How many people here still use Windows Explorer around their computer? Chances are good, that unless you have a desire for more power, you’re not going to replace your file manager. After all, the default’s fine enough for most people: it allows for renaming, copying, pasting, etc, what we’re all used to. I suppose I’m guilty of it too, especially seeing as many times I’m not lucky enough to carry a copy of Nexus File Portable. And as I’ve also found out recently, Nexus File seems to have a few bugs under the 64bit edition of Windows, such as being unable to fully access the right click menu. This isn’t so much their fault as it is User Account Control’s fault: as anyone who’s used Windows Vista or 7, it’s on by default and makes you a limited user by default. And if you turn UAC off, then there’s less security. So I left it for Total Commander, a program often recommended as a grade ‘A’ alternative to Explorer. However, personally, I’ve found it’s shortcuts cumbersome, such as having to right click to add to the selection, rather then getting the right click menu makes me a bit hesitant to call it a worthwhile investment myself.
So if Total Commander and Nexus File don’t work flawlessly under 64bit, or at least don’t work the way I want them to, there is really no other choice. Or is there?
Enter Directory Opus, a file manager I found recently and have been learning to love to use. To say the least, it puts Total Commander, Nexus File, heck, every other file manager I’ve ever used to shame. It remains lightweight and easy to use, offering an improved take over Total Commander’s workings, and offering much more. Some of the major things that make it different from Windows Explorer file manager:
- FTP Client, built in
- Image viewer, built in
- Built in audio clip viewer
- Built in compressed file support (On top of ZIP, it also supports RAR)
- Themes and tabbed browsing, on top of a interface that sorta mimics Total Commander
- Advanced Renaming that supports wildcard support
- Image converter
- And much much more supported by plug-ins
On first load, this is how it looks like. If you’ve used any file manager, you already feel at home with it.
Overall, since I’ve been trying out it’s features, I’ve fallen more and more in love with how amazing it is, how fully featured it is. Heck, I’m surprised that more people haven’t tried it. On their site, they offer a free 30 day trial which can be extended to 60 days if you register your email address with them. The only possible downside I’ve personally found in Directory Opus is it’s price tag, at $80 Australian, which is rather steep until you consider how much it actually gets you, including a free license for a laptop as well.
Testing out the FTP capabilities, it was able to connect fine to my local server.
I also emailed the developers about this amazing software and they’ve agreed to offer a 25% off offer for Raymond.cc readers only! Simply use the code
RAYMOND1110
during the checkout and it will take it off for you automatically. Or if you’d like, you can click this link which will automatically add the discount to your order.
Finally, the picture viewer is a beautiful addiction that rounds out the amazing software.
Overall, if you’ve got the money, Directory Opus manages to make every other file manager look like a toy to me. I’ve not seen anything on the market that comes even remotely close to their amount of features and functionality, and with the added plug ins, make it one software I’ve enjoyed ever since I started using it.