The File menu provides access to the general commands in File Explorer

Why oh why haven't they ever brought back a multi-pane facility like they had way back in Win 3.1 File Manager, and like every 3rd-party explorer has? Is it to retain a market for the latter? Movingfiles, creating shortcuts and generally organising files is vastly simpler with multiple panes. Until they bring this in, Windows Explorer remains to my mind total rubbish.

there's a free tool called 'TreePrint' that will add printing capability to the right-click menu in Explorer. It's been available since at least XP.

I can connect to an FTP site as a folder in Vista. I assume that feature is still in W8, although I also assume it isn't done the same way.

i can view files in Vista's file explorer, with the same assumptions as I have for FTP.

Filtering folder contents can be done with search parameters although I don't think they can be saved.

Yeah, multiple rename is a must when dealing with photos.

When you can just click the parent folder in the location bar? I admit I also missed the up button until i realized the location bar in WE was redesigned.

You can also just hit backspace if you browsed to the current folder from the parent folder. Goes "back" a page, just like in browsers.

I agree 100% with dl@... who says that File Explorer in WIndows 8 (referred to henceforth as FEW8) "still pales in comparison to Directory Opus". I've purchased Directory Opus for both home and work and have never regretted it. It's what File/Windows Explorer (WE henceforth) should have been and never was. I'd like to know whether in Windows 8 you can print a list of the contents of a folder, something missing in all versions of WE I've ever encountered yet a highly useful function. Can you Connect to an FTP site and treat it just as another folder? Can you filter the contents of a folder? Can you do a multiple file rename in one move (I use this a lot for renaming photograph files)? Can you view files within WE? The answers to all these questions and many more are an emphatic "Yes" in Directory Opus. I got my first version as a freebie on a magazine disc many years ago and was so impressed I bought the then current version. I've also has excellent technical support on the rare occasion that I needed it. Forget WE; it's a poor limited program compared with Directory Opus.