Windows Explorer is the tool built into Windows that can be used to navigate and organise folders. It can be used in a couple of ways - as individual folder windows or as a file navigator with a tree structure. While both options have their uses, they also have limitations and this goes some way to explaining the sheer number of Explorer-replacement tools that exist.

Q-Dir is one such utility, but rather than offering the dual-paned view favoured by many programs, this software goes a little further by feature four panes. This Quadro-View approach means that it is easier to work with numerous folders at the same time, or copy and move files between media with ease.

Each pane of the program can be used to display a different folder or drive and colour coding can be used to highlight files of a particular type. Built-in support for .zip and .cab files makes it easy to work with compressed file formats and an integrated FTP client means that files can be easily uploaded and downloaded from your web space.

A much-requested feature that is missing from Explorer can be found in Q-Dir - the option to print directory contents. There's also built-in previewing of a number of common file types and a screen magnifier to enlarge sections of the screen. Q-Dir is everything you could ask of a file browser and more.