{"slug": "windows-explorer", "name": "Windows Explorer", "category": "files", "category_name": "Files, sync and backup", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 4, "warners": 2, "score": -0.809, "rising": 1.0, "first": "2026-07-31", "latest": "2026-10-08", "why": "I used to have Windows Explorer with the column view in the main pane and the tree view on the left pane and it was perfect", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I used to have Windows Explorer with the column view in the main pane and the tree view on the left pane and it was perfect", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Windows Explorer"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793494768, "item_id": 49593423, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49593423", "by": "arjie", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to have Windows Explorer with the column view in the main pane and the tree view on the left pane and it was perfect", "excerpt": "For the main pane? I used to have Windows Explorer with the column view in the main pane and the tree view on the left pane and it was perfect. I don't really mind Nautilus with the breadcrumbs on the top and columns in the main pane. But I think simply going up and down in a Finder window is quite hard unless you navigated there manually, but I'm usually in finder because of `open ~/Folder/Path` and so I end up manu", "context": "", "use_case": "file browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 800134112, "item_id": 50008382, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50008382", "by": "wronex", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Explorer is a pretty important piece of the experience, and its currently a nightmare.", "excerpt": "Cool! Windows 11 really needs a better file browser. Will give this a try for sure! Currently using Explorer without the Windows 11 skin. Also tried FilePilot and TotalCommander. But what I really want is Windows explorer with tabs; more or less. It would be interesting to hear from a Microsoft engineer about what\u2019s going on in there. Explorer is a pretty important piece of the experience, and its currently a nightma", "context": "Windows 11 user", "use_case": "file browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sumatra File Manager"}, {"id": 797923904, "item_id": 49870244, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870244", "by": "snailmailman", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "windows fully locks up and becomes unusable with video CDs", "excerpt": "I ran into this bug myself recently when trying to digitize a family collection of old CDs. Lots of family photos and videos, that were backed up in a mix of file formats and disc formats. I used Linux for most of the process after figuring out that windows fully locks up and becomes unusable with video CDs. I ended up simply skipping most of the video CDs because the format is simply awful. In my case most of them w", "context": "", "use_case": "reading video CDs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Video CDs Break Windows Explorer"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["file browsing", "reading video cds", "file management"], "compared": [{"slug": "file-pilot", "name": "File Pilot", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "total-commander", "name": "Total Commander", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49999171", "title": "Sumatra File Manager", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49859759", "title": "Video CDs Break Windows Explorer", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49589722", "title": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120097", "title": "Google fixed more Chrome bugs in June than over the past two years, thanks to AI", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"compare": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800134112, "item_id": 50008382, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50008382", "by": "wronex", "date": "2026-10-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Explorer is a pretty important piece of the experience, and its currently a nightmare.", "excerpt": "Cool! Windows 11 really needs a better file browser. Will give this a try for sure! Currently using Explorer without the Windows 11 skin. Also tried FilePilot and TotalCommander. But what I really want is Windows explorer with tabs; more or less. It would be interesting to hear from a Microsoft engineer about what\u2019s going on in there. Explorer is a pretty important piece of the experience, and its currently a nightma", "context": "Windows 11 user", "use_case": "file browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sumatra File Manager"}, {"id": 797923904, "item_id": 49870244, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870244", "by": "snailmailman", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "windows fully locks up and becomes unusable with video CDs", "excerpt": "I ran into this bug myself recently when trying to digitize a family collection of old CDs. Lots of family photos and videos, that were backed up in a mix of file formats and disc formats. I used Linux for most of the process after figuring out that windows fully locks up and becomes unusable with video CDs. I ended up simply skipping most of the video CDs because the format is simply awful. In my case most of them w", "context": "", "use_case": "reading video CDs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Video CDs Break Windows Explorer"}, {"id": 793494768, "item_id": 49593423, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49593423", "by": "arjie", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to have Windows Explorer with the column view in the main pane and the tree view on the left pane and it was perfect", "excerpt": "For the main pane? I used to have Windows Explorer with the column view in the main pane and the tree view on the left pane and it was perfect. I don't really mind Nautilus with the breadcrumbs on the top and columns in the main pane. But I think simply going up and down in a Finder window is quite hard unless you navigated there manually, but I'm usually in finder because of `open ~/Folder/Path` and so I end up manu", "context": "", "use_case": "file browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one"}, {"id": 786030321, "item_id": 49126895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49126895", "by": "hn_submit", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "compare", "quote": "can't see any speed difference between a program written in Pascal (Total Commander, which I use every day) and one written in C++ (Windows Explorer)", "excerpt": "I, for one, can't see any speed difference between a program written in Pascal (Total Commander, which I use every day) and one written in C++ (Windows Explorer).", "context": "", "use_case": "file management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google fixed more Chrome bugs in June than over the past two years, thanks to AI"}]}