Zip & Rar program

[Mouldy Punk]

Since my latest reinstall I'm trying to go legal, and free. Hence why I don't want WinRar. Is there a free program out there that you recommend that does everything that WinRAR does, but for free?

[Slimy]

Are you really sure? ;)

Which version of ZipGenius are you running?

