Freeware Tools: Unreal Commander 2.02

Unreal Commander is a powerful dual-pane file manager designed to replace the traditional Windows Explorer and provide a more effective way to control your files and folders. It comes loaded with numerous handy options, such as multi-rename tool, directory synchronization, and FTP connection. Besides the usual types of tasks like viewing, editing, copying, moving, deleting or creating a new folder using keyboard shortcuts, the software utility boasts a built-in FTP client to rapidly upload files to a FTP server.

The only notable aspect about its installation is that Unreal Commander can be set up as a portable product. Its interface is not uncommon. As previously mentioned, it includes two panels for exploring two locations on the disk at once as well as for easily performing file operations by dragging items from one place to the other.

A multi-rename tool gives you the power to rename multiple files simultaneously after defining the naming pattern with rules, while another function helps you quickly calculate the size of subdirectories.

Other tools of Unreal Commander let you change file attributes, split and merge files, create and verify CRC hashes, create symbolic links, compare directories, and so on. These are just part of the options provided by this piece of software.

Besides simple functions like Back and Forward or inverting a file selection, you can find other useful options on the toolbar. A function you can also find in Total Commander is a file compressor.

Just select a number of files and folders by right clicking on them and then click the Pack button on the toolbar. Unreal Commander can compress files in ZIP, RAR, ACE, ARJ and more. You can search for a file using a wide range of parameters, like size, date or content and you can even save your search query.

Batch renaming is also possible. After selecting your files or folders, you need to click the appropriated button on the toolbar. In the window which will show up you can specify a name and extension which will be applied to all the selected items.

A folder synchronization feature can also be found. Instead of manually copying files from one folder to another, you can just click a button on the toolbar to bring up a window. Here you must browse for two folders and click the Compare button.

The contents of those folders will be displayed side by side in a list, making it easy to spot any differences. Clicking the Synchronize button will copy all the contents from one folder to another. This can be very useful if, for instance, you need to manually back up your data.

Overall, this is an advanced file manager that comes with a freeware license and offers an impressive lineup of features to convince you to abandon the old-fashioned Windows Explorer.