WinRAR now works better with Windows 11 but removes support for XP

WinRAR, one of the most trusted and popular file compression programs in the market today, just received a new update that improves support for Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 desktop operating system.

WinRAR 6.1 dropped in January 2022 and it’s the first version that adds integration with the OS’ new context menu. It has also changed its list of supported iterations that will now only include Windows Vista and up moving forward. Unfortunately, this means that XP has officially been dropped.

A new contextual menu

The newly designed contextual menu in Windows 11 is now bigger and more legible. It places the most used functions like Copy, Paste, and Delete at the top to make it easier to find and use them. This move is also to address the issue of congested context menus that have plagued Windows since its XP days. The problem with this new implementation, though, is that it now hides other important application functions and options behind a “Show More Options” button.

For most users, this just means that they’ll need a few extra clicks to access their favorite application’s menu. For developers, though, they will need to push new updates to take this new layout into account if they want their programs to be listed properly in Windows 11’s context menu. Fortunately for users of WinRAR, its creator has been quick to adapt to this change. It has pushed out a speedy release for those who have already migrated to Windows 11.

It has only been a couple of months since Windows 11 was officially released to the public. But developers are keenly aware of the changes it brought and how they might affect how their programs look and behave to users and the issue with the new context menu is one such example. As a result, developers will need to act fast to push out updates, and with WinRAR 6.1, things are moving in the right direction.