If you're like most PC users, you probably got Windows Vista with a new PC or laptop. And if you're like 99% of the population, you get your new machines from one of the major manufacturers. Dell, Acer, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, they all have one thing in common: they don't give you a real Windows Vista installation disc with your purchase. Instead, they bundle what they call a "recovery disc" (that's if you're lucky - otherwise you'll have a recovery partition instead) with your machine and leave it at that.It doesn't matter that you just paid a thousand dollars for a machine that comes with a valid Windows Vista license - your computer manufacturer just don't want to spend the money (or perhaps take on the responsibility) of giving you a Windows Vista installation DVD to accompany your expensive purchase.

The problem is, with Windows Vista, the installation media serves more than one purpose. It's not just a way to get Windows installed, it's also the only way of recovering a borked installation. The Windows Vista DVD has a "recovery center" that provides you with the option of recovering your system via automated recovery (searches for problems and attempts to fix them automatically), rolling-back to a system restore point, recovering a full PC backup, or accessing a command-line recovery console for advanced recovery purposes.

If you still use Windows Explorer for managing your files, I have big news for you: there are much better alternatives which will make your work far more effective. Total Commander is probably the most popular application but there are many others like Turbo Browser, which is even more complex, focused more on media files. Give it a try and see if you like it!

From editing or optimizing individual or groups of digital photos to managing all your PDF and Office Documents, this multiple award winning software lets you organize, group convert and optimize, create DVD/CD, slideshow, group rename, change file properties, print, compress, upload, download, publish Web sites, plus edit HTML, script, text, RTF, and HEX in its color coded editor. There is no other software that lets you do so much all in one place. This latest new release supports all popular digital camera RAW formats; it also supports burning to Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs.

A file manager is, at its simplest, a utility program which presents lists of files and allows the user to perform actions of some kind on those files. File managers are useful for moving files between folders, making backup copies of files, viewing pictures and playing sounds, running other utility programs on lists of files, deleting unwanted files and many other "housekeeping" tasks.

Directory Opus goes beyond the simple file manager metaphor, and offers you a complete replacement for Windows Explorer and many other utility programs for handling FTP, ZIP, viewing files and images, running slideshows and more. It provides you with all this within a user-friendly and fully-configurable environment within which you can access and manage your important data with a minimum of effort. Harness the power of your computer like never before!

New features in Directory Opus 9:
• Vista Support: Vista contains a protective layer of routines known as UAC which prevents unauthorized access to parts of your system. Opus fully supports the Microsoft methods for accessing this system. For example, Opus will display the UAC prompt in most situations when it is required. UAC support in Opus has improved over that offered in Windows Explorer. For example, in Explorer if you create a new folder in a protected location (like Program Files), and then rename the newly created folder, you will get four separate confirmation dialogs. In Opus, you will just get one!
• New Explorer Replacement Functionality for Vista and XP: In order to support Explorer Replacement under Vista it has been necessary to change the way this mode is implemented. Now when Explorer Replacement mode is enabled double-clicking on a folder in ANY Explorer window will have the effect of opening in Opus. Previously, double-clicks only opened in Opus from the desktop. If you already had an Explorer window open and double-clicked on a folder in there it would read into the existing Explorer.

The world's most popular FTP client securely transfers files with lightning fast transfer speed, industry leading security and time saving automation

Backup New!
Safely archive your most important folders and files to protect against data loss. Schedule and compress backups to any location such as USB or DVD drives, network directories, server connections, FTP sites or an Internet hosting service.

Search New!
Easily locate and transfer files using integrated Google™, Copernic™ or Windows® desktop search engines. Search by parameters such as file type, size and date. The desktop search engines installed on your computer are shown as available search engine options.

Guaranteed Delivery New!
File integrity checking uses built-in file verification mechanisms to validate that transferred files have not been compromised in any way. Our industry leading SHA256 and SHA512 technologies ensure that the source and destination are exact matches.

A file manager is, at its simplest, a utility program which presents lists of files and allows the user to perform actions of some kind on those files. File managers are useful for moving files between folders, making backup copies of files, viewing pictures and playing sounds, running other utility programs on lists of files, deleting unwanted files and many other "housekeeping" tasks.

Directory Opus goes beyond the simple file manager metaphor, and offers you a complete replacement for Windows Explorer and many other utility programs for handling FTP, ZIP, viewing files and images, running slideshows and more. It provides you with all this within a user-friendly and fully-configurable environment within which you can access and manage your important data with a minimum of effort. Harness the power of your computer like never before!

New features in Directory Opus 9:
• Vista Support: Vista contains a protective layer of routines known as UAC which prevents unauthorized access to parts of your system. Opus fully supports the Microsoft methods for accessing this system. For example, Opus will display the UAC prompt in most situations when it is required. UAC support in Opus has improved over that offered in Windows Explorer. For example, in Explorer if you create a new folder in a protected location (like Program Files), and then rename the newly created folder, you will get four separate confirmation dialogs. In Opus, you will just get one!
• New Explorer Replacement Functionality for Vista and XP: In order to support Explorer Replacement under Vista it has been necessary to change the way this mode is implemented. Now when Explorer Replacement mode is enabled double-clicking on a folder in ANY Explorer window will have the effect of opening in Opus. Previously, double-clicks only opened in Opus from the desktop. If you already had an Explorer window open and double-clicked on a folder in there it would read into the existing Explorer.

A file manager is, at its simplest, a utility program which presents lists of files and allows the user to perform actions of some kind on those files. File managers are useful for moving files between folders, making backup copies of files, viewing pictures and playing sounds, running other utility programs on lists of files, deleting unwanted files and many other "housekeeping" tasks. Directory Opus goes beyond the simple file manager metaphor, and offers you a complete replacement for Windows Explorer and many other utility programs for handling FTP, ZIP, viewing files and images, running slideshows and more. It provides you with all this within a user-friendly and fully-configurable environment within which you can access and manage your important data with a minimum of effort. Harness the power of your computer like never before!

Vista Support: Vista contains a protective layer of routines known as UAC which prevents unauthorized access to parts of your system. Opus fully supports the Microsoft methods for accessing this system. For example, Opus will display the UAC prompt in most situations when it is required. UAC support in Opus has improved over that offered in Windows Explorer. For example, in Explorer if you create a new folder in a protected location (like Program Files), and then rename the newly created folder, you will get four separate confirmation dialogs. In Opus, you will just get one!