Stealing the crown from WinZip, the previously undisputed king of file compression apps, WinRAR is a must-have in any modern-day PC toolkit. The application not only includes support for extracting virtually any kind of file compression format, it also boasts a no-nonsense approach to reducing file sizes.

Some will argue that the application isn’t as quick as WinZip at compressing files. However, for the small lag in time difference, you end up with a significantly smaller archived file at the end of the process with WinRAR. What’s more, the application allows you to save files into both ZIP and RAR formats, with a multitude of options for speeding up compression times, or reducing file sizes at the expense of a few more seconds.

Although many newcomers might be put off by the sheer range of features and settings within the program, the interface doesn’t take long to get accustomed to, and if you’re still really stuck there’s a simple wizard-based system that walks you through the process of extracting or compressing. All this adds up to make WinRAR a dependable utility that performs better than any other tool in its class.

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PeaZip is an OS-portable archiver tool (released for Windows and Linux); it supports it's native Pea archive format (featuring compression, splitting and flexible encryption and integrity check schemes) and other mainstream formats, with especial focus on handling open formats. Full support: 001 (raw file split/join), 7z, 7zip sfx, Bzip2, Gzip, Pea, Tar, Zip; Browse/extract-only support: Z.

PeaZip doesn't follow the Explorer-like interface paradigm; the interface is more similar to a CD/DVD-burner application, allowing the user to: - save and restore layout of archives (input files and folders list) to speed up definition of archiving and backup operations; - save job definition (as plain text, to be used in any script language).

The interface is fully skinnable (skins can be customised and saved as plain text to be re-edited as freely as possible) and uses customisable transparency. The program doesn't need to be installed/unistalled, it can run from any path (even remote; a writeable path is recommended), however Windows version is released both as a standalone binary and as a fully automated installer/uninstaller package, allowing tight system integration to use PeaZip right from Explorer.

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BitZipper is an advanced data compression tool for Windows that enables you to unzip 18 different compression and encoding formats with superior ease-of-use.

With BitZipper you can:

• Unzip almost any compressed file (18 formats)
• Protect data with strong AES 256-bit encryption
• Create 8 different types of compressed files
• Browse archives in Windows Explorer style
• Extract and test multiple archives at once
• Backup data using reusable backup configurations
• Get help from an easy-to-use Wizard interface
• Work with WinZip 9.0, WinRAR and WinACE files
• Get free lifetime updates

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Traditionally the first choice when it comes to compressing and uncompressing files, WinZip is one of the most popular downloads of all time. Despite the fact that its competitors have caught up somewhat, it remains a simple way to archive programs and reduce file sizes.

Much of the app’s success has been down to its simplicity. From the outset, the program prompts you to choose between Classic mode and Wizard mode. The wizard is great for beginners, although even the classic interface is easily negotiated, giving you instant access to a range of features such as compression ratios, password-protection and a Favorites list.

While archiving files in WinZip is quick and easy, you can’t help but thinking that the program has lost some ground on its competitors. For instance, the compression rates aren’t as high as they are in WinRAR, and you can only save files in Zip format rather than RAR, ISO or JAR. Nevertheless, the program performs well and now comes bundled with Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search, and is also fully certified for Windows Vista.

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To extract and compress your files, 7-Zip is a perfectly viable alternative to the better known WinZip or WinRAR. The application works exactly like its main competitors yet manages to mix in WinZip’s selection of tools with WinRAR’s versatility.

The 7-Zip interface is similar to that of its competitors, with a main file manager and a command line to search and select files to extract or compress. The control panel is comprised of the essential buttons like extract, add and test, but also features copy, move and delete functions to allow you to manage your files. 7-Zip extracts and compresses files as fast as WinZip and WinRAR and handles the main archive formats like ZIP, TAR, RAR and ISO.

The archiving process is where 7-Zip differs most from its rivals. Where WinZip only lets you compress to ZIP and WinRAR to RAR or ZIP, 7zip offers you up to 5 different archive formats to choose from. The application lets you choose the update mode, depending on whether you want to add and replace files, refresh the archive or just synchronize files. If you don’t want somebody opening up your archive without your permission, you can set a password to protect your archive.We particularly liked the split tool because it can cut up your archive into equal parts which fit on a floppy, CD or DVD, handy if you need to distribute a particularly large archive.

