How do you run a Windows PC without Windows Explorer? I heard it frees up tons of resources to do this!?

Question

The "Question" box pretty much spelled it out but I'll say it again...

A friend called and asked if I knew how to run a PC with Windows XP Pro and/or Windows Vista without having to use Windows Explorer yet you still have full access to any and all program files and registry etc.

I have NO IDEA how to go about doing this...

He said that if you are running Vista, which is a total systems hog, it will dramatically increase your performance by freeing up a very high chunk of your ram and systems resources.

Can you please either tell me (if it is easy) or link me (if it is hard) to how, exactly, you go about doing this to your computer???

Thanks!!

Answer 1

You can technically run Windows without Explorer running by default by using an alternate program to provide the Start Menu. Unfortunately, most solutions do not provide a file browser component, so it still launches Explorer when you try to open a folder.

Example:

http://www.geoshell.com/

I believe it is possible to run ROSExplorer (the Explorer equivalent for ReactOS) on Windows. It may still be very buggy, though, if it's performance on ReactOS is any indication.

http://www.sky.franken.de/explorer/#run

I believe BB4Win also provides a file browser. Of course, the resulting desktop will look very little like Windows.

http://www.bb4win.org/