Without installing Visual Studio can I use Team Explorer or TFS power tools to check-in/check-out files through windows explorer?
You can install Team Explorer which is free (but still uses the VS shell), this doesn't require any kind of Visual Studio license: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devops/2017/04/05/reintroducing-the-team-explorer-standalone-installer/
Then you can install the TFS Power Tools to get the Windows Explorer extension which allows you to do basic source control operations in Windows Explorer.
Note: If you are connecting to an on-premise TFS you still need to purchase TFS CAL's. If you are using Azure DevOps (formerly Visual Studio Online) you get 5 users for free.
First install the free Visual Studio Explorer 2019
Go to https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
Go to All downloads > Visual Studio 2019 > Visual Studio Team Explorer 2019 > Download
Run the installer
Then install the Microsoft Team Foundation Version Control Windows Shell Extension
Download from here
You may need to reboot to finish installation.