People have been complaining about the functionality and ease of use of Windows Explorer, so there are a lot of third-party plugins (they usually appear in the context menu of Windows Explorer). In this article, we've collected some great Windows Explorer plugins and will give you a brief introduction to their functionality.
These plugins include Winamp (www.winamp.com) for playing audio files, Antivir Personal Edition (www.freeav.de) for virus killing, and for Trojan and malware removal. Ewido Security Suite (www.ewido.com).
If you want Windows Explorer to be better, the first step you can consider first is to install the free Folderbox 1.20 (www.baxbex.com/products.Html). Folderbox adds a directory tree display window to Windows Explorer, which is more convenient to operate in two directory windows. Another small plug-in from the company is called bxNew Folder 1.0, which adds a shortcut button to the new folder for Windows Explorer. You can also use the F12 shortcut to complete the new folder operation.
Improve usability
Figure 1
In the Windows operating system, most file types are associated with a specific application, but you will find some inconvenience during use . For example, you can associate a jpeg image file with an image browsing tool and another image editing software at the same time, but it is not convenient to select which program to open the jpeg image file in Windows Explorer. You must press the right mouse button. Then select "Open With" from the context menu and choose which software to open it with. Open Expert 1.40 (www.baxbex.com/products.Html) can solve this problem. When you double-click on a file, it will let you choose which program to open.
Directory Printer 5.03 (www.karenware.com, Figure 1) is a free software that can print a list of files in a folder or save a list as a text file. You can choose which file attribute fields are included in this list, such as file size, last modified date, etc. You can also use "Edit File Filters" to filter the types of files you need to print. In addition, you can sort the list of files using different keywords (such as file name, suffix, file size, etc.). Directory Printer can also print the contents of subfolders (check the "Search Sub-Folder" checkbox). The way to access the Directory Printer is to select "Print with DirPrn" from the context menu in Windows Explorer.
Attribute Changer 5.23 (free,
http://webplaza.pt.lu/~rpetges
) can clear or change the properties of the file (such as system, hidden, read-only, etc.). You can only access the Attribute Changer through the context menu in Windows Explorer. To do this, select one or more files, then right-click and select "Change Attributes" from the pop-up menu. You can also activate or clear an attribute. In Windows NT/2000 or XP, you can also modify the compression or index properties. Attribute Changer also allows you to modify the properties of files in subfolders. You can even define the filter criteria for the files yourself.
Jdisk Report 1.21 (free, www.jgoodIEs.com) can analyze your hard disk files and display the file storage status graphically, but to use it, you need to install it on your machine. U>Java
Version 1.4 or higher. After installation, select a disk drive or folder in Windows Explorer and right click to select "Jdisk Report 1.21". It can display up to 10 files with the most space and sort them by creation date to help you find useless files to free up more space.
Gipo Move on Boot 1.95 (free, www.gibinsoft.Net) allows you to delete the specified file or folder the next time the system starts. Because sometimes you will encounter some files that are locked by the application and cannot be deleted. It is much more convenient to have Gipo Move on Boot.
Shell Picture (www.baxbex.com) adds a picture preview function to Windows Explorer. After installation, when you select an image file in Windows Explorer and press the right mouse button, it will display a preview image in the context menu. Shell Picture also provides print preview and format conversion, and allows you to open images with the specified image editing software.
improve file security
Windows file deletion functions only on FAT (File Allocation Table) is marked for deletion, but the real file data still exists until they are covered by other documents, This deleted file can be recovered using a professional file recovery tool. For some important private files, it is clear that a more thorough deletion is required. The free Eraser 5.7 (www.heidi.IE/eraser) overwrites all unused areas of the hard drive in 35 minutes. It uses Peter Gutmann's data cleanup algorithm to achieve a high level of security. After installing Eraser 5.7, you can see the addition of an "Erase" menu item in the context menu of Windows Explorer. When you execute the command on the selected file or folder, it opens a dialog for you to confirm and allows you to select the deletion method in the "Options" tab.
