Only a few file compression programs have been constantly at the top of the crowd for the last ten years and WinRAR is without doubt one of them. WinRAR has evolved in that time and is now able to not only handle rar files but also other compression formats like zip, 7z, gz, lzh, cab or iso which makes it an all around tool for file compression needs.
WinRAR offers an option to integrate tightly into the Windows operating system during installation. This includes a very handy Windows Explorer entry which can be used to unpack or pack files directly in Windows Explorer.
The WinRAR interface has been streamlined for ease of use. The professionally looking theme can be changed easily to one of the other themes that are offered on the WinRAR website.
The interface itself can be divided into an header that contains the menu and program icons that lead to the most important functions of the file compression software and the file browser which displays files and contents of archives.
A right-click on any file in the file browser opens a context menu with several options ranging from viewing, renaming or deleting files to repairing archives or setting passwords.
Some of the functions are also available directly in the header like the ability to test the archive or view a specific file in an archive. The Wizard comes in handy for first time users as it directs the user through the process of creating or unpacking archives in the program.
Other direct options include performing a virus scan of the files contained in an archive or folder. WinRAR tries to discover installed virus scanners automatically which can then be selected from a pulldown menu. The user does have the option to browse the computer for a specific virus scanner and use that to scan the files which is handy for portable virus scanners or those that are not recognized by the automatic scan.
It is furthermore possible to add comments to archives and make them self extracting. The latter option can be handy in situations if no file compression software is installed on the target system or if the user of the target system wants (or requires) the easiest way of unpacking archived files (which self extracting archives are as they can be extracted with a simple double-click).
The Tools menu contains several advanced options like the tool to convert archives into rar or zip format. This is actually a very handy solution to convert multiple archives (that might have been compressed with different file compression algorithms) into a standard format like rar or zip. An option to add all archives of a specific format to that menu would be very handy. As of now it is only possible to add archives manually to the list.
Advanced users will like the amount of options that are provided during archive creation. The six-tabbed interface comes with so many options that it might look intimidating to some users although it is possible to simply click on the OK button to create the archive. Those users who look at the options provided on the other hand will find handy ones including the ability to change the compression level, splitting the files into several archives, adding a recovery record to the archive, setting passwords (that use the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm), wiping files after archive creation, storing full or relative paths or sending the archive by email.
WinRAR features
- WinRAR provides complete support for RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives.
- WinRAR offers a graphic interactive interface utilizing mouse and menus as well as the command line interface.
- WinRAR is easier to use than many other archivers with the inclusion of a special “Wizard” mode which allows instant access to the basic archiving functions through a simple question and answer procedure. This avoids confusion in the early stages of use.
- WinRAR offers you the benefit of industry strength archive encryption using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key of 128 bits.
- WinRAR supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes in size. The number of archived files is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.
- WinRAR offers the ability to create selfextracting and multivolume archives.
- Recovery record and recovery volumes allow to reconstruct even physically damaged archives.
Verdict:
WinRAR is a powerful file compression program for the Windows operating system that is suited for both inexperienced and advanced users. Especially advanced options like batch converting archives, adding recovery information to archives or the command line options make WinRAR a prime choice for all archiving needs. Interested users can download a trial version at the WinRAR download page.
Christmas Giveaway
Readers who leave a comment get the chance to win a WinRAR licenses. We have ten licenses for WinRAR 3.90 in this giveaway. Please tell us why you use WinRAR, if you use it, or why you don’t use WinRAR, if you don’t use it. We will select the best 10 insightful comments as our winners, regardless whether they use WinRAR or not.
Raju is giving away licenses for Speedbit Video Accerlerator today, be sure to check out his giveaway as well.
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I settled for WinRar on my desktop after reading the donationcoder BEST ARCHIVE TOOL review.
Would like have it on my laptop too.
There can only be 10 Winrar’s
well, i know that this is the best compression tool, better than the rest, if compared,its really useful tool to have, faster and versatile, i really love it, wish i’ll have a chance to get one, thanks alot…..
Happy user of 7zip,but my wife want winrar:(
I love WinRAR – I’ve been using it since I first discovered it so many years ago. It’s got excellent compression, can open pretty much any compressed file format (.zip, .gz, .tar, etc).
The second top use I have for it is opening ISOs – perfect for grabbing one or two files out of an image without having to burn it or mount it using an drive emulator.
I currently don’t use WinRAR, because, well, times are tough and I don’t have the money to buy a license for it. Instead I’ve been using free or open source tools like 7-zip, PeaZip or IZArc for some time.
While all of these handle extraction of RAR archives reasonably well, none of these are able to compress files in RAR format (due to its proprietary nature). I would love to be able to use the RAR format for compression, as I think its quality in terms of compression ratio, speed, encryption support etc. is well above those of other common formats like ZIP. Only the 7-ZIP format comes close, IMO, but it hasn’t made its way to mainstream users yet.
With that said, I would be very pleased to be included in the draw for this giveaway!
I also can’t get any of my comments to register here!
like this one?
Martin, seems to work now, but I had to try like 12 times. Sorry for potential duplicates, but something was really off.
No problem. I found some comments in the spam folder and have activated them now.
Thank you very much!
I also need one. Thanks
I particularly like the spartan straight-to-the point interface and its unsurpassed zipping functionality.
WinRAR is the perfect tool to compress large quantities of files in small volumes for archival purposes. I love it!
