There are loads of hard drive cleaning applications out there designed to ensure you enjoy maximum privacy on your PC but NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner is more focused than many of them.

Most cleaners try to clean absolutely everything, which is a bit surprising because after all surfing habits are one of the main reasons people want to cover their tracks which is the niche that NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner attempts to fill. NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner is an application that can eliminate all traces of web browsing making sure to delete session cookies, temporary files and other website data.

In addition, NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner can clean any trace of downloaded files, directories of temporary files, and even files that have been downloaded from the web and opened in WinRAR, WinZIP, MS Word etc. This marks NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner out from other hard drive cleaners because many comprehensive cleaners leave out tell tale signs like recently opened file menus in compression tools or other utilities that have been used in conjunction with your browser.

NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner only works with Firefox or Internet Explorer but as an effective and quick way to clear your tracks without clearing anything else, it does a solid job.

Download NVT Internet Privacy Cleaner 1.0.0 in Softonic

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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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.

Download ZipItFree 1.80 in Softonic

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

Download BitZipper 5.0.3 in Softonic

JZip is a complete platform for handling compressed files. In addition to compressing and decompressing, it allows the user to choose how much space to save, preview files and protect them with a password.

Another function that has become critical in this type of program is the integration into Windows Explorer allowing navigate within compressed files. In short, this is a program that has the functions most commonly used in a compressor, without advanced options which sometimes only serve to recharge the interface and confuse users with less experience. The developers claim that it is jZip is built on proven and reliable 7-Zip technology. 7-Zip technology is basically very fast and achieves compression ratios that the developers claim are higher or equivalent to other leading compression programs. jZip is fully compatible with all your current Zip, RAR, 7z and many other formats so if you're looking for a change, this may well be it.

Fast, free and reliable, if you're sick of WinZip asking you for money or don't like WinRAR, this is a superb free solution.

Download jZip 1.2.0.41079 in Softonic

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.

Download 7-Zip 4.57 in Softonic

MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and when used in conjunction with an arcade game's data file (ROMs), MAME Plus! will more or less faithfully reproduce that game on a PC. MAME Plus! can emulate thousands of classic arcade video games from the 70s, 80s and 90s, and even some from the current decade.

The ROM images that MAME utilizes are "dumped" from arcade games' original circuit-board ROM chips. MAME becomes the "hardware" for the games, taking the place of their original CPUs and support chips. Therefore, these games are NOT simulations, but the actual, original games that appeared in arcades.

As gaming technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents important "vintage" games from being lost and forgotten. It's incredibly effective once you've loaded a ROM file although for newbies, the process may prove a little but tricky as the interface appears more complicated than it needs to be.

MAME Plus! is an excellent alternative for those that have had problems running their favourite vintage games in the original MAME.

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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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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.

Download RarZilla Free Unrar 2.00 in Softonic

Compressed video is a great way to download and share movies, but it does have a downside in that you normally need to wait for the whole thing to unpack in WinRAR before you can see it. This nifty little tool solves that problem, by allowing you to watch parts of a video before it has fully unpacked.

The program includes a surprising amount of functions, based around Media Player Classic. You get options for resizing the viewer, adjusting the video settings, and altering the playback speed. There's even a tool for handling subtitles, allowing you to speed them up or slow them down to fit the video. Although the quality of playback can be a little jerky, it provides a great way to make sure that your compressed video files are in tact, and that you're actually unpacking the right movie.

Download Dziobas Rar Player 0.006.4 in Softonic

File sizes have been a big issue in the world of computing since day one, and despite the fact that our hard drives are bigger than ever, large files are still a source of irritation for many. How many times, for instance, have you tried to send a movie clip to a friend only for the email to bounce back due to size restrictions imposed by the service provider? Usually in this case we turn to our old friends WinZip or WinRAR, but believe it or not, there is another compression format that produces smaller file sizes than these popular tools.

