Q-Dir 6.2

Q-Dir is a practical and lightweight file manager that acts as an alternative to the standard Windows Explorer utility. What is particularly interesting about Q-Dir is that it allows you to browse multiple locations at once through several adjacent panels (4 by default), so copying or moving files/folders among your open locations is really an easy task. The program also offers a portable installation so that you can carry it with you on your pen drive and use it anywhere.

The program's user interface is not particularly attractive and its visual design could be widely improved. In fact, it is very noticeable that the developers of Q-Dir focused almost entirely on its functionality, leaving its look & feel aside. As I mentioned before, by default the program opens the so called "Q-Dir" layout, that consists of 4 panels arranged in two rows and two columns. However, you can select among multiple layouts like 4 panels tiled horizontally or vertically, 3 panels arranged in two rows, 3 panels tiled horizontally or vertically, 2 panels tiled horizontally or vertically, or even a single panel.

It's worth mentioning that, whatever layout you choose, each panel has its own address bar which helps you locate the folder you want to browse very easily. Besides, you can set different view options (list, details and small/medium/large icons, sort and group icons, etc.) for each panel. Also, you can right-click on any panel to access a pop-up menu that offers the same options as the standard Windows Explorer like creating new files/folders, running executable files, opening images, deleting files, etc.

One of the most powerful features of Q-Dir is, in my opinion, the fact that it not only allows you to browse local folders but also remote directories via FTP protocol, portable devices folders and network locations. Moreover, the program can also browse the contents of a ZIP or CAB file as if it was a standard folder. In other words, the program can be used as a basic FTP client and as a basic archives manager. Not to mention that Q-Dir lets you save its current state as a disk file and reopen it later, so you can recover your current layout and open locations almost without any effort.

All in all, if you have multiple hard disks, partitions, pen drives, network locations etc., and if you usually need to copy or move files among all those locations or among local and the remote ones, I would definitely recommend you trying Q-Dir because of its multiple helpful features. If this is your case, the portable version of the program will be especially useful for you. Both the installed and the portable versions of the program are available to anybody totally free of charge.