I like my Macs but find ‘Finder’ infuriatingly difficult to use. It seems to be missing the basic functionality of windows explorer which i use all day at work, things like back and forward buttons, up one folder level, being able to set up the display to see long file names, and having several windows open at once.

I expect I’m doing it wrong and it is really easy to use, anyone know any good tutorials? Otherwise can anyone recommend a file management app that i can download?

It is very weak compared with Windows – but there are plenty of 3rd party Finders which are much more feature rich.

[EDIT: Wrong link]

things like back and forward buttons, up one folder level, being able to set up the display to see long file names, and having several windows open at once.

it does all those things.

This was the article I was after:

http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/utilities-roundups/5-alternatives-to-the-os-x-finder/

I use Pathfinder.

To address some of your queries, my Finder window (running Snow Leopard) has back and forward buttons in the top left, just underneath the close/maximise/minimise buttons; you can open a new Finder window with cmd+N; I have my view set up so that i can scroll side-to-side to go up a folder level (the second option from the left in the views chooser at the top of the window); don’t know about displaying long file names though.

Lifehacker suggest using TotalFinder, which might solve some of your problems – worth a look anyway. Not free, but not too expensive.

HTH

Yep, Finder is appallingly counter-intuitive and generally rubbish. Why Apple tried to be minimalist with something that needs to be feature-rich is beyond me.

back and forward buttons

Top left

, up one folder level,

left and right arrow buttons to go up or down (if you’re in views 2 or 3, not sure about the others)

being able to set up the display to see long file names,

Click and drag the column heading boxes in view 2; drag the handle at the bottom-right of each pane in view 3

and having several windows open at once.

Cmd-N opens as many windows as you want.

Spacebar previews a file without opening it; cmd-i shows details for the file…it’s minimal more in appearance than in functionality, I think, once you get the hang of it. I’m sure there are instructions somewhere on the Google.