
Original Windows File Manager with enhancements - chungy
https://github.com/Microsoft/winfile
======
m-p-3
Screenshot I've taken, since there's none on the GitHub page

[https://i.imgur.com/F9DtASh.png](https://i.imgur.com/F9DtASh.png)

~~~
sixothree
This is what I don't quite understand about the github atmosphere. How is it
considered perfectly normal to introduce an application "...with enhancements"
and not include a screenshot.

~~~
organsnyder
I think it's mainly a tooling issue—readme files are repo "homepages" by
default, there isn't an easy way to inline an image in Markdown (nor should
you want to), and people don't want to pollute a repo with binaries.

~~~
sixothree
This is why I am disappointed GitHub has become the defacto standard. It's not
clear what this is or even why this exists. And that seems to be the case with
the vast majority of projects on the site.

~~~
mikepurvis
GitHub Pages addresses this exact need, but it requires a small amount of
additional work to set up vs. just tossing up a README file.

~~~
sixothree
I would prefer a site that fosters better care.

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thought_alarm
That takes me back. In the WinNT 4.0 days my NTFS hard drive would become so
heavily fragmented that it would take Explorer over a minute to display folder
listing as it hunted around for file icons and other metadata. And then
Explorer would randomly decide to rebuild its icon cache a freeze up for
another minute.

The built-in defragmenter did nothing to improve things.

Our idiot IT guy said I should compile less often.

I had to resort to WINFILE to do anything with the file system, at least until
I convinced my boss to get me a Norton Speed Disk license.

And yet when Win2K came around I refused to upgrade. It'll be too slow and
buggy, I figured.

~~~
jaclaz
>The built-in defragmenter did nothing to improve things.

There was NO built-in defragmenter in Windows NT 4.0, it came first in Windows
2000.

~~~
thought_alarm
Diskeeper Lite was what I had in mind. It didn't defrag the directories.

~~~
jaclaz
>Diskeeper Lite was what I had in mind. It didn't defrag the directories.

And in any case was not built-in.

In Windows 2000 the built-in defragger was actually a "stripped down" version
of Diskkeeper, maybe you are confusing NT 4.0 with Windows 2000?

Some references here:

[https://msfn.org/board/topic/131017-msoft-uses-diskeeper-
as-...](https://msfn.org/board/topic/131017-msoft-uses-diskeeper-as-their-
defrag-tool-trying-to-resize-partition/?do=findComment&comment=841932)

------
badsectoracula
I made a quick build:
[https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png](https://i.imgur.com/ZOcOBsl.png)

It is neat and i like how it remembers the sizing and open folders, but it
really shows how much Microsoft has neglected Win32 and MDI in particular: the
theme is still the same used 12 years ago in Vista and while i am not a fan of
the Win8 nor the Win10 theme (my favorite theme is the classic theme), the
inconsistency sticks out like a sore thumb. And of course beyond the lack of a
visual update (that would take perhaps 1 hour to fix), there are visual
glitches like this one:
[https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png](https://i.imgur.com/Vfm5ndc.png) (notice the
black corners on the window at the right - ironically they happen because of
the non-rectangular shape of the titlebar, which would not be the case if the
Windows 8 or 10 themes were used since those are rectangular). And i suppose
at this point it doesn't make much sense to mention missing features, like
double clicking the top edge to maximize a window :-P.

Which sucks because i always liked MDI applications. I know that some studies
or whatever have shown that novices often get confused, but personally i find
the idea of having a "group" of windows inside the application that manage
them to make more sense - especially for visual stuff, like image editors
where i can open two views of the same document in different zoom levels. And
i also find being able to move and resize the subwindows in any way i want
(not limited to splits and such which i find more annoying and a waste of
space than helpful).

Having said that i always _always_ disliked, from the first day i saw it, the
visual change from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to make minimized windows look
like tiny titlebars (they were called buttons but there is nothing button-y
about how they ever looked in any version of Windows from 95 to today) instead
of icons. mIRC adding a taskbar-like panel was a much better idea (you could
say that novices would again be confused, but from what i remember from the
late 90s and early 2000s, that didn't stop people from using mIRC :-P), but
just sticking with icons would be fine too (i think icons inside the MDI area
were supposed to be used for something else that i don't remember now, but i
do not think any program ever used that).

EDIT: added a tiny feature to search multiple wildcards separated by
semicolons :-) -
[https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png](https://i.imgur.com/vi7BI7B.png)

The code style is kinda weird though (3 spaces for each indentation level?)
and seems that several comments are out of date :-P.

~~~
blattimwind
The Win95 styling of the toolbar and some other oldie-looks are likely due to
a missing application manifest, not because Win32 doesn't support the newer
visual styles.

