Glint File explorer for Windows
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A free innovation from Rafd · Windows 10 & 11

The file explorer for Windows that doesn't make you wait.

Glint opens folders in milliseconds, shows the size of every folder, and finds any file on any drive as you type. Free, open source, and no account.

Download for Windows See it work

Free · no administrator rights · What's new

12 ms
System32 on screen, all 5,092 items
0.4 ms
Every folder in C:\Windows sized
7.7 ms
One file found among 3 million names
MIT
Free and open source, on GitHub
Scroll to see it work

01 Open

A blink lasts 100 to 400 milliseconds. Glint reads a folder in one pass, sorts it in Rust and draws only the rows you can see, so System32's 5,092 items are on screen in 12.

Time to open a folder in Glint against the length of a blink: C:\Windows, 108 items, 6.3 ms; System32, 5,092 items, 12 ms; WinSxS, 21,650 items, 73 ms; A test folder, 100,000 files, 114 ms. A blink takes 100 to 400 ms.

A blink, 0.1 to 0.4 s: BioNumbers 100706, after Schiffman, Sensation and Perception (2001)

02 Size

File Explorer keeps folder sizes in Properties. Glint puts them in the list as the folder opens, so you can sort by them, and draws any folder as a map of what fills it, like WizTree.

0.4 ms
to size every folder in C:\Windows, from the index
53 ms
to map all of C:, 464 GB, after the click
C:\Windows on the developer's PC, sorted by size ListMap
WinSxS 13 GB WinSxS 13 GB System32 13 GB System32 13 GB LiveKernelReports 11 GB LiveKernelReports 11 GB assembly 6.8 GB assembly 6.8 GB SystemApps 1.4 GB SystemApps 1.4 GB SysWOW64 1.3 GB SysWOW64 1.3 GB Microsoft.NET 629 MB servicing 410 MB Fonts 404 MB Microsoft Antimalware 258 MB SystemResources 209 MB Temp 199 MB Speech 187 MB Globalization 136 MB

03 Find

Turn on instant search and a small service reads each NTFS drive's file table once, the way Everything does, then follows every change. Every kernel32.dll on three drives, among more than 3 million names, turns up in 7.7 ms.

2.4 s
to index a C: of 2.9 million entries
0.3 s
for a change on disk to show up
0.25 s
to be ready again after a restart
Try

14 of 9,474 names

  1. Live Kernel Reports C:\Windows
  2. kernel .appcore.dll C:\Windows\System32
  3. kernel 32.dll C:\Windows\System32
  4. Kernel Base.dll C:\Windows\System32
  5. microsoft-windows- kernel -cc-events.dll C:\Windows\System32
  6. microsoft-windows- kernel -pnp-events.dll C:\Windows\System32
  7. microsoft-windows- kernel -power-events.dll C:\Windows\System32
  8. microsoft-windows- kernel -processor-power-events.dll C:\Windows\System32

This demo searches 9,474 of Windows' own file names, right here in your browser. Glint searches every name on your drives.

04 More

  • The disk usage map of C:\Windows: every folder and file as a block sized by how much space it takes

    A map of your drive

    Every folder and file as a block the size of the space it takes, like WizTree.

  • Two panes side by side, each with its own tabs

    Tabs, and two panes

    Copy and move between two folders, or compare them and sync.

  • Wallpapers found by name and shown as a grid of thumbnails

    Thumbnails that never wait

    1,200 photos on screen in 9.3 ms, thumbnails from Windows' own cache.

  • Quick Look showing a Rust file with syntax highlighting

    Quick Look on Space

    Any file full size without opening it: code, pictures, PDFs, Office files.

  • ripgrep results with a syntax-highlighted preview

    Search inside files

    ripgrep in any folder, with regular expressions and replace.

  • The command palette with recent folders and commands

    Ctrl+K for everything

    Jump to the folders you use most, or run any command, by typing.

Also in Glint

  • Archives that open like folders
  • Git status in every folder
  • A terminal under the files
  • Checksums and File X-Ray
  • Batch rename with Undo
  • Duplicates and Clean up
  • Send files to another PC
  • S3, WebDAV and SFTP folders
Everything Glint does

05 Get Glint

It installs for your account in a few seconds, without administrator rights, and keeps itself up to date.

Download for Windows

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit

  • Windows' own file engine
  • No telemetry, no account
  • Signed, checked updates
  • Open source, MIT

The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows may say it protected your PC: choose More info, then Run anyway.

Scoop

scoop bucket add shadijhade https://github.com/shadijhade/scoop-bucket
scoop install shadijhade/glint

Checks the download against its hash and keeps Glint up to date.

winget

winget install shadijhade.Glint

Once winget's moderators have reviewed Glint, a few weeks for a new package.

Other ways

Build it from the source Every release on GitHub
Is Glint free?

Yes. It's open source under the MIT license, with no ads and no account.

Why does Windows say it protected my PC?

Glint's installer isn't code-signed yet, and Windows warns about programs it hasn't seen many people run. Choose More info, then Run anyway. All of Glint's code is on GitHub, every update is signed and checked before it installs, and each download's SHA-256 is on its release page. On a PC with Smart App Control on, Windows doesn't run unsigned programs at all, so Glint can't run there until its installer is signed.

Does it collect any data?

No. There's no telemetry and no analytics: on its own, Glint only asks GitHub whether there's a new version.

Does it replace File Explorer?

No, it runs next to it, and copying and drag and drop work between the two. Instant search, the index behind the fastest searches, is off until you turn it on. To remove Glint, uninstall it from Settings → Apps.

More in the README, the privacy policy and how instant search works.