Security is where 7-Zip lags behind its main rivals. There is no option to scan archives for viruses and you can’t repair damaged or corrupted files. While you can set a password to protect your archive, you can’t choose between different levels of encryption.

7-Zip might not be as secure as WinZip or WinRAR but it is definitely more versatile. It works with more archive formats and offers many useful tools like update mode or splitting. If you feel too limited by WinZip and if you don’t like WinRAR we suggest giving 7-Zip a try and taking advantage of all its possibilities.

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If you have to decompress files regularly, especially image files, you may find Zipeg interesting. It's definitely one of the nicest image decompressors I've used in a while and best of all, there's no registration or payment required.

The key feature of this program is a cool preview function which allows you to see what you are going to decompress before you do it. This is great if you can't remember what's in a file or are suspicious about its contents. It supports a huge variety of archive formats including:
ZIP, RAR, ARJ, LHA/LZH, 7z, TAR, GZ, TGZ, BZIP2, CPIO, RPM, ISO, CHM, Z, CBR, CBZ, WAR and EAR.

You can extract/unzip items simply by dragging them and the interface is remarkably easy to use and good looking. It can process archives in the background whilst you work, sorts content of folders by name, size or date and automatically checks for the latest updates.

This is one of the best image compression utilities out there although the thumbnails can take some time to appear when you select a file.

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PowerArchiver 2004 is one of the most powerful archive utilites available and has been downloaded by tens of millions of users worldwide. PowerArchiver offers hundreds of features, yet remains easy to use, small and fast. Novice users will find a familiar interface complete with tutorial and detailed help, while more experienced users can take advantage of full Explorer integration, multiple encryption methods and advanced compression algorithms.

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If you're tired of being bugged by WinZip to upgrade or register and don't mind using something slightly different, then ALZip is an excellent solution.

AlZip is compatible with all ZIP and compressed file types and best of all, it's completely free for home use so there's no annoying nag screen or usage period to worry about. But much more than that, AlZip allows you to choose which program you want to open a certain file with rather than autoselect one for you or open it as generic Windows file. It's also a good option for unzipping files that have been downloaded from eMule or other P2P networks because it scans them for malware or viruses before opening them. The one thing that strikes you about this program though is how easy it is to use - you're grandma could probably unzip files with this program easily. It takes you through the unzipping process gently and doesn't hide decompressed files in some inconvenient location like some programs do. It also doesn't require any plugins or add ons to enhance its functionality or deal with certain file times - it's all in the program anyway. The latest release is ultra fast and they've implemented a new update and restore option for repeated tasks.

For a comprehensive, easy to use and powerful decompression tool, ALZip is all you need to banish those zipper blues.

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TUGZip is a powerful award-winning freeware archiving utility for Windows that provides support for a wide range of compressed, encoded and disc-image files, as well as very powerful features.

The program is administered through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration. Best of all, its absolutely free.

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It's been a while since anything came along that could possibly rival WinZIP or WinRAR in terms of speed and compression/decompression power but ZipItFree gives them a good run for their money.

Apart from anything else, the best thing to start off with is by stating this is completely free - no annoying registrations or fees to pay. It's also now fully functional with Vista with an appropriate modern and stylish interface that gives you the feel that you're dealing with a quality piece of software. The key selling point of this program however is the way it compresses files using what the developers call the "Black Hole" method which provides very high compression ratios and ultra fast decompression. The other major selling point is what they call the ZipV2 encryption algorithm which they describe as "by far the most secure encryption for archiving (hundreds of times more secure than even the leading AES encryption)".

How secure this format is is debatable but the fact is that it's certainly one of the less utilised compression ratios that should mean it's less liable to attack. Apart from the fact that it handles multiple formats with ease, what's also nice is that you can leave comments on your archives describing what the archive contains so you don't have to go to the hassle of unzipping it all.

For a free, stylish and powerful alternative to WinZIP and WinRAR, ZipItFree is one of the most impressive efforts out there.