WinRAR is an awesome program! It has good compression ratio and speed. It integrates nicely with windows and this makes it very easy to use. Thanks.
My first comment here but I think WinRAR is worth it.
I’ve been a winzip user for many years, but for the past few years there’s only been one – winrar.
I love the fast and easy setup process, the control over shell integration with a great option of cascaded context menus. It supports so many filetypes (I love the ISO and JAR support!) besides the default one it’s simply amazing.
Also different levels of compressions are nice and it supports creation of zip files (for all those funny users who still use win95 with winzip, heh; its interesting that “ziping” a file is actually faster than “raring” it).
On a new computer this is probably THE first program I install, and I’m still hanging to old 3.60 beta retail version I once received. And you can apply themes, some of them are really amazing (Noia Bogart has been my choice for many many years now).
I believe this is a great chance for me to upgrade to latest and greatest.
All in all, why is winrar the best? It made me comment on ghacks =)
hopefully win the winrar for the following reason:
primarily because my favorite is the one best adapted to my style, never let me down, its speed is excellent, compatible with virtually all types of compressed files, pleasant interface, easy to handle and understand …
so hopefully be rewarded with this incredible software !!!
Best Regards !
please add me to the draw as ive heard its brilliant to use but ive never tried it
I use Winrar to decompress files for my mobile phone I change my ROMS quite regularly and couldn’t do without winrar am using the unregistered version and the pop up is annoying.
Seriously? Do I need to tell you why I need Winrar? The name speaks by itself
Winrar is the best compressor software available. I just can´t live without it.
Wanna get a license. Choose me please :-D
Hi all,now im using 7 zip becuse is free,but i preffer winrar because is more popular and work likea charm,sometimes i got problems with 7 zpi with unpacking……..
maybe today will be my lucky day and i won a winrar license?
Thanx Ghacks
p.s sorry for my english
Finally I could start working with full version and not just the evaluation
Thanks
talshl
Backward weight-loss diet for all files: WinRar
acutally i am not using winrar. i use 7zip instead, because i am not able to pay for every software i use. 7zip has been a good alternative so far. nevertheless i’ve been using winrar several years ago (1998, if i remember it right) and i pretty much liked it. i’m curious to see what has become of it in the last 10 years.
I go back and forth between WinRAR and 7zip. 7zip because it’s open source and free, WinRAR because it has more features. Would love me a license for WinRAR under my Christmas tree :-)
If I could Winrar myself I’d be seriously sexier. ;)
But seriously, I find that not only is Winrar very useful because of its compression capabilities and the convenience of having its shell extension – RAR archives are particularly ubiquitous being a compression format preferred by most people I know (or even don’t know) it seems, so Winrar would certainly be handy.
‘Would appreciate getting a license key too!
Thanks.
I know as a good compression utility WinRAR and would like a license.
I like Winrar a lot because it proposes some rather unique features :
- add redundancy information so that an archive can be repaired : it helped me a lot in the past where a rar archive written on a faulty CD had a few bad blocks.
- the profiles features, so I don’t have to enter stored password and make typos
- the strong cryptography
- and the all rest !
WinRAR is the standard – easy to use interface and it creates and opens so many compressed file formats that other tools don’t!
i use both 7 zip and winrar.
i think that winrar is better. it is much faster then 7 zip and more important is that you can add a recovery record.
count me in please
Thanks in advance for WinRAR. It is a wonderful application. Using Trial version for now.
Have this piece of great software ever failed anyone?
Sweet prize for the lucky 10
i´m using 7zip right now cuze it´s free
my second runner up would be WinRAR cause the extra fluff is optional
fluff:
I hate the trend in software development right now where often much extras being added irrelevant to it´s use,
not to mention clunky interfaces, glossy buttons, fancy ribbons, oversized GUI´s
WinRAR does not have fluff ;)
Thank´s WinRAR & Ghacks
_____________________
WinRAR – always a good program. I personally wish they would open up their format a little for others to encode it, but I completely understand why they do not. Wishful thinking doesn’t make good business sense. The only decent alternative I have found (Okay, WinZip is good too, but I like some of the other formats, such as RAR, better), is AlTools compression tool, AlZip. They too have a proprietary compression algorithm that compares to WinRar in utility, form, and function (though I don’t know how they compare on a technical scale for speed, compression, or security). Unfortunately for me, AlZip is also not free. Please consider my for this one as well.
Thanks.
As a followup – since I reread the article and how to enter – I do not use WinRAR simply because it is far too expensive for my personal use. For what I use it for AlZip works as well, is much cheaper (at least it was when I got it), and is at least as simple to use. My favorite tools are mentioned above, and AlZip contains these tools as well. Namely the capability to unzip a WIDE variety of formats, multipart archiving, and Self-Extracting Archives (SFX files). 128bit AES encryption is also supported I believe, but I rarely use that. Some of these features can be found in other software as well, but to have them all in one place and ease to use and find are the halmarks of both WinRAR and AlZip in my opinion. The only true advantage I can find for WinRAR is Linux support, but for the price I will stick with AlZip.
I have used winrar for a decade. I prefer it over the competition as it traditionally has worked with more formats and I like the compression of files with RAR. If I had to report one negative, I believe the compression speed of winrar is slower currently than some of the competition.
Hey… I would really like to win this competition… :D
I have used winrar for almost 10 years and this is the best in the world.
\dennis
I really like winrar, I just hope I could get one. I am a student and I cannot afford to pay real money for it. Even though there are free alternative.
Thanks ahead