15 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed
Well worth 'exploring' - some are already Vista compatible ie: XYplorer, xplorer², XPlorer, FileMatrix, freeCommander, SpeedCommander, CubicExplorer (soon to be released) will be.

Program
*5 Star rating
A43 ***½ (free)
Ac Browser Plus **
CubicExplorer *** (free)
Directory Opus ****
ExplorerXP *** (free)
Far Manager ***½
FileMatrix *** (free)
freeCommander ***½ (free)
PowerDesk Pro/Standard **¾
Servant Salamander (2.5) **** (freeware older version)
SpeedCommander ***
Total Commander ****
XPlorer ***½
xplorer² *** (free 'Lite' version)
XYplorer **** (last freeware here)

See the reviews at: Simplehelp».
Let us know which one you chose, why, etc. :)

Very nice free, open source explorer replacement: PC Viewer
"PC Viewer is an advanced explorer with tabs and some more interesting things like an operations admin.
PC Viewer es un explorador avanzado con pestañas y cosas interesantes como un administrador de operaciones."

Languages/Idiomas: English, Español

Operating System :
All 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP), Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Win98 OSR2, WinME

PC Viewer @ SourceForge»

UltraExplorer is designed to be the ultimate File Manager for Microsoft Windows.

The user interface is completely customizable. You can hide or show as many of the featured windows, dock them in other places or let them float as free standing windows. The same is true for the tool bars as well. You can even move buttons from toolbars to other toolbars and assign your own short cuts keys.

http://www.mustangpeak.net/ultraexplorer.html

Ac Browser Plus - Free Edition File Manager for Windows
Advanced file manager, image viewer and FTP client for Windows

Ac Browser Plus Free Edition is lite version of Ac Browser Plus - a file manager for windows, with integrated image viewer and converter, FTP client, file finder, and encryption/compression/mass renaming tools. Other features include for example 'editorial renaming' (renaming files just like in a text editor), true multi-threading, calculating folder sizes 'on fly', instant preview of image and multimedia files, file splitting and merging, simple script engine, zooming in/out thumbnails and other views (with Ctrl+mouse wheel), or file operation queueing.

The only difference from 'pro edition' is that the free version can't have more than 3 browse windows opened at a time.

OS: Win XP, NT, 2000, 2003
Languages: English, German, Polish, Italian, Swedish, Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish, Indonesian.
Documentation included.

More Info & Download: konradp.com

Unreal Commander
by Max Diesel
Free file manager for Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista.

http://x-diesel.com/index.php

Universal Viewer (ATViewer) Free (light version) is an advanced, open source, file viewer with wide range of formats supported. Implemented view modes and corresponding file formats are:

• Text, Binary, Hex, Unicode: any files, of unlimited size (even 4Gb+ sizes are allowed)
  
• RTF/UTF-8: RTF and UTF-8 encoded texts
  
• Image: all general graphics formats: BMP JPG GIF PNG TGA TIFF... plus all formats supported by IrfanView/XnView external viewers
  
• Multimedia: all formats supported by MS Windows Media Player: AVI MPG WMV MP3...
  
• Internet: all formats supported by MS Internet Explorer: HTML XML DOC XLS...
  
• Plugins: all formats supported by Total Commander Lister plugins

System: : Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista.

Application is fully Unicode-compatible and can be integrated into Windows Explorer's context menu, so there is no problem to call it from anywhere in Explorer: right-click a file and select the "Universal Viewer" item. It can also be integrated into other popular file managers. Generally, Universal Viewer is an application similar to Total Commander Lister. But, comparing to Lister, it has some major advantages

Installer & Portable Edition: http://atorg.net.ru/universal_viewer/index.htm

XYplorerFree - new release!

"2007 was a very good year for XYplorer. More popularity, more sales, and the cause of the former: A lot of great improvements. So I thought: Why not give away one of the earlier versions for free? Scanning through the change log I found a natural candidate, ver 5.50.0001, released 17-Dec-2006, the last version before the introduction of the new license key. So I took the original v5.50 code, polished it somewhat, raised the version number to 5.55, recompiled it, wrapped it all up in a no-install-package including a help file, and called it XYplorerFree.

Yes, that's right: XYplorer ver 5.55 is now available for free! Free as in: Fully functional. No nagging. No limitations. You may even use it commercially!

What's the catch? Simply and obviously: No email support or updates."

Non-install - Downloads»