File manager: the history of the occurrence of a term and an overview of several file managers

In the modern world, any file manager is called a file manager. Read the story of the occurrence of the term and a description of several third-party programs in the article.

Historical digression

Initially, the program "File Manager"was built into Windows 3.0. The interface of the utility consisted of a single window with a single panel. In it, operations with files were performed. All files the program divided into three types: non-associated, associated and executable. Icons were also only three. The icon was assigned depending on which group the file belonged to.

Since the utility was inferior to similar products bythe number of functions, and the interface was uncomfortable, it was not recognized. Instead, it often installed third-party applications, for example, Norton Commander.

In Windows 95, the program was replaced by "Explorer", but in the OS it was still turned on. They abandoned the utility only in Windows editions released after Windows 98.

"Conductor"

How to open the file manager in a modern Windows OS? To do this, just double-click the "Computer" icon on the desktop. If you start from the Start menu, you need to click on the shortcut only once.

The first versions of the program "Explorer" simplyreplaced some obsolete system utilities. In modern editions of Windows, only the file manager is usually called the conductor. In fact, "Explorer" is the entire graphical environment, like Gnom or KDE in Linux. As the development in a small file management program added a new functionality, until it grew into a full-featured system that implements the entire OS interface.

Total Commander

Total Commander - one of the most popular file managers. The first version was released 23 years ago. Initially, the program completely repeated the functionality of Norton Commander.

The interface of modern versions of the utility can be called classic. File Manager works in a two-pane mode. Standard functionality can be extended by plug-ins.

The main distinguishing features of Total Commander:

• Built-in archiver;
• the ability to create bookmarks for directories;
• the classic interface is complemented by drag-n-drop-functionality;
• View a list of computers on the local network and access to directories via the SMB protocol;
• saved history of working with files;
• Splitting files into several parts without archiving.

FAR Manager

File Manager FAR Manager is completely free. Its main difference from other similar utilities is the appearance and speed of work. The text interface is similar to the Norton Commander and will appeal to fans of retro style. To perform basic operations, use hotkeys. The program options are extensive and allow you to configure the FAR Manager according to the requirements of each user.

The main features of the utility:

• text interface;
• plug-ins;
• minimum system requirements among similar programs;
• In addition to the built-in functions, the user can quickly switch to the command line to enable Windows console applications;
• file Manager It can work with SMB-directories and FTP-storages;
• The text editor is already built into the utility, the text can be viewed in standard mode or in hexadecimal representation.

Despite the fact that FAR Manager is considered one of thethe best file managers, because of the outdated interface, it is mostly chosen by the old-timers of the computer world. Of course, the appearance of the program can scare off modern users, but its functionality completely covers this drawback. For example, in FAR Manager, you can easily switch the encoding to a text editor and delete the file that is locked.

On the official resource, where the file managercan be downloaded, provides a detailed FAQ and a description of the plug-ins. If this is not enough, you can ask a question on the forum, talk with users, make a proposal for modernization.