File Manager for Windows 10 is now available as Microsoft open sources winfile code

Cast your mind back several years and you'll remember Windows 3.0 and earlier. This was when Microsoft started to bring home computing to the masses, and for anyone raised on modern Windows, the lack of Start menu, taskbar and other components makes the operating system seem antiquated and unusable.

But use it we did! Back then, there was no File Explorer, but File Manager instead -- and it's something that people sometimes feel nostalgic about. A couple of days ago, Microsoft open sourced the File Manager code, and a Windows 10 version has been released.

The source code -- as well as the compiled File Manager for Windows 10 project itself -- is available to download from GitHub. It has been a ten-year project, having been tweaked and tinkered with by Craig Wittenberg for his own personal use. He has released not only his personalized version of File Manager, but also the original version, albeit updated to run on Windows 10.

With the choice between the two builds, you can try out File Manager in its original form, or benefit from the changes and additions that have been made in version 10.0. What can you expect from File Manager v10.0? Here's the list of changes:

1. OLE drag/drop support
2. control characters (e.g., ctrl+C) map to current short cut (e.g., ctrl+c -> copy) instead of changing drives
3. cut (ctrl+X) followed by paste (ctrl+V) translates into a file move as one would expect
4. left and right arrows in the tree view expand and collapse folders like in Explorer
5. added context menus in both panes
6. improved the means by which icons are displayed for files
7. F12 runs notepad or notepad++ on the selected file
8. moved the ini file location to %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\WinFile
9. Search can include a date which limits the files returned to those after the date provided; the output is also sorted by the date instead of by the name
10. Search includes an option as to whether to include sub-directories
11. ctrl+K starts a command shell (ConEmu if installed) in the current directory; shfit+ctrl+K starts an elevated command shell (cmd.exe only)
12. Goto (ctrl+G) enables one to type a few words of a path and get a list of directories; selecting one changes to that directory. Only drive c: is indexed.
13. UI shows reparse points (e.g., Junction points) as such
14. added simple forward / back navigation (probably needs to be improved)
15. View command has a new option to sort by date forward (oldest on top); normal date sorting is newest on top

You can download File Manager v10.0 from GitHub -- just head to the Releases section to grab the software.