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7-Zip Portable is the popular 7-Zip packaged as a portable app, so you can take your file archiver with you and work with your compressed 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR files and more on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.

7-Zip is a file archiver utility for Windows with a great array of features including:

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
• 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than PKZip and WinZip
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Powerful File Manager
• Localizations for 63 languages

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WinAce is not just another archiving shell. With it's own powerful compression format ACE and built-in support for other popular compression types like ZIP, RAR and MS-CAB (to name a few), WinAce could actually become the only archiver you need.

The feature list of WinAce includes:

• Compression of the following formats: ACE, ZIP, LHA, MS-CAB, JAVA JAR
• Decompression of: ACE, ZIP, LHA, MS-CAB, RAR, ARC, ARJ, GZip, TAR, ZOO, JAR
• Multi-volume (disk spanning) archives for ACE, ZIP, CAB
• Self-extracting archives (SFX) for ACE and ZIP
• Password encryption & recovery records for data protection
• Integrity check for ACE, ZIP, LHA, MS-CAB, RAR, ARC, ARJ, GZip, TAR, ZOO, JAR
• Repair functionality for ACE and ZIP archives
• Authenticity verification for ACE archives
• Comment files in HTML, ANSI or ASCII for ACE- and ZIP-Archives
• Full command line access (compatible with DOS ACE)
• Detailed information for all archive types
• Quickviewer for graphic files, Word Documents, HTML pages and ASCII files
• Full drag&drop support
• Complete file-management (copying, moving and deleting of files and directories)
• Optimization of existing archives
• Access to your archives in Windows Explorer and via the context menu (shell extension)
• Table of contents in the "Properties" panel of ACE and ZIP files (shell extension)

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WinRAR is an incredibly powerful archiver but it's not exactly the best looking app in the world. RarZilla Free Unrar attempts to decompress files in a "sexier"way plus add a few cool features to your zipping.

To decompress a file, you simply drag and drop them into RarZilla, double click on it or right click on "decompress" in the menu context shell. To speed-up the process, RarZilla has the option to define a default output folder or a default password or both. Remember that before you do any of this though, you need to specify an output directory or else you'll end-up searching high and low for your files. Simply go to the folder that contains the RarZilla.exe, use notepad to create a text file named "folder.txt" and put one line in it with the path your desired default output folder (e.g.: F:\Media)

The only annoying thing is that the password prompt dialogue keeps popping up and usually you don't want to set a password. However, this can be deactivated by following instructions in the documentation. This is a better looking alternative to WinRAR although doesn't offer any major advantages.

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ZArc2Go is portable version of IZArc. Just drop it on any USB Flash Drive and you will have full functional archive utility wherever you go, without havinf to install anything on the computer's hard disk.

IZArc2Go has all features of IZArc except that it can’t be integrated into the Explorer shell menu and it is not possible to associate any archive file type with it. The program keeps all its settings in its application folder and doesn't leave any secure information after it is closed.

Simply follow the steps to install IZArc2Go on your USB Flash Drive. After the setup is finished you can launch IZArc2Go by double-clicking on IZArc2Go.exe file.

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With a modern easy-to-use interface, IZArc provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools.

It allows you to drag and drop files from and to Windows Explorer, create and extract archives directly in Windows Explorer, create multiple archives spanning disks, create self-extracting archives, repair damaged zip archives, convert from one archive type to another, view and write comments and many more.

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QuickZip features no ads, no spyware and has been a completely free archiver since 1999. It is not intended to act as a clone of another archiver. Instead, we aim to provide a cleaner and more powerful interface.

Open all kinds of archives

Allows you to work with 22 encode and encryption formats and 44 archive extensions, including the popular 7z format.

Script support

Run automated backups and other operations using the powerful aks and akp scripts.

Advanced file list

Advanced file list support, including the highlighting of files that match the user defined filter. Thumbnail support to display all pictures in the archive.

Shell integration

Drag and drop files and directories from file list to explorer to extract or add. Context menu support to provide operations directly from the menu, without having to start the main program.

Bookmarks

Allows you to add archive bookmarks which perform like your browser bookmarks. You can organize your bookmarks into folders.

