What I Use: ExplorerPatcher ⭐

I do like the Windows 11 look and feel, but some app modernization efforts are more successful than others. File Explorer, sadly, is in the loss column. It’s a great looking app now, for sure. But in cobbling together a WinUI 3 front-end for this classic/legacy app, Microsoft also made a critical error. The performance is terrible, and I often find myself waiting for it to simply display its own home screen on launch or hanging inexplicably as I navigate around the file system.

Is this enshittification? I guess that’s debatable, but this is definitely a case of Microsoft choosing aesthetics over performance and reliability, so it’s objectively harming the overall user experience. For me personally, it’s become enough of a problem that I’ve decided to fix the issues as much as possible.

There are some workarounds that can help at bit, assuming you don’t mind losing some functionality: I routinely configure File Explorer to not display recently used files, frequently used folders, and files from Office, for example, and that does speed up the home screen display. But this small configuration change can’t overcome the reality that this thing is now a creaky, Frankenstein’s monster of reliability and performance issues.

And so I’ve begun experimenting with a more radical approach, by using a third-party utility called ExplorerPatcher to revert File Explorer to an earlier, more stable version that performs better. This isn’t new, per se, I’ve done this in the past from time to time. And it may not be for everyone. But over weeks of usage across multiple PCs, it’s clear that ExplorerPatcher solves the issues I experience with this crucial app. And it does so without removing any important functionality: The dark mode improvements to File Explorer that should start rolling out to everyone today via the looming Patch Tuesday update still work when you make this change.

ExplorerPatcher isn’t particularly user friendly. And it does more than what I need. Indeed, the default configuration makes at least one change I don’t like. But it’s still worth it to me, and I feel like it can be useful for others as well.

Here’s how I use it.

You download ExplorerPatcher from author Valentin Radu’s GitHub site. Note that if you use Microsoft Edge to download this utility, it may try to prevent that. And there are separate x64 (Intel/AMD) and Arm (Snapdragon X) downloads. Either way, it’s just a single EXE file with nothing else.

When you run the downloaded EXE, Windows 11 will throw up a Defender SmartScreen warning that you can bypass by clicking “More info” and then “Run anyway.” Twice. Because seriously.

And then the screen will flash and a decidedly Windows 10-like Taskbar will appear at the bottom with the icons all pushed over to the left like it’s 2015 all over again. (Oddly, the Start menu still appears above the center of the Taskbar.)

This is the default configuration thing I alluded to above. To configure ExplorerPatcher, just run the “Properties (ExplorerPatcher)” item you’ll find in the Recommended section of the Start menu. (If not, you can find it in the All Apps list too.)

There’s a lot going on here. But I only make two changes.

First, on the default “Taskbar” view, I change the very first option, “Taskbar style,” from “Windows 10 (ExplorerPatcher)” to “Windows 11 (default).” Then, I click the “Restart File Explorer (*)” link at the bottom of the ExplorerPatcher window so that change can take effect. Much better.

If you run File Explorer now, you’ll find that nothing obvious has changed. But that explains the same configuration change I make with ExplorerPatcher: On the “File Explorer” view, I change the “Control interface” option from “Windows 11 Command Bar (default)” to “Windows 10 Ribbon.” And then restart File Explorer as before. Voila.

Granted, the ribbon is a bit much. So I hide that by double-clicking the Home tab. Much better.

You may want to experiment with the other “Control interface” choices, of course. And as noted, there is a lot more in this utility if you really want to screw around with various File Explorer, Taskbar, and other options. But my only goal was to speed up File Explorer and make it more reliable. And those few tweaks I do use seem to accomplish that nicely.

If you find that ExplorerPatcher is not to your liking, it’s easy enough to uninstall as well. You can do that from within the app window on the “Settings and uninstall” view. But I assume the normal Windows 11-based uninstall methods work as well. That view is useful, too, if you make a configuration change you later regret, as you can use it to restore to the default settings.

Maybe someday Microsoft will actually fix File Explorer. Until then, I’ll be using ExplorerPatcher.