Today, a bit of news that keeps with the general theme of the site, customizing the Windows experience!  Here we customize everything from the UI skin to desktop icons and often complete shell replacements.  We animate our wallpapers, gadgetize or screens and trick out our media players.  In part we do it for the fun factor, and sometimes we even do it for usability and functionality.  One area of Windows though is often left completely untouched by the hand of customization:

Windows Explorer.

Yes, that file manager that has stubbornly followed us around from Windows version to Windows version.  It's basic by most standards, and power users who are familiar with other operating systems are often left frustrated by the lack of options and power.  Last week, DownloadSquad rounded up five of their favorite Windows Explorer replacement programs.  So if you're feeling brave and want to get more out of your file browsing experience, grab a few and try them out.  It's important to note that the programs listed are for Windows XP users only.  It will likely be some time before people figure out how to replace Explorer in Vista.