WinUHA provides a graphical interface for UHARC, a command-line application, which is proven to have the best compression ratio around, achieving rates of 10-20 percent better than RAR or ZIP. The original version is very slow and has no graphical interface, which prompted this developer to open up the format to the public at large.

The program doesn’t do a bad job either, operating in a very similar way to WinZip and, aside from an annoying donation screen, allows you to get down to business pretty quickly, adding files to the archive with a single click or by dragging them into the clearly laid-out directory window.

Once you’ve clicked to compress the selected files you start to realize the power of the UHARC format. We were very impressed that the program managed to shrink down files of 11.1Mb down to 7.1Mb, compared to 9Mb when we performed the same operation in WinZip. However, this high compression ratio comes at a cost – the speed. There’s no doubt that compressing with WinUHA is significantly slower than its major rivals, and unlike WinZip, you don’t get the option of tweaking the compression ratio to speed things up.

There’s not much else more to the program than the simple process of compressing and decompressing files and you won’t find many other options, other than basic settings for changing the interface. The high compression ratios should come in handy for sending email attachments, and as the size of the files you archive increases, you'll start to notice the its real benefit.

Download WinUHA 2.0 RC1 in Softonic

Universal Extractor is a program do to exactly what it says: extract files from any type of archive, whether it's a simple zip file, an installation program, or even a Windows Installer (.msi) package. This is still a work in progress but so far it's proven quite useful for many happy users.

This application is not intended to be a general purpose archiving program. It will never replace WinRAR, 7-Zip, etc. What it will do is allow you to extract files from virtually any type of archive, regardless of source, compression method, etc.

Its an easy, convenient way to extract files from installation packages, such as Inno Setup or Windows Installer packages, without pulling up a command line every time.

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WinRAR for U3 is WinRAR adapted to the U3 smart drive computing platform. All you need is a U3 smart drive, and you can access WinRAR (including your profiles, AV-Code, themes, etc.) from any Windows 2000 or XP computer, anywhere.

No hassle – with a U3 smart drive, you minimize the hassle of managing multiple and shared computers. There’s no need to – because you can carry your personal PC-environment with you wherever you go. It’s easy to carry, easy to install, and completely secure. Once you remove the U3 smart drive from a PC, your software is removed, too – and no one else will have access to it.

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Forgot your password? Need to access some password-protected files or systems? Former employees leave without un-protecting their files? Passwords destroyed? Are you worried that your encrypted files may not be secure? Thanks to Advanced ZIP Password Recovery you can very easily recover passwords for the files created in most popular applications, such as:

• Microsoft Office software
• Email clients
• Instant messaging programs
• Compression utilities (WinZip, WinRAR etc.)
• Adobe Acrobat (PDF)

Download Advanced ZIP Password Recovery 4.0 in Softonic

UnzipThemAll is designed to help you extract your archive files (zip, rar and ace format) in one operation. You can use it in any situation (professional and personal use)

Features:

• Select all your archive files and in one click
• Does not require any installed archive program such as Winzip, Winrar or Winrar
• Can sit in the Windows's traybar so that you can call it on demand
• Display a drop zone to uncompress your files quickly
• You can use the program to change files attributes
• Can also copy files names to the clipboard and create folders with names
• If you have password protectd arcives, you can type the password to extract files
• You can save up to 20 favorites folders
• You can set a startup directory or restore the last working directory
• Can hide istelf while decompressing files
• Can beep at the end of the operation and/or display a message
• History of all the decompressions the program made during the session
• You can call the program from the Windows Explorer

Download UnzipThemAll 1.0.4 in Softonic

MyZippa is a batch archiving utility. It's features it's own internal ZIP64 compatible format and also supports WinRAR (RAR), 7-ZIP (7Z), and WinZip, giving you complete control over your archives. If you find yourself archiving the same folders frequently and selecting the same options, MyZippa will save you hours of time. Once you've added all your folders and selected your archiving options, you can save them to a profile which can be easily loaded and executed or scheduled via Windows Scheduled Tasks.

Download MyZippa 3.5.0.250 in Softonic