29 Jul
For the past few months I’ve been noticing that Q-Dir being updated very frequently. I remembered that it is some sort of file management freeware and I didn’t bother about it since I am already satisfied with Windows Explorer. I am trying NOT to focus so much on security, I thought perhaps I should check and see what is Q-Dir all about.
Q-Dir is a lightweight and easy to use piece of software that allows you to easily manage your files and folders.

Features of Q-Dir:
Favorites: Quick access to most often used folders.
Drag&Drop: Move files by dragging in Q-views, and other programs such as MS Explorer.
Clipboard: Copy/ Paste between the Q-Dir directory views, and other programs such as MS Explorer.
Folder-Type: ZIP-, FTP-,cabinet-,network-, system – folders, shortcuts …
Views: Large icons, tiles, list, detail, thumbnail (Vista: extra large symbols) .
Export: to XLS, CSV, TXT, HTML.
Popup Menus: Desktop, My Computer.
Screen magnifier: Anything on the screen can be enlarged.
Color Filter: Different colors for different item types (e.g. *.log;*.txt).
Highlight-Filter: Effective way for fast items highlighting.
File-Filter: Allows for quick and easy filtering of the items.
Columns: All columns support, and save function .
Quick-Link’s: For fast folder access.
Folder-Select: Fast & flexible folder selection address-bar/ desktop menu/ my-computer menu/…
Multi-INI: Several INI files for Q-Dir.
Tree-View: Simple and quadruple.
Preview: Allows a quick preview.
Portable: Q-Dir is portable since v2.77
Actually Q-Dir is very similar to Windows Explorer but it adds a few enhancement to give us better file and folder management. The most significant advantage over Windows Explorer is the Quadro-View which splits into 4 window. The shortcut keys in Q-Dir such as CTRL+C for copying, CTRL+X for cutting and CTRL+V for pasting are the same as in Windows Explorer. This is good so it won’t be confusing and you don’t need to memorize new shortcut keys. The color filter is also very useful because with one look we get to know what type of file is that.
To run Q-Dir as portable without installation, unzip Q-Dir_Installer.zip and you’ll get Q-Dir_Installer.exe. Simply rename Q-Dir_Installer.exe to Q-Dir.exe and it will automatically run as portable.
From Q-Dir’s changelog, we can see that this freeware is being updated at least twice per month. Since Q-Dir is being updated so frequently, I’d like to see a built-in update checker to notify me whenever there is an update or even better, auto download and replace the old one with the updated version of Q-Dir. Okay, Q-Dir might not be the best File Manager that has tons of features but I like it simply because it is similar to Windows Explorer. Last but not least, Q-Dir is FREE.
[ Download Q-Dir ]
[tags]q-dir, explorer, file, folder, window[/tags]
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I feel that a program is worthless to be called a windows explorer alternative if it doesn’t provide keyboard shortcuts for creating a new folder and file, the most common operations that I do.
In xplorer2: F8 creates a new folder, F7 creates a new file
In XYPlorer: Ctrl+N creates a new folder, ctrl+shift+N creates a new file.
THANKS… it really helps me manage my files..
(^_^)
are there any file types that Q-dir cannot open??
just asking….
@Sridhar Katakam: I think it’s unfair that you’re comparing a freeware with a shareware. There’s always a reason why the programmers are charging money for their software. For your info, Q-Dir can create new folders with CTRL+N shortcut.
Thx Raymond for sharing this. However, i am with you, explorer (especially on Windows Vista) is good enough for my daily task. anyway, thanx again.
Looks like a nice program.
I RARELY pay for software – freeware is generally very adequate. The one exception I’ve made recently is xplorer2. I think it is overpriced for what it does, but I never found a substitute for the rugged copy utility.
Everything else I’ve ever tried will stop and puke when there is a problem copying a large quantity of files across the network. Something I do frequently repairing computers. xplorer2 logs the error and continues.
Thanks again for your, always useful, recommendations…
steve
PS FWIW Linux doesn’t generally suffer from the stop and dump syndrome and I do use that when it makes sense.
it is very interesting
@Steve Mills: If you do a lot of copying across network resources and mapped drives and the like and do a a lot of repetitive copying from one or more source locations to one or more destination location have a look at MS\\\’s own Robocopy GUI. Robocopy is part of the Server 2003n Resource Kit and is standard on Vista and S2008 and the GUI for it can be had from the technet site, there are links at the bottom of this robocopy wiki page for both parts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy
It is a fairly simple multi tabbed GUI that gives multiple options and filters on what you copy as well as whether it ignores and/or logs any errors without stopping the process. What is nice for repetitive work is that once you have set up the options for a particular copy operation you can then save that as a script for reuse. For instance, I have a pile of scripts that I use all the time that saves me having to reenter the required options each time I need do the actual copy process.
thanks for the info. will check it out. i am trying to find something that suits my needs to manage my files and folders, windows explorer does a good job at it, but i’m just trying to find something a little better, something with a few extra tweaks.
i did find something better though, Directory Opus, it’s not free but it’s good. but will aslo give a shot to Q-Dir.
thanks
Does it support FTP transfer, cause that’d be awesome :D
@Jcym
Thanks for the tip on Robocopy. I copy across the network a lot in repair and recovery and there’s nothing more frustrating than starting a large copy and come back an hour later and find out it dumped.
There’s also something called Terracopy that has been suggested, but I haven’t tried it.
Thanks again…….
Steve
Hi Steve, I use the free version of Teracopy which I find handy especially when doing one off jobs, such as copying large numbers of files between external hard drives. The reason I like it is that it is available from the right click menu. It is easier than Robocopy for jobs where you want to just copy arbitrary lumps of files as you just select the files/folders you want and select Teracopy from the right click menu or drag and drop using the right mouse button. It handles errors without falling over, though as I haven’t used it for a few weeks I can’t remember if it just copies through errors or gives you an option window asking what you want to do about the error.
Though it is a huge improvement over the built in right click move/copy option as you can either drag and drop using right click and hold to the destination or simply right click on the required files/folders and choose Teracopy from the menu. You can then navigate to a destination as well as decide whether to do a copy or a move. You can also tweak the buffers used to try and maximise the copy/move rate.
Both are good tools just with different premises behind their use. Teracopy, at least the free versions, is a super duper version of the built in copy/move commands while Robocopy is probably better for the Sysadmin doing repetitive copy tasks and thus can make use of its script creation ability.
=D thanks raymond.. great post.. helps me manage my files ^_^