Integrating support for compressed files in the context menu of Windows Explorer is also a common practice, as is well known in Winzip and Winrar. However, both Winzip and Winrar are shareware. After the trial period expires, you will be reminded to register. If you don't want to encounter this kind of trouble, consider the free Tugzip 3.0 (www.tugzip.com). It can handle compressed files in zip, 7-zip, ace, cab, rar and tar formats. You can activate its context menu in Windows Explorer in the "Options" tab. In the "Extras" tab, you can also find more useful features, such as compressed document repair, decompression batch processing, encryption compression, etc. It even provides a shortcut to send compressed files via e-mail.
Safe Guard Private Crypto 2.01.0.3 (www.utiMaco.com) is able to encrypt files or folders using the AES encryption algorithm. After installing the software, select a file or folder in Windows Explorer and right-click on the context menu and select "Private Crypto". It will prompt you to enter a password, then use it to compress the file and delete the source file. If you need to distribute the documentation, the best thing to do is to create a self-extracting file so that the recipient of the document can solve the document by knowing the password without having to install Safe Guard Private Crypto. The software is free for non-commercial use and supports up to 2GB of documentation.
Copying, moving, and renaming
If you pay attention, you will find that the file copying and moving functions provided by Windows itself have a big flaw: if the copying or moving process is interrupted (For example, if you encounter a read error or the overwritten file has read-only properties, etc.), then you have to re-do it. If you have a lot of files to work with (especially for folders with lots of files and subfolders), it will cause you a lot of trouble. The free software Killcopy 2.82 (http://killprog.narod.ru/killcopye.Html
, Figure 2) can solve this problem for you, it adds "Killcopy" to the context menu of Windows Explorer and The "Killmove" entry is used for file copying and moving, respectively, and it provides much more functionality than the file copying and moving features provided by Windows itself. For example, you can select a destination folder, control file copy speed, and pause the copy process. If an error message appears, it will give you enough hints and be able to continue with the rest of the operation, even if there is a crash restart, it can continue the last unfinished operation.
Figure 2
Piky Basket 2.0 (www.conceptworld.com) is also a free file copy and mobile enhancement tool, after installation, you can pass the "Windows Explorer" context menu Piky Basket" to access it, it allows you to copy or move files from multiple folders.
Wild Rename 2.0 (free, www.cylog.org) facilitates the renaming of multiple files or folders. You can enter matching criteria and rename all eligible files one at a time. It also supports case conversion and sequential numbering of file names.
File Format Conversion
If you want to add image format conversion function to the Windows Explorer's context menu, you can install the free Irfan View 3.95 (www.irfanview.de), which works with Irfan. -VIEw Shell Extension 1.02 (www.baxbex.com/products.Html) will provide this feature.
Dbpower AMP Music Converter 10.1 (www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm) can provide wav and mp3 conversion function in the context menu of Windows Explorer, but you need to install Lamdell mp3 code separately. (http://mitiok.cjb.Net
). Dbpower AMP Music Converter allows you to specify the target folder and new file name, then click "Convert" to complete the conversion.
Text IMP 1.0 (free, www.gthmedia.de) converts Unix-formatted text files to Windows format. Html documents or CGI scripts need to be saved in Unix format. They may not display properly in Windows Notepad. With Text IMP, this problem is solved.
Virtual Drive
The virtual drive tool can emulate a CD image file as a CD/DVD drive. Daemon-Tools 3.47 is a free virtual drive tool (www.daemon-tools.cc). It supports CD image formats such as iso, cue/bin, nrg (Nero), btw (Blind-write) and ccd (Clone). CD). If you have awxd-Tools 1.04 installed, it can also be added to the "Daemon-Tools Mount to" project in the context menu of Windows Explorer.
Vsubst 1.7 (free, http://home.tiscalinet.ch/t.bigler/utils.Html
) can be used to virtualize a local folder as a drive.