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Archive SE is a system that can archive (or compress) files in a variety of known formats (TAR.GZ, GZ, and ZIP). This allows users to keep large quantities of files in one place and to save space, which is especially useful if you are archiving source code, HTML files, photographs, sending items over the internet or just for backup purposes.

The system is designed to allow easy use of Tar Gzip archives which is of particular use when backing-up. The system always appends files so that previous versions of files are not overwritten and lost, this is especially useful for source code. As the Tar Gzip format is widely used on Unix machines, archives produced by users on Unix systems can be easily accessed, appended or altered, without having to decompress and extract the archive to get at its contents.

With the simple and intuitive interface you can easily find items, which you can then drag n drop to extract. You can add items in the same way by dragging n dropping new items to be appended to the archive.

In Windows XP (or newer) the option of listing the archive using a tiled view, greatly enhances the information shown for each item. This saves having to get the item properties or having to set the view to details.

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Turbozip is suite to compress and catalog a number of files. Very simple to use, Turbozip works efficiently and can scan and catalog all file types. It features AES encryption with 128-bit and 256-bit strong encryption. Turbozip has the following features:

• Support major archive and e-mail formats
• Silent archive option
• Automated command line with scheduling
• Supports 9 levels of compression ratios vs. speed
• File spanning on HDD, RD, and CD/DVD
• Unlimited file size, WinZip, PKZip compatible
• Extensive filter support to include and exclude files
• Display the internal subfolder structure in tree view
• Secure cataloging and archive management
• Supports internal viewing of 100+ popular formats
• Ability to internally edit/save back images and text
• Supports 128/256 Advanced Encryption Standards
• Single click to dirrectly install package
• Single click to zip and insert into e-mail
• Transparent editing of photo and text within archive and automatically save it back

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SecureZIP is PKware's powerful successor to PKZIP, the original ZIP compression and archiving program. SecureZIP provides all the features of PKZIP but brings an exciting new focus: security. SecureZIP not only helps you manage your data, like PKZIP; SecureZIP helps you keep it secure—on your computer, in email, and across the enterprise.

SecureZIP provides a host of features to help you create and manage ZIP files and archives of other types. You can add files to an archive from multiple folders, create and name folders inside an archive to organize archive contents, and update an archive from a saved list of files. SecureZIP also includes the PKZIP Self-Extractor which enables you to create self-extracting archives, and can work with Microsoft Outlook too. The integrated PKZIP Attachments lets you zip, encrypt, and automatically sign email messages and attachments.

A major factor that sets SecureZIP apart is its advanced security capabilities. You can encrypt files in an archive, or encrypt the archive itself, using the same strong encryption used by banks and the federal government. You can also use digital certificates to encrypt and sign files.

Digital certificates add an extra dimension of security. Digital certificate-based encryption is more secure and enables you to encrypt files just for the people you want to see them. And digital signatures, like hand-written signatures, tell people that the files you signed really come from you.

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TUGZip is a powerful award-winning freeware archiving utility for Windows® that provides support for a wide range of compressed, encoded and disc-image files, as well as very powerful features; all through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration.

Features:

• Supports ZIP, 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BH, BZ2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, GCA, GZ, IMP, JAR, LHA (LZH), LIB, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TAZ, YZ1 and ZOO archives
• Supports BIN, C2D, IMG, ISO and NRG disc-images
• Support for external plugins
• Windows® shell integration, e.g. drag & drop, shell context menu and drop handlers
• Create 7-ZIP, BH, BZ2, CAB, JAR, LHA (LZH), SQX, TAR, TGZ, YZ1 and ZIP archives
• Script support which allows you to make automated backups
• Basic features like: add, extract, delete, rename, run, view, checkout, install, test, comment, SFX, virus-scanning, disk-spanning and much more
• Repair corrupted ZIP and SQX archives
• Can extract multiple archives at once using Multi Extract
• Encrypt archives using 6 different algorithms. Blowfish (128-bit), DES (56-bit), Triple DES (168-bit) and Rijndael (128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit).
• Create self-extracting encrypted archives
• Automatic updates using the "Web Update" function

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