XYplorer is not about any one particular feature; it's about how all those little parts come together to form a cohesive application. Days, weeks, months after you install this gem you will notice those little treats that will make you smile, and say to yourself, "Mmmm, Nice." Anyone who has used this app for any length of time will see that every feature was carefully considered before it was added. Just USE it. You will love it!

This application is a work of art, it really is that.

Ax Fleming (USA)

Let's face it, I'm a hopeless techno-junkie. My latest fix, "XYplorer" is the cleverest file management program I have ever encountered and I've been vetting software for quite a few years. Having used several file managers, including dual pane, I was blown away by XYplorer's tabbed interface. This makes flicking between several drive partitions and file groups unbelievably quick and easy.

The multitudinous things this user-friendly program can do continually amaze me but are far too numerous to go into here. It's even more astounding when you realise how small a footprint XYplorer leaves on your hard drive. It does not even have to be installed.

Importantly, I had an almost immediate and very helpful response from the developer himself, when I emailed a few questions. Not bad considering that I'm still waiting for replies months later, from others to whom I've emailed software queries.

Brian D. (Western Australia)

My previous file manager balked at Vista so I was forced to find a replacement. XYplorer was a shot in the dark that paid off in spades since it had every feature I had been relying upon and MANY more. It installs very quickly and comes up the first time with a nice set of features activated that most users will not need to change.

However, if you are a real power user, there are MANY ways that you can easisly enable other things to make it conform to your specific needs. In fact, there are so many customizable functions and options that it is impossible to describe them all here. The amazing thing is that they work elegantly and do not bloat its size or degrade its blazing performance.

For me, it works flawlessly when browsing a company network server as well as for my local environment. And, although it does all that Windows Explorer does, any attempt to compare them is like comparing apples and oranges. A bonus here is that the developer continues to add meaningful features. Whether you are a casual user of this type of utility or a professional, you will find XYplorer a real winner that is well worth the price.

Eldon M Wright, IT Professional

XYplorer is perfect for an admin like myself to take with them on an USB memory stick when helping users logged in as users or power users without having to mess around re-authenticating all the time, since they can do a RunAs on XYplorer directly and authenticate just once to then browse to many servers without the need to log the user off and on as them and without constantly being prompted over and over again for credentials, etc.

Windows Explorer does not work well with RunAs. There is a trick of using Internet Explorer instead to get around this, however, this no longer works with Internet Explorer 7.

Using XYplorer instead works great for this! All of my favorite settings will save right to the USB memory stick, and there is no need to have it installed on all the computers that I use it on since it is portable!! Very cool!

Bruce Weston, I.T. Manager at BASIC, www.basiconline.com

I recently downloaded the trial version of XYplorer and am really impressed! I'm usually one to support open source communities by using and contributing to their software, as I am a software engineer by trade. Yet, there appears to be no open source project that I am happy with for file management on Windows PCs. I am usually very picky about applications' GUIs. As a software engineer, very few applications satisfy my high expectations of both visual aesthetics and usability.

Then I found XYplorer. Everything I want to do with file management is included in XYplorer. Nothing is out of place; everything is so easy to find, even information in the help files.

"I quickly found what I was looking for with your "Backup" option to act as a Copy w/ 'no to all' option that File Explorer and Windows Explorer lacks. I instantly transferred over new and newer version files from one folder on one drive to a duplicate folder on another drive. It found 2 newer versions and a dozen new files out of 16GB of 58,000 files. Wow. It would have taken me days to sort through my files and file the new ones. I might have even missed the new versions all together on my own.

I also found worthwhile options, including one of my favorites: automatic folder size calculations. I have a Western Digital Raptor drive with fast access, so I can take advantage of quick folder size calculations.

John Suit (State College, PA, US)

I have tried out file managers from Microsoft's own to PowerDesk Pro to Directory Opus to File Commander for MS Vista (Ultimate).

What I have wanted was a file manager that was quick, intuitive, integrates seamlessly with the operating system – and does this at minimal overhead in memory and CPU usage. I'd like to move around, copy, move, or delete easily. I'd like to be able to quickly find, preview, and open documents, images, and media.