~~~
badsectoracula
I was talking about the MDI windows (those inside the client area, the
subwindows), not the toolbar. The MDI windows, regardless of manifest, use the
Vista theme since their look hasn't been updated for ~12 years.

This is actually something that has been reported to Microsoft before (here is
a link for one of the feedback entries linked in one of the issues in the
WinFile repository: [https://aka.ms/Bjiosw](https://aka.ms/Bjiosw) ).

------
sundvor
Ahhh. This is brilliant, I had forgotten how useful this was - especially the
compactness. The windows sizing was a bit confused by my 3400x1440 initially,
but once arranged it is very well behaved.

The ability to have the one app running which contains multiple file system
views that I can arrange internally is awesome. It can certainly help with the
cognitive overload that sometimes is my alt tab navigation.

I love this new company that Microsoft has become.

~~~
thwarted
_The ability to have the one app running which contains multiple file system
views that I can arrange internally is awesome. It can certainly help with the
cognitive overload that sometimes is my alt tab navigation._

This is called a multiple-document interface, and it's been Microsoft's
preferred method of nesting documents/subwindows within a single application
window for a long time — maybe less so with Windows 10 and the "flat" styling.
Lack of it was often trotted out as a reason people felt uncomfortable using
Linux (and sometimes MacOS) versions of office suites or applications like
GIMP (compared to Photoshop, which traditionally used MDI on Windows).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_document_interface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_document_interface)

~~~
laumars
> This is called a multiple-document interface, and it's been Microsoft's
> preferred method of nesting documents/subwindows within a single application
> window for a long time

Microsoft moved away from MDI in most of their flag ship products (bar Visual
Studio) a long time ago. Eg MS Office was last MDI back in '95\. Office 97 was
SDI from what I recall.

~~~
badsectoracula
I don't think you can use MDI in Visual Studio anymore, the tabbed interface
seems to be the only one available. Although i do remember an IDE (was it
Visual Studio?) that could do both MDI and tabs at the same time.

Do you consider tabbed interfaces as MDI? I've seen some people do that but i
think MDI and tabbed interfaces are too different in terms of functionality to
be considered equal.

~~~
laumars
MDI and tabbed interfaces aren't mutually exclusive but if the master window
does not embed resizable child windows (like a traditional MDI interface) then
it's not MDI regardless of tabs.

I think VS used to be MDI tabbed. It definitely used to be MDI. But I have to
admit it's been years since I've last used it. In fact thinking about it now,
it's been even longer than I realised (I switched away from Windows
development around the time of XP getting released so we're probaby talking
close on 15 years. It's scary how fast time flies).

~~~
badsectoracula
Visual C++ 6 was certainly MDI, but i'm not sure about the rest. I think i
have 2008 Express Edition stored somewhere but... i feel a bit lazy to install
it to check it out :-P. 2010 and later was only tabbed though.

But, FWIW, yes, i agree with you that the resizable child windows is what
defines the MDI and tabs are orthogonal to that.

------
cowmix
I can't believe I'm saying this... but someone please port this to MacOS.
Finder is still a hot mess.

~~~
willio58
Out of pure curiosity, what about finder is a mess to people these days? I
feel like I can move around it smoothly and I use it many times daily. Adding
some services like opening a file/folder in terminal has also helped me a lot.

~~~
lev99
How can I quickly open a directory in Finder? If, for example I want to go to
~/source or ~/pem what is the quickest way to do this?

I've used macOS for about 2 years now, and I never found a method to do this
that is intuitive. Windows Find has a large directory bar at the top where a
user can go to any directory by just typing it.

~~~
zf00002
cmd+space, type in folder path.

~~~
saagarjha
This opens Spotlight, though, instead of just using Finder.

~~~
donatj
And? Parts of the OS should work together, not be islands

~~~
saagarjha
Yes, but if I was in Finder I'd expect to stay in Finder to perform a file-
related operation…

------
tramtrist
Compiled on Windows subsystem for Linux and then ran on win10... what a
strange world...

~~~
nobunnysapro
The best part is how WSL is installed from the UWP app store.

------
jackson1way
I have been looking for a Windows Explorer replacement since Windows 95 and
only found what I want 2 years ago:

XYplorer ([https://www.xyplorer.com](https://www.xyplorer.com))

It's not free, but worth every penny. I have looked for a free replacement for
years and always ignored it, which was a mistake.

XYplorer is very well maintained, 0% CPU cost, 1% RAM cost, highly-
configurable, has very nice features. Someone really put some thoughts into
the UI and UX. I really like the Ghost filter. Ctrl+P is great. Oh and it
remembers all opened tree views after restart, so your workspace is exactly
the same after a reboot.

