Norton Commander

For the Motorcycle model made by Norton Motorcycles, see Norton Commander (Motorcycle)

Related Topics:
Norton Motorcycles - Norton Commander (Motorcycle)

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Norton Commander (popularly simply known as "NC") is an orthodox file manager program, written by John Socha and released by Peter Norton Computing (later acquired by the Symantec corporation). NC is a file manager which essentially acts as the graphical user interface for DOS. It was officially produced by Symantec between 1986 and 1995.

Related Topics:
Orthodox - File manager - John Socha - Peter Norton Computing - Symantec - Graphical user interface - DOS

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NC's ease of use stems from its no-nonsense approach to file manipulation. Upon starting the program, the user sees two panels with file lists, each of which can be easily configured to show information about the other panel, a directory tree, or a number of other options. At the bottom of the screen, NC displays a list of commands, extended on demand by the CTRL and ALT keys. Thus, without heavy use of the mouse (though mouse functionality was integrated around version 5.0), the user is able to perform many file manipulation actions quickly and efficiently. In addition, the built-in text file viewer (called with F3) and editor (F4) made NC the de facto DOS tool prior the popularisation of Windows 3.x.

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After Microsoft Corporation's somewhat shaky entry into the visual OS market with Windows '95, NC gradually lost its attractiveness to the allure of graphical widgets and mouse manipulation options offered by Windows. In addition, NC 5.0 could no longer support the new long file name standard and thus was useless on a typical Windows FAT or FAT32 partition.

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Despite the decline in its use, Norton Commander was very popular during the DOS era and, even after sinking into obscurity, it has been extensively cloned. Some of such imitations are Volkov Commander (for DOS), Midnight Commander (for Unix-like systems), FAR Manager (one of the first NC clones to allow proper long-filename support), Total Commander (formerly Windows Commander) and Servant Salamander (for Microsoft Windows).

Related Topics:
Volkov Commander - Midnight Commander - Unix - FAR Manager - Total Commander - Servant Salamander - Microsoft Windows

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In the "Windows era", a new version of Norton Commander was introduced by Symantec in 1999, Norton Commander for Windows. This version fully integrates with Windows (supports long file names and the Recycle Bin) and also provides close integration with a Quick View program that enables one to view files such as Word, Excel, Adobe, etc., in one of the panels.

Related Topics:
Windows - Quick View - Word - Excel

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For many long-time users and computer collectors, Norton Commander is a valued piece of software and an object of late-1980s nostalgia, beginning to get rarer and more valuable as time passes.

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