Another file compression app (WinRAR)

Member Name: johnsy32

Product:	WinRAR
Date:	04/08/05 (1599 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's free, good compression.

Disadvantages: Not as popular and as wide spread as Winzip

Win RAR is a file compression program that enables the user to cut down on file size on a single or multiple file sizes
by grouping them together and using this tool to condense them. It also enables you open files with the Win RAR
extension (.rar)

There are plenty of compression programs available from the Internet some are free, some have trials and some require
you to pay a license straight away. Win RAR is a free program, which is always a good thing! I first came across Win RAR after wanting to download a game from the Internet and it's file name extension was that of WinRAR, I never knew this at first and I had to research on the net how to use this file. I was able to download this application for free from download.com, and this file is still available from their web site today, and the latest version is always made available.

I did and still do use Winzip as my main program corcompressing and decompressing files, and found WinRAR not too dissimilar. They both have the same sort of interface and functions, even the buttons found within the program have the
same names as those of Winzip.

Opening a file compatible with WinRAR enables you to preview all the files within the compressed file before extracting
them to your hard drive. When compressing files you can get quite a big reduction in file size which is only really noticeable when including a lot of large files. It's also very handy to group together files that you may need at a later date so they are all kept together for easy access.

Installation
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After downloading a free copy of this file, installation is easy and standard. You have to agree to terms and conditions, click a few next buttons and the program installs very quickly. There is one part of the set up that may require some extra attention and that is when you tell the application which files to be associated with, your best bet is just to associate the files with .rar files. If needed later on, you can change the associations to open other files.

Help Files
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If you have used Winzip before you will be able to use this application too. Help files are clear and you will be able
to understand them. Sometimes it might require some trial and error to get things to work how you want.

Using Win RAR
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The basics of using WinRAR are double clicking on a compressed file with an extension compatible with WinRAR, this will automatically open the interface. You will be shown a list of programs contained within the file, you then have to
choose the extract command and choose a place to put the files on your hard drive. You compress files by opening the application, and then inserting files into a list and then using the compression button.

Other Features worth a mention
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Win RAR adds itself to the drop down menu that is shown when you right click on a file, from here you can speed up the
process of adding files to compress.

Conclusion
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Whenever I want to compress a file or files I always use Winzip as my first choice, I only ever use Win RAR for decompressing files for that sort of files, which is only when I have to. Win RAR does condense it's files and is easy to use, but Winzip is the more popular option. They both have a good graphical user interface, but after using Winzip, I prefer the Winzip one, the buttons are neater and tidier. Another thing with WinRAR is that they is no wizard included unlike Winzip, which makes the process of unzipping files a little longer.

Windows XP comes with it's own decompressing program, so you may choose not to use another one. This wasn't an option
with older operating systems.

It does it's job by compressing and decompressing files, but it's down to personal preference on choosing which program
is best to use. I prefer Winzip.

Summary: Does the job, not as popular as other software that does the same

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