MS Store Offers Windows File Manager
Hey! Time for a blast from the past. If you, like me, remember the days of Windows 3.1 and Windows For Workgroups, get this. The old File Manager has reappeared. That’s right, the MS Store offers Windows File Manager for (free) download. It even uses the old, familiar file cabinet icon. Here’s what the application looks like running on my production PC:
An old, familiar and now quaint-looking precedessor to File Explorer is back.
[Click image to see full-size view.]
While MS Store Offers Windows File Manager, Grab It!
It’s a little bit clunky (for example, the left hand pane’s scroll bar doesn’t work — you have to scroll right to scroll both panes) and a little bit funky, but it mostly works. I will cheerfully confess that, as a long-time Windows user with codgerly tendencies, this appeals to me as much for nostalgia as functionality. Some of you younger whippersnappers will probably take a lot (or not), and say “Not for me.” I don’t blame you, but for me it certainly brings back lots of memories. Why, I can remember when being able to squeeze as many TSRs into the upper memory area (above 640K and below 1024K in RAM) was the sign of a “real geek.”
Even some of the menu entries take me back. Under Window, for instance, you see options like “Cascade,” “Tile Horizontally,” and “Tile Vertically.” Who even THINKS that way anymore. Microsoft still holds the copyright, but WinFile.exe, as its known now, is a Github open source project. Because it’s kind of nice blast from the past, you might want to check it out.
Thanks to writer WalkingCat over at MSPowerUser.com who brought this find to my attention. You might also want to check out his story, entitled “Windows File Manager (WinFile) Now Available from Microsoft Store.” Good stuff, including more details on changes and enhancement now present in this little program that were different or absent in the original version.