WinRAR 3.71

Publisher's description of WinRAR

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WinRAR is a 32-bit Windows version of RAR Archiver, an archiver and archive manager. RAR files can usually compress content by 8 percent to 15 percent more than ZIP files can. WinRAR's main features include strong general and multimedia compression, the ability to process non-RAR archive formats, ZIP compression and decompression, support for long filenames, programmable self-extracting archives (SFX), repair of damaged archives, authenticity verification, embedded file comments, and encryption. Unicode is supported in archive filenames, allowing non-English filenames to be handled painlessly. You can manipulate the parameters of many archives at once and view a volume sequence as a single archive. WinRAR can convert other archive formats to RAR and search for specified text and files in archives.

Version 3.71 corrects several bugs and improves processing of corrupt RAR archives.

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Editor's review of WinRAR

There are plenty of solid compression utilities to choose from, but this shareware powerhouse offers the features and ease of use that might place it at the top of its category. WinRAR is easy to use, lightweight, and flexible.

An intuitive interface lets you mouse over icons to see their functions and if you don't like their candy-coated appearance, you can always choose from several themes at the developer's site. The Folder Tree Panel makes sifting through your directories to find files easier than ever. But once you see the size savings of a RAR archive, with a compression ratio of 8 percent to 15 percent better than the ZIP format, you'll understand why so many users and developers are making the switch from other apps. With virus scans now integrated and minor interface tweaks for Vista, only the slightly slower decompression speed holds the app back.

Beyond its good looks and right-click readiness for basic compression and unzipping, WinRAR offers unpacking support for a large number of archive formats, including ACE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, and ZIP. WinRAR's advanced features are icing on the cake, with Unicode support for international formatting, embedded file comments, damaged archive repair, archive locking, self-extracting archives, and easy encryption. Anyone seeking an all-in-one archiving solution would be remiss to not check out WinRAR.

User reviews of WinRAR

• Average user rating: out of 964 votes
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  WinRAR

  Love it!

  by: JoyceNgo on 31-Dec-2007 04:09:29 PM

  Pros: WinRAR has such an easy interface, and extracts quite an amount of file types. Very small in size, had it for years, hasn't crashed on me once, and it looks pretty nice (no bumpy ugly icons, etc.) I had it installed for a while, and even though it says it's not "free", it pretty much is. If you use it, and this window comes out asking you to enter key, you can just click "close" and continue using it, unless I am missing out on something. I always prefer this out of WinZIp.

  Cons: Thankfully, this protect hasn't let me down yet. I'm glad I found no cons in this product! :)

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (28 of 31 users said yes)

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  WinRAR

  Brilliant

  by: fluffy_red_cloud on 31-Dec-2007 06:17:19 AM

  Pros: Easy to use, quick and light on resources, its a must have program, for anyone who downloads a reasonable amount of files. With capabilities to pack files into numerous compressed formats, it makes it a near perfect program.

  Cons: The only way i can see that this program could be improved is if it could also write .ISO files to disks, as that would be immensely useful for people who use torrents to download programs.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (27 of 27 users said yes)

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  WinRAR

  Use it all the time

  by: T.i.P. on 22-Oct-2007 05:54:32 PM

  Pros: I run a website and the CMS I use has updates, themes, modules and stuff in .tar. Windows can't unpack that by itself. I've been using WinRAR for the last two years without any issues.

  It packs and unpacks very well and in all different compressions.

  Cons: There used to be an annoying screen telling me to register, but since I started using the right click extraction, it has not come to haunt me.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (26 of 26 users said yes)

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  WinRAR

  it alright i guess

  by: sheba94601 on 08-Dec-2007 04:00:46 AM

  Pros: ....i never use to like those bulky books it leaves on other ppls puters but recently winzip wouldnt open a file I recieved. Thats when I realized if its zipped w/ winrar, winzip can't opened it. I then ralized WinRAR was waaaay easier to manage then winzip...but now i jus read other ppls reviews here & they say there's freebies. Imma check them out.

  Cons: I have alot of zip files, so I don't like the bright bulky books WinRAR leaves all over. It's pretty when it's one or 2 but thats it. Also WinRAR should make it's own window like winzip does. Even when were not using it, it makes our right click window way to long

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  WinRAR

  Constantly updated, free upgrades

  by: exjoburger on 23-Oct-2007 01:26:06 PM

  Pros: After buying WinZip out of guilt several years back, I then found I had to pay for an upgrade. Instead I looked around and found WinRAR. I tested it for and bought a license. It handles RAR and ZIP formats (as well as a bunch of others) and you also get versions for platforms like PocketPC thrown in. The updates and features I actually want.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (24 of 25 users said yes)

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