High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application and also a navigation tool that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file systems. It is also the component of the operating system that presents many user interface items on the monitor such as the taskbar and desktop. Controlling the computer is possible without Windows Explorer running (for example, the File | Run command in Task Manager on NT-derived versions of Windows will function without it, as will commands typed in a command prompt window). Located in the C:Windows directory, it is sometimes referred to as the Windows shell, explorer.exe, or simply “Explorer”.