While I used Norton Commander 3.0 and 4.0 a lot, by the time of 5.x I was off NC and on its clones: Volkov Commander (VC) and DOS Navigator (DN). I think it was DN that first showed me how productive an integrated environment can be. Although late NC and its clones supported mouse (which was a funny name back then) the screen resolution in text mode was too low to support rich point-and-click UI. Keyboard shortcuts were the name of the game, shortcuts and context-sensitive shortcut-activated plugins (right-click menus were not yet invented)
When Windows 3.1 came out its mouse-based interface was still too cumbersome, and I remember occasionally switching back to NC for a super fast session of file management. It was Netscape Navigator that forced the permanent switch to point-and-click mentality. Even though I hated Windows Explorer, for some reason I blindly trusted Microsoft’s vision of desktop productivity. It was not until yesterday that last remnants of that early hypnosis fell away. I realized I don’t like using the mouse. For web browsing — yes. For graphic editing — perhaps. For desktop productivity — not anymore.
The comeback started with Resharper (a plugin for Visual Studio) and Find and Run Robot (aka FARR) (a keyboard-based program launcher). After a few months of using these, and learning a few Windows shortcuts along the way (Win+E, Ctrl+Shift+Esc) switching to mouse felt increasingly painful. I realized the point-and-click mentality is by definition lazy and leads to passive way of thinking. Instead of making the computer do what I want, I have to go through a series of approximations: Minimize all windows, click on My Computer, what was I going to do?
Not so with Norton Commander. My hands still remember the shortcuts. Alt+F1-C to open the C drive. Press * to select all files. F8 followed by Enter to delete. Now we’re talking!
- While there are many NC clones out there, the most actively supported one is FAR Manager – get yourself version 1.75 in 32-bit flavor (64-bit is not compatible with many plugins, specifically the 7-zip plugin I will talk about next. Note that 32-bit version of FAR works perfectly fine on 64-bit Windows). Extract into Program Files (x86)\Far and create windows shortcuts as needed (I use FARR launcher for ultimate mouseless experience).
- Next you will need 7-zip plugin, it will let you Enter into .RAR and .ZIP files (and many others). Go to 7-zip.org and get 32-bit version. Also get the plugin for FAR Manager (a separate download on the same page). Follow instructions in far7z.txt for native 7-Zip FAR Plugin (don’t bother with MultiArc). Do copy 7z.dll from where you installed 7-zip over to the plugin folder.
- Although the default color theme brings back good memories, you may find it too bright comparing to most modern programs. If that is the case, FAR comes with a choice of alternative schemes, the one I like is this greyish scheme; copy the .reg file to Far\Addons\Colors\Custom Highlighting\ and import it using import_colors.bat (Far should not be running)
- Go to console window properties (Alt+Space -> Properties and Alt+Space -> Defaults) and change the font to 10×18
- In FAR, go to Menu (F9) -> Options -> Panel Settings and uncheck “Show hidden and system files”.
- Also, check “Select Folders” — now you can invert file selection using * button on the numerical keyboard.
- Also, check Show Scrollbar.
- Now, go to Menu -> Options -> Interface Settings and check “Show total copy progress indicator”.
- Go to Menu -> Options -> Confirmations and uncheck “Delete non-empty folders” to disable second confirmation for folder deletion; also uncheck “Exit” confirmation as well.
- Another one: goto Menu -> Options -> Viewer Settings and check “Show Scrollbar”, do the same for Editor Settings.
- Finally, do Menu -> Options -> Save Setup to save the changes (or you can turn Options -> System Settings -> Auto Save Setup).
Now, Norton Commander is something you either know how to use or you don’t, so I will not go into details except the ones specific to using it in the Windows environment:
Press Ctrl+1,2,3,4,etc to switch the columns displayed on each pannel (use Tab to jump between the planels). I settled on Ctrl+2 which displays 2 columns instead of three. Press Alt+F9 to maximize the window to fill entire screen, press again for the normal size. Most other commands can be seen in the bottom bar (hold Ctrl, Alt or Shift to see them) or in the menu.
