The free software program can be used to create or extract archives. It supports both zip and 7z on the creating side and about a dozen archiving formats on the extraction side of things. Popular file extensions that it supports include rar, iso, gz or tar next to zip and 7z.

Configuration options are kept to a minimum which some experienced users may not like. There are for instance only four options to chose from when creating new archives. This includes the output format (zip or 7z), the compression level (minimum, optimal and maximum), the optional splitting of archives and password protection.

New files are added via drag and drop or the built-in file browser. The archive is created with a click on Compress or by dragging and dropping the icon in the upper right corner to a folder or desktop on the system.

Archives can be extracted in the main user interface by using the file browser to select them or by dragging and dropping them to the program window. The file browser did not filter supported file formats correctly. The default archive files filter displayed none, even if archives were located in the selected folder.

Free Zip Archiver integrates automatically with the Windows Explorer context menu which can also be used to unpack archives or create new archives directly from the default Windows file management tool.

A compact version of the interface is available which basically reduces it to an always on top drag and drop interface. Just drag and drop archives on the icon to unpack them to the local computer system.

Here is a short video that demonstrates some of the program’s features.

Free Zip Archiver is a program for the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework and will download files from the Internet during installation. Downloads are offered at the developer website over at Hamstersoft.

But this post is not so much about what I’m currently using, but more about a program that I might be using in the future. ArcThemAll has a lot going for it. It can compress and extract archives and upx packed files, integrates into the context menu and can process all archives of a selected folder, including that folder’s subfolders, in one operation.

ArcThemAll has been recently updated to version 4 which is available as a portable version and installer. The source code and older versions are available on the developer website as well.

The developers made the decision to simplify the use of their application by displaying only often used options and actions in the main program interface. It is not as optimized as it could be but more about that later.

The interface consists of a header, the file listing, action buttons and some selection menus at the bottom of the screen.

Archives can be dragged and dropped in the interface or selected if the context menu integration has been enabled. The program displays all archives and supported files in its interface if a folder is dragged and dropped instead of a single file archive.

You need to switch between compress and extract modes manually which is one of the usability issues of ArcThemAll. It would make the operations a lot easier if the program would suggest an action automatically (e.g. if archives are selected extract).

Another usability issue that becomes obvious right after adding files is that all files are displayed in the interface. I’d expect that only supported file types show up if Extract is selected as the program mode. This is apparently not the case and highly confusing even though those unsupported files are skipped during extraction. An option to only display archives in the listing would be highly welcome.

You can select a few extraction options right in the main interface. It is for instance possible to extract all files into new folders, the root folder or based on their individual folder structure. A click on output displays another option, to extract all archives to a custom folder.

The program settings allow you to enable context menu and sendto menu integration, and to configure the UPX, ZIp and 7z integration.

You can also create archives with the program which works similar except that you need to select compress from the top menu before you start the operation.

My main gripe with Arc Them All is that the developers tried to create a powerful application in a simple interface without really reaching their goal. Why is there no option to filter out unsupported file formats, why no automatic detection of file formats to guess the user’s intention?

I did experience problems running the app under Windows 7 64-bit. I was not able to stop the file scanning for instance, the program stopped extractions halfway, drag and drop stopped working and unsupported file formats were processed by it. It did actually extract xlsx files for instance, an option to block specific unwanted operations from being processed is missing.

ArcThemAll feels like a work in progress at this point in time. For now, I stick with the two programs that I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Interested users find information, downloads and online help over at the ArcThemAll project website

Interested users can also use the offer to update to the newest version of Winrar at a discount. If you are interested in the offer visit the promotional Winrar website. The website is written in German, all you need to to is fill out the form and the license key will be send to your email. Here is the translation of the fields: Vorname (First Name), Nachname (Last Name), E-Mail-Adresse (E-Mail), E-Mail bestätigen: (E-Mail again) and Land (Country).

Select Anderes Land in the pulldown menu if you are not living in one of the mentioned countries. A click on Abschicken (send) completes the process and you should receive a link to the key in your email. The link to the key is the second link in the email that contains download.php while the first link would lead to the special offer page that would offer a discount for the latest Winrar version.

A click on “Download des Lizenzschlüssels” downloads the key to your computer. Download Winrar 3.62, for example from Download Junction and install it on your system. Now unpack the contents of the archive that you have downloaded into the Winrar folder. The key will be automatically recognized by Winrar and you got a licensed version.

Extract Now was mentioned in the comments. I did write about it earlier actually but forgot completely that it would have that feature. As the name suggests its main purpose is to extract archives and since I do not pack files regularly I decided to make this my main application to handle archives. Extract Now supports many major file types such as zip, rar, 7z, iso and img, all in all 17 file types are supported.

Two ways are provided to communicate with the program. The main interface supports drag and drop which is probably one of the coolest features in an archiver that I have seen for a long time. Just drop a folder into the interface and Extract Now will scan it plus all subfolders for supported file types. The files will then be added and can be extracted automatically.

Several options can be configured that customize the output like retaining the archive folder structure or to extract archives into their own name folder.

Extract Now can also be added to the right-click context menu to extract files this way. This comes in handy if you want to extract just one file and not multiple ones. I have to admit that I’m so impressed by Extract Now that I made the switch from IZarc to it.

I knew that it was possible to mark more than one file and extract it at once using the right-click menu function but I did not know how to handle archives with multiple volumes. The obvious way to handle those files would be to mark them all and extract them but this did not work because only the first volume of an archive has to be selected to unpack it.

My first test brought the correct result though. I marked all the 24 rar files (change that to zip or whatever format you are dealing with) and right-clicked one of them. I then selected Extract Here like I would when extracting single archives and all the 24 rar files where extracted at once.

This is in my opinion a great time saver and will hopefully help at least some users who were facing the same problem.

The feature that sticks out is that it processes subdirectories automatically as well. If you like your downloads ordered, like Anonymoose who mentioned the software, you could have many rar – or other formats such as zip – files in different folders on your hard drive. Just drag the main folder into Extract Now and it will do all the rest automatically for you.

Besides the obvious drag and drop support it also integrates nicely in your Windows Explorer giving you options to extract files by right-clicking them.

I said earlier that the most used formats like zip, rar and gz are supported as well as image formats such as iso and img. You still need a software that is able to zip software which means this tool is basically for those who work a lot with files that they have to extract.

The name of the command is different depending on the application that you use to unrar files normally. My packer IZArc has its own entry in the right-click menu and I can select Extract Here from the personal menu to extract all rar files that I have selected.

It took a while until I stumbled upon this method. Before that I really extracted every rar file on its own which takes a while if you have dozens of independent rar files on your computer. I thought I share this method even though I might be the last person on earth that found it.

What I really like about IZArc is that it opens really quickly and seems to unpack files at least as fast as WinRar. I did not benchmark anything here so this is just my opinion. IZArc offers all the usual features that archive programs offer these days such as shell integration, drag and drop support, self-extracting archives and multi-volume archives.

IZArc can also be downloaded as a mobile version called IZArc2Go and a command line add-on for the main program that supports batch processing is also available at the official website. I don’t think the users that already use 7-zip will make the switch because of their program offering basically the same features.

Update: IZArc has been in development for quite some time. After four years, it is still being actively developed. When you look at the program’s feature list you notice that it supports a wide variety of them. This includes common features like creating, deleting and adding archives, but also less common features like converting an archive into a different format, repairing broken archives or merging multi-volume sets.

IZArc supports a few dozen archive file types plus several CD and VD image formats, which makes the archiving software a versatile tool.

The program integrates well, even on 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It integrates nicely into Windows Explorer so that it becomes possible to access the most common functions directly with a right-click and the selection of the right option from the context menu.

A unique feature is the manual rebuild functionality which lets you make all the changes you need to do to an archive before the archive itself is rebuild. If you are looking for a winzip alternative try muzip.

[tags]packer, unzip, winzip, muzip, winrar, compression, compress, backup[/tags]

7zip is an Open Source archiving software that handles all popular compression formats with bravura. It supports zip, rar, gz, its own format 7z as well as other popular formats on the unpacking side, and 7z as well as zip, gzip and a few other formats on the compression side of things.

The program integrates nicely into the computer. It is for instance possible to assign the file formats to 7-zip so that they are opened automatically with the application, or integrate commands into Windows Explorer’s context menu to create or unpack archives directly without opening the program interface first.

The integration is setup during program installation, and then accessible in the program options. Here it is possible to add or remove context menu entries or file associations.

The interface is minimalistic. The files of the current directory or archive are displayed in the program, along with the path to the file or folder, and controls at the top. Files can be dragged and dropped from the interface, to either add them to an archive or unpack them from an archive.

The controls are used to add or extract contents with the built-in file browser. There are also options to test archives, to delete files or copy and move them. It is alternatively possible to right-click and use the context menu to perform the operations.

The software supports keyboards to perform operations faster. It is for instance possible to create favorite folder shortcuts to open those folders directly in the 7-zip program, or perform actions like copying or extracting files with the help of these shortcuts.

7-zip is one of the best free packers for the Windows operating system. It is feature rich and compatible with all popular archiving formats.

Head over to 7-zip.org do download this excellent freeware.