK - BACKUP FIRST) try editing or replacing those and seeing what happens?

Regards,