14 DAY TRIAL // I am still a Total Commander follower and I don't intend to change my religion any time soon. Anyway, I am not saying that I'll stick with it forever, because I noticed for too many times strange changes in other people while growing old, and I see myself changing each day...but let's get back on track to our file managers and see what do we have here today, shall we?
I don't remember now exactly the looks of the user interfaces present in Star Trek's spaceship USS Enterprise, but if they had file managers, then those must have had two panel interfaces... Unfortunately, I don't have a dual panel file manager for you today, at least not one like those we're all used to. Don't worry, because today's find is a special one, and even the name is not an usual one!
The file manager I have here is called A43, and its latest version is 2.49. There's no problem to be had when installing it, because you don't have to run any setup program. Yes, you got it, this program comes inside a ZIP archive and all you have to do is unpack the files to a folder on your hard drive and then A43 is ready to take off! Even more, this archive I am talking about has only 824KB in size and the program is completely free, so let's explore its interface and features!
I can't wait any longer and I don't really have any reason to keep waiting, so I'll say it from the start: I love this program! The most amazing thing is that there's a very thin line between love and hate here, especially because this program is not what I am used to and I thought I have yet another pitiful Windows Explorer replacement on my hands. I am glad to tell you that this is not the truth, although A43 appears to be an interesting file manager looking like an improved Explorer...but that's only the first impression! What we have here is a highly customizable program that's also easy to use and fast at the same time.
The first miracle happened when I pressed a small button placed near the lower right hand corner of the main window and a panel with new toys popped up. Let's see what we have here...
There are six big toys to play with here, and I'll take them one by one, starting with the Quick Launch. Hmmm, Quick Launch...great! One of the things that I love with Total Commander is its customizable button bar that allows you to add as many additional tools and sub-bars as you need, easing access to your frequently used applications. The Quick Launch from A43 can be used to create tabs and add shortcuts to your applications in these tabs, so fast access and programs management problems are solved at once.
The Text Editor included into this program supports large files (there is a limit for sure, but I wasn't able to find it yet) and can highlight HTML code for easier editing.
The FM Extra feature is the reason to call this file manager a dual panel one, because what this does is to open a second file browser that allows you to drag and drop files from a location to another easily.
Next tools available here are an excellent file finder, a basic Hex viewer and an integrated image viewer. They may not be the best ones around, but it's great to be able to view your images quickly inside the file manager, don't you agree?
The feast doesn't end here, because while wandering through A43's realm, you'll find out that this program can unpack ZIP and RAR archives or turn ZIPs into self extracting archives, the Favorites feature is also present here and secure file delete is another action that can be performed here for free...
I only have one more word to say before moving on to the conclusions: amazing!
The Good
A43 is highly customizable, easy to use, fast and has some impressive features, but the best part is that you don't have to pay a single cent for it!
The Bad
Some beginners may think this piece of code is hard to use, and I can't say that the documentation can help much, because the only built in Help content is a plain text file describing the program's features.
The Truth
A43 made my head hurt, and this happens when I find complete software disasters that cost a lot of money usually, or when I get my hands on a treasure. Fortunately, this time I found a treasure, but I won't keep it for me. If you haven't noticed yet, I already shared some gold with you, and its name is A43. Take your time to enjoy it, because I am sure there's more to come in the future!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
