File Viewing- Is there something better?

I have Windows XP on my Macbook, and I really like Windows Explorer, mainly in the way you can view files and sort them. Finder just kind of fails in comparison especially when it comes to reading the metadata on pictures. I'm just wondering if there is something better out there that is similar to Windows Explorer.
Basically my problem is Finder won't see the metadata on edited pictures so it won't sort them probably, so when they are loaded on Flickr they are all out of order and I use Picasa to see what the order should be and manually place them. If Picasa could drag and drop into Firefox it would be great but it won't.
I would just use Windows for it, but it won't connect to some people's internet so I sometimes have to use Leopard for it and it always takes way longer. I'm just looking for something that will save me time.

Why not use iPhoto for your pictures?

I never liked iPhoto and removed it to save space as it wasn't what I needed.

I was playing around in the icon mode of Finder and got it to load into Flickr in a more acceptable order, but it's reversed. In icon mode it puts the newest at the top but I want it at the bottom and I can't seem to do that. If I can reverse the order I would be pretty happy with that.

I have no idea what you're talking about with Flickr but any category in Finder can be reversed by clicking on the category name.

I was trying to change the order of icon view because it seemed to work better, but I found you can't.

I think I've given up for now for finding a replacement. Someone recommended Adobe Bridge or plugins for Finder.

Total Finder is an excellent Finder enhancement. However, you do can everything your asking, as advised above, in Finder already.

I too am confused about the Flickr issue. The order in Finder has no bearing on how Flickr displays images

I'll try that.

When uploading on Flickr when you drag and drop with Windows Explorer it keeps the order of the files, at least does for me, it has ever since the new uploadr went public. I'm trying to do that in Mac, because when you drag and drop from Finder the order is just crazy.