Looking for a better way to manage files and your hard disk than Windows Explorer? Then give PowerDesk 8 Professional a try. This exceedingly powerful program does a supremely better job than Windows Explorer, with tools for everything from finding files, synchronizing files and folders, to previewing files, sending and receiving files via FTP and more.

For a start, you get two panes rather than one, unlike Windows Explorer, so that it's easy to copy and transfer files among different folders, and even among different computers on your network. That's just the beginning, though. PowerDesk Professional also features an excellent media viewer that does just more than preview media. You can also zoom in and out, rotate pictures. Better yet, you can also convert a picture to a different format.

PowerDesk Pro 8 also an extremely powerful file finder that lets you search not just by the usual criteria, but also on attributes such as whether a file is read-only or hidden. You can even search through email and attachments.

With a nice folder synchronizer, FTP support, encryption, compression, a playlist editor, and more, you'll find that PowerDesk 8 Professional offers far more power than you'd expect in a file organizer or replacement for Windows Explorer. If you're willing to pay for it, you won't be disappointed. If you don't want to spend the money, an excellent Windows Explorer replacement is the free Q-Dir. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of PowerDesk 8 Professional (no playlist editor or encryption, for example), but it's also a very solid bet.

Note: This link takes you to the vendor's site, where you must register to download the software. The trial version appears to no longer be available; PCWorld apologizes for the inconvenience.

--Preston Gralla