------
factsaresacred
A screenshot would go a long way to help sell this (think there's one in the
comments here).

On the topic of file managers, I'm hooked on Dopus and using anything else
feels like working with one hand tied around my back.

Incredible how something so seemingly unimportant can add or subtract to your
productivity. Also incredible how native file managers still suck.

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Jaruzel
For a long time there was a copy of this floating around called 'WinFileNT', I
don't know where I got it, or if it was legit or not. It is still able to run
on Window 10 I think.

A while ago I installed FreeCommander[1] which basically a WinFile clone. It's
good, but I found my self not really using it, as side by side Explorer
windows basically do the same job.

EDIT: Aha. It was File Manager for NT ->
[http://www.mdgx.com/xptoy.htm#FMNT](http://www.mdgx.com/xptoy.htm#FMNT)

\--

[1] [http://freecommander.com/](http://freecommander.com/)

------
tmzt
Anybody know if Paint from 3.1 is available like this, the one with the color
replacer tool?

~~~
einr
No need; if you can get your hands on a copy of PBRUSH.EXE from Windows NT
3.51, it will run on modern Windows. It is functionally and cosmetically
exactly the same as the Windows 3.1 Paintbrush, but compiled as a true 32-bit
application.

------
rhabarba
I prefer this one to the Explorer. Even decades later. Sorry, Microsoft.

~~~
diroussel
Using fileman to navigate network fileshares was always much faster than using
explorere. And x10 so when the fileshare contains .xml and .docx files, as
explorer tries to read them just to decide on the icon.

------
rhabarba
Also, there should generally be more MDI applications. I use the Otter Browser
for this one feature.

~~~
monochromatic
MDI apps are not great with multiple monitors.

~~~
badsectoracula
This isn't really any different from apps that use tabbed interfaces and the
solution is the same: allow creating multiple toplevel frames.

------
reiichiroh
I remember how I still preferred managing files in Norton Commander in DOS
instead of Windows at the time.

~~~
aidenn0
Norton Commander had rabid fans all the way into this century.

~~~
cJ0th
to be fair, I am use midnight commander these days ;)

------
dole
Q-Dir's my explorer replacement of choice: up to 4 (tabbed) explorer windows,
configurable layout, tons of features under the hood, unicode support,
portable, small, free to use. For some reason I could never stick with
Norton/Total Commander.

------
tramtrist
Please port explorer as well from windowz 2000....

~~~
einr
Yes please.

Or actually, fuck it, just recompile Windows 2000 for AMD64, delete the
Windows 10 source tree, and call it a day.

~~~
josteink
While I think Windows 2000 without a doubt was the best version of Windows
available for a good while...

Does anyone remember its missing WiFi-support? It’s almost non-existent
USB2-support? It’s absolutely atrocious boot-times (even compared to NT4,
especially compared to Windows 98)? Made even more painful by its absolute
rebootey-ness after updates?

There’s _lots_ of warts here your memory is probably glossing over.

I’m pretty sure if I were to ditch Win 10 now and go for a Windows reboot, I’d
base it on the technologically much improved Win 7.

~~~
einr
I used Windows 2000 in a VM about a month ago so my memory is fresh. The warts
are real, of course, but I was struck by how cohesive, clean and friendly it
was compared to every Windows version since. It still feels like peak Windows
to me. Once they merged and consumerified NT, it was all downhill from there.

Windows 2000 just gets out of your way and works. It's such a refreshing
feeling in 2018 using computer software that doesn't try to sell you anything
or steal your data.

You are right about the boot times but on a modern-ish system with an SSD,
it's no big deal. And obviously, if you were to do this, you would also
backport support for newer hardware like Wifi, USB2 and 3 ;)

I don't miss a lot of UI things from newer Windows, either. I do like being
able to hit the Windows key and start typing to find stuff. Also, being able
to snap windows to the left half/right half of the screen.

So the ideal Windows would be Windows 2000 with the hardware support and
selected UI improvements of Windows 7 :)

------
jamesrom
Does anyone have a screenshot they could share?

~~~
shanselman
[https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/983200047541006347](https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/983200047541006347)

~~~
sundvor
Cheers! You can also do this: Tree => Indicate expandable folders.

(Edit: Makes it easy to see what's expandable; new feature?).

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deadmetheny
Now all we need is a port of progman.exe that's compatible with newer versions
of Windows.

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chrisper
There is a "bug" that calling "winfile.exe C:\" will open Windows Explorer.

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gwbas1c
Screenshots would be cool!

