@Mark: it is strange that you find this a memory hog, because when i first screened several file managers in Oct 2005 one of the main criteria was memory and I chose XYplorer for small memory footprint apart from other cool features.

3 years later and > 20 mb is a small memory footprint? besides that what really turns me off was customizing the toolbar and saving the settings is a professional liscence only feature.

So amazing program that i actually bought a license. The developer is always improving this amazing program proof of that can be attested on their forums under de betas seccions

Been using this gem for a couple of years now. Tried almost every Windows Explorer replacement available and this one tops them all. It's small, fast and does SO many things that Windows Explorer cannot do. Far too many features to list here. Give the trial version a test drive. If you don't, you're missing a very special opportunity. There is now even a free version with many of the same features as the full version. Keep up the great work, Don !

4 tabs opened and 26MB of RAM in use by XYPlorer ... no thank you. Minimized in tray ... still 26MB of RAM in use ... no way!
Xplorer2 for example is much more resource friendly, TabbyFile too.

I think what joby_toss reports is a rare case or rather the first case i have heard of. it never goes beyond 4mb here. infact i chose XYplorer over others just for being resource friendly for so many things it does. Additionally the above stated fact that advanced features are not available after 30 days is wrong. XYPlorerFree (a free version of commercial product) has all features with no time bar.

As a very devoted and loyal XY user of over two years, I wanted to respond to the above comments about memory usage. As a quick test, I used XYplorer 6.80.101 (paid) compared to Xplorer2 1.4 (lite/free) and had four tabs open in both. XY did use slightly more on my W2K sys (about 9% diff) at 16.5MB vs 15.1MB but this was not a perfect test case. This difference is small enough so as not to bother me.

One of the main advantages that XY has, to me, is the ability to interact on daily basis with Donald Lessau (the developer) and others in the forums, and help guide creation of new features. He is very responsive to user issues and has released a fix of the rare bugs via beta vers within the hour on some occasions.

There is also a up-to-date user maintained wiki for additional documentation available.

For other reviews: XYplorer was listed in March 2008 issue of PC Magazine as of the "157 Best Freeware", and was the ONLY file manager so listed. It was also picked by Leo Laporte on Windows Weekly #37 netcast as "Pick of the Week".

Personally, I found freeCommander to be a better program and much more suited to my needs. But for anyone interested here's the last free version of XYplorer.. V5.55 (11-27-07). http://www.mediafire.com/?k13dg2dj2tz

Recently tried this program and looks pretty promising it but it needs "double pane" option.

Seems it is not freeware anymore.
"The XYplorer Freeware Edition (aka XYplorerFree) has been discontinued and is no longer available for download. Why? XYplorerFree was virtually identical to XYplorer 5.50.0001, released 17-Dec-2006, a great file manager in its days. However, time is going on, and it's simply not responsible to offer a lifeless piece of software without any development, without bug fixes, without adjustments to new operating systems, etc.
Thank you very much for informing the webmaster of the site that linked to this page that the Freeware Edition of XYplorer is no longer available!"

If you're like me and find the new versions of Windows Explorer and File Search in Vista and 7 to be horribly mangled and mutated descendants of the once pristine versions in earlier incarnations if Windows, then XYplorer is a breath of fresh air. Seriously, it's the only reason I haven't thrown my computer out the window in frustration.

Don't let the lack of maintenance fool you; XYplorer Free is in my opinion still the single best freeware Windows Explorer replacement. I've tried several alternatives, but XYplorer is the only one that handles tabs right. The Search feature (Find Files tab at the bottom) is the old Windows style, minus the stupid dog but plus dozens of new options. It also duplicates the context menu of Windows Explorer, including additional items added by programs plus many other convenient options that should have been in .

Those three features together would be enough, but it also integrates an image thumbnail browser that's better than the one in Windows or even dedicated graphics browsers (you can view thumbnails of images and all the detailed file info at the same time), a file preview for file types it recognizes, a hex viewer, directory list generator, opening the command line already set up in the folder that you're looking at, and a million other useful features that the developers threw in just for the heck of it. I still haven't discovered them all, and I've been using XYplorer for years.

You have to take some time to get used to it, but try it for a week and you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. It's now the very first thing I install on a new computer.

@Magibon
Dual-Pane ?

The XYplorerFree in the archive downloaded here is dated ‎November ‎29, ‎2007 and is version 5.55.0001

However there is an updated v‎ersion on their server somewhat 'hidden' behind a couple extra char's (lfv (last free version)) dated ‎February ‎18, ‎2008 and is version 5.55.0002

http://www.xyplorer.com/download/xyplorer_full_lfv.zip

Maybe a Mod might wanna look into updating the 'DirectDownloadLink'.
Also there is no time limit on advanced features nor a required paid registration.

This program is NO LONGER AVAILABLE! Don't waste your time fullowing the download link...

I just downloaded the program and ran it successfully, Shodan816.

Like Buckster, I prefer the two-pane features of FreeCommander, but lots to like in this program. Is it just me, or does there seem to more than the usual amount of unsubstantiated p*ssing on this program?

Indeed the download link seems to have been fixed. Thanks, IanFromBarrie.

The new version 12 will be available with time limited licenses only, except for users licensed it until now. Just in case you are looking for a portable payware ...