In a word, XYplorer was a delightful and unexpected discovery. How often does a small upstart company come up with software that runs circles around the "big boys"? XYplorer is the fastest, easiest to install, and most thoroughly useful File Manager I've found since I ran into PowerDesk Pro (which has, unfortunately, been allowed to wither without significant upgrades for several years). XYplorer acts like it was born to be a part of Vista.

I was a little hesitant because of its small size (the old bigger must be better way of thinking). But, well designed software doesn't have to be bloated to be powerful and efficient. XYplorer is certainly both.

So, it's a David and Goliath story in software cyberspace – and the little guy has clearly won the day.

Tom Lawson (Webb City, MO, US)

A creative and formidable file management solution, XYplorer won me over with its easy setup, broad customizability, active development, friendly, responsive forums, and astonishing speed throughout every part of the program. Now I can't live without it!

Zaine Ridling (Chicago, US)

As a developer and power user I constantly need access to multiple folders which are spread over several drives. XYplorer feels natural and powerful. From being able to see thumbnails and full size JPGs by using the preview panel. To using the find-in-files for searching for code in web pages. The most used feature for me is tabbed browsing and folder bookmarks. Allowing me to work in several areas at once, e.g. business clients folder and my website development folder, without losing my place. PLUS - It doesn't crash!!! The days of Windows Explorer hanging and crashing and stalling the taskbar are over. Thank goodness.

Gordon McKinney (Austin, TX, US)

I've been searching for an efficient means of managing thousands of Outlook email messages for quite some time now. When I found that XYplorer allows drag and drop copying of Outlook messages with a user-configurable naming convention, I found the solution to my problem. The drag-and-drop feature and the catalog feature allow me to very quickly move messages from of my Outlook Inbox into a user directory structure that is backed-up and search-indexed on a regular basis.

XYplorer is a great product! Very intuitive interface. Favorite features:

• Drag and drop from Outlook to file system with user customizable file naming
• Ability to colorize branches of the directory tree
• Ability to easily change the font size in the directory tree
• Narrow directory tree style
• Catalogs for gaining rapid access to often used directories
• CTRL-P to copy the current path to the clipboard
• File renaming without the extension being altered
• Drag-and-drop text to file

Gary R. Consolazio, Ph.D. (Gainesville, FL, US)

XYplorer can find files that were updated in the last 15 minutes by a single click, which is what solved my need exactly.

John Hallgren (Clearwater, US)

XYplorer is the ultimate keyboardist's explorer. I can move around with the greatest of ease without resorting to using the mouse -- just the way I like it!

Allen Day (Northern Maine, US)

I have been a registered user of XYplorer since the days of TrackerV3; March of 2002. It is an indispensable program which I have programmed to open up as soon as I boot up my computer. On the rare occasion where I have required support, Donald Lessau (the Creator) has promptly answered my questions, and has even implemented some suggestions I have made to improve the versatility of XYplorer. Not enough can be said about the quality and usability of this program, which is constantly being upgraded and improved. There are very few programs that can compare to the integrity of this product, period.

James Stogryn (Canada)

here's what i like about xyplorer:

• in the directory listing, it can give the sizes of folders and its contents just like msexplorer does files. this helps me out tremendously when i try to clean up my hard drives and figure out where the megabytes are. so far as i, in msexplorer the only way to do this is to look at the properties of a folder; a slow and tedious process
• it can use different colors of text for different types of files. you specify the colors and the parameters. such as *.doc, *.html, *.jpg, *pic*, etc. makes finding files much easier
• it has tabbed windows. at first i thought this unnecessary and messy. in msexplorer, i just open up multiple windows and it works fine. but i've come to love this feature. and if you a mouse wheel button configures right, like i do, you can open and close tabs in xyplorer with the click of the mousewheel (just like you can do in firefox).
• it views file properties, comprehensively, in the bottom of the screen
• it can do a thumbnail listing with the details next to the file. another feature i love.

these are only the few features i've used so far, but they are enough for me.

scott luepke (Texas, US)