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Ubuntu 12.10 has a updated Nautilus File Manager. I like the interface but it is a bit annoying. I need some way to get rid of that. The system is at my office where I a not allowed to put any other operating system. I am quiet used to Windows.
I am able to figure how to work on Ubuntu, but the existing file manager has lots of issue. It is slow and something there are no quick options available.
There are tons of alternative for that. You can get rid of nautilus and installed any other quiet easily. You just need to run a command in terminal for that. For that you have to install lighter version of Nuatilus through Terminal. Run - sudo add-apt-repository ppa:am-monkeyd/nautilus-elementary-ppa to install the same and then run update command.
Look in Software Manager. You will find some good alternative there. I will recommend you to use Thunar. This is a light file manager which works fine and is easy to configure also. Search that and if you find it, then install it. I am sure this will replace the existing one. I am not sure about the exact settings but you can also try Konqueror. This is another lightweight file manager available. Compared to Nautilus Thunar works more properly and also reduce the load time. If you find that your folders are taking time to load then check your system OS. Run updates and then check back. It can be due to slow hard drive also. As you said above that you are not happy with Nautilus what is the actual issue. It is necessary to mention that in detail so that you can get easy and to the point solution.
I will not recommend you to make instant changes to your system because that can create adverse effect. Compared to 12.10 I think 12.04 is quiet lighter and better. 12.10 has Unity 3D because of which you might be facing issue. It works on your system video memory support and if that is poor you will not achieve a good amount of performance from it. There is no way to downgrade the version also.
I am using Ubuntu 12.04 and found it much better. I got chance to upgrade the same but simply avoided because I do not want to make any changes to my system. Performance point of view, using 12.04 is better.
Go for Thunar. This is one of the best according to me. It is works smoothly and cleaner to use. Thunar is made of simple interface and it is quiet responsive also. In all Linux system Thunar is widely used. Nautilus is quiet fine, but due to new updates and changes it behave improperly. I am working on Linux Mint Mate. It is fine and works nicely. Performance point of view it is much better. Linux Mint 13 comes with two desktop edition. One is Mate and the other one is Cinnamon. Mate is lighter, clear and easy to configure. The file manager is decent will all performance you need.
There is no need to make any changes in the existing installation. The only issue here is that Linux Mint does not comes with ntfs support. Fortunately you can use ntfs-3g driver for the same. It works fine. Mint Mate is find, but still struggling for good stability and customization support. And if you are not willing to make changes in the operating system edition then download Thunar and install it. You will find the installation instructions on web.
I am using Gnome Commander. If you do not need fancy looks then this is recommended. It is recent and clear enough to give you better performance. This is the only file manager that comes with two column window. You can simply drag files to move to different location.
There is another decent file manager that I am using from long time. It is called as PCMan File Manager. You can download this and install it. By default this comes in older version of Ubuntu. It is quiet better in performance. I have around thousands of images in my system. I use to load up them and it gives a clear thumbnail view. It is not complicated to use and move files from one location to other. It has a preference menu from where you can configure a number of thing. You can modify various stuff from the same.
What really matters is fast boot and easy load of your files when you launch any folder. In Mint there is some issue with stability. When I move large files I had notice error of playmouth dis-connectivity on the screen. This is quiet common, but again on reboot things goes well. Somehow I will not recommend to upgrade Ubuntu. The more recent version you install, the more buggy it will became. This makes the operating system a bit complicated to perform. Due to number of new additions there are various other issue arises. I am still sticked with the 10th edition. It works fine and does not freezes a lot.
Go on Software Manager and search for File Manager. You will find a set of software with ratings. You can then choose when you want to install. The setup on its own configure different things.
Nautilus is buggy in Ubuntu 12.10. I do not know why. When there are tons of things updated then this must work fine. I hope there would be better updates this time and they switch the existing file manager to something more stable and better. I had seen screen flickering issue. When I move mouse on the menu or side scroll bar it flickers continuously. Nautilus works well in the older editions, but in new it behave improperly.
You can try re-install Nautilus one more time by manually downloading it and then reconfiguring the same. Changing the current file manager will not put much affect.
I am sure there would be some option to downgrade nautilus. With simple command you can remove the existing one and install a bit older edition. The one which is found in Ubuntu 10.