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Add to SafariWhen comparing Midnight Commander vs Clover, the Slant community recommends Midnight Commander for most people. In the question“What are the best free file managers for Microsoft Windows?” Midnight Commander is ranked 5th while Clover is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Midnight Commander is:
Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Intuitive interface
Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users.
Pro Can be run in the terminal
Being a terminal application means that it's suited for people who spend most of their time on the terminal because they don't have to switch windows in order to open their file manager. It also means that they can use it both locally and remotely.
Pro Easy to use
Midnight commander is easy and intuitive to use. The most common commands are displayed in the bottom (move, copy, paste, delete, edit, view, make directory). Files can be selected with the arrow keys which move the cursor through them. The Enter key goes down in a directory. To move the focus between two panels the tab key is used.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Stable
Pro Often available in default repository
and hence easy to install by usually package manager.
Pro Lynx-like motion
Cursor+left to go to parent directory, cursor+right to go into child directory.
Pro Well-presented
Pro Adds Chrome-esque tabs to Windows Explorer
Pro Lots of themes from Chrome
Cons
Con File viewer: searching can be quite cumbersome
Especially searching next or previous.
Con No directory bookmarks
Con No easy way to change colors matching certain files
There probably is a possibility, but it is not easy.
Con Quirky and hard to remember shortcuts
E.g. when trying to take the current directory's path to the command line.
Con Lacks drag and drop feature
With midnight commander you cannot drag and drop files to move them around. Instead, you have to do the necessary actions in order to move files around (cut and paste or copy and delete).
Con Can only be run in the terminal
MC lacks a standalone GUI option.
Con Screen scaling issues with 4K displays
It's not recommended to be used on computers with a 4K display as it will cause many scaling problems even in other applications.
Con Ads
Con Bugs and no support
While it's overall performance is good, the tool overrides Windows Explorer by force which can result in bugs, crashes and screen freezes that can only be solved by stopping the task. Sometimes it crashes the explorer all together which can leave you without access to the windows toolbar.
Con VirusTotal finds adware and possible viruses
More than 40 online antivirus/anti malware scanners reports issues. Do try it your self if you think this is a competitor trying to give Clover a bad rep. I used it before, but now I've abandoned it. Especially because the installation etc. are in Chinese so you don-t stand a chance to know what you're doing.
Con Installing and uninstalling is in Chinese
Con Win 10 Quick access bar break
It breaks the win 10 quick access bar, options stop working.
