SpecialFoldersView

SpecialFoldersView is a lightweight and portable piece of software that displays special folders present on your computer, such as hidden ones. It features some very useful options that can be handled by all types of users, even the ones with little or no experience in software utilities.

Portability benefits

Since there is no installation involved, you can drop the program files in any part of the hard disk and just click the executable to run.
There is also the alternative to save a copy of SpecialFoldersView to a USB flash disk or other similar device, in order to run it on any PC with minimum effort and no previous installers.
In addition, the app does not create new entries in the Windows registry or Start menu, leaving no traces behind after its removal.

Clean and simple interface

The GUI is user-friendly, consisting of a single window with an intuitive structure, where all special folders are immediately shown at startup. Details include the folder name and path, hidden, read-only and system attribute status, CSIDL, CSIDL name, and environment string path.

View and export data

These locations can be opened in Windows Explorer via the context-menu, and sent to the desktop as shortcuts. It is also possible to copy selected entries to the Clipboard, or export all information to HTML, TXT, CSV or XML format. A search function comes in handy when dealing with large amounts of data.

Performance and conclusion

The tool does not put a strain on PC performance, since it runs on low CPU and RAM. We have not come across any issues throughout our evaluation, as the app did not hang, crash or pop up errors. Thanks to its intuitive structure and overall simplicity, SpecialFoldersView can be handled by anyone.