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 was not able to come up with an application that would recursively scan all folders and subfolders that I point it to and unpack all files found inside those folders. It should be able to handle the most common formats like zip and rar and have no problems with multi-volumes.

What could work – was to lazy to figure that out yet – would be to create a batch script that would process the folders one by one. My question however is if there is an application that is capable of extracting archives in different folders in one go. If you know of an application or have another tip let me know please.

Once integrated users can right-click files and unpack them and create files as well using the main program interface. The user can choose between three options on how the progress is displayed for him. Two are graphical representations while one uses the command line. File checks can be performed as well displaying checksums / hash information of various algorithms which is great for verification purposes.

Peazip does have one problem though which makes it unusable for me. Peazip extracts selected archives at once. This means that if I select two archives they are unpacked at the same time which in turn means that the unpacking processes takes longer than in tools that unpack files after each other.

A quick benchmark with two rar archives had the result that PeaZip needed about twice as much time as IZarc to unpack those archives. Peazip was a little bit faster though when only one rar archive was unpacked.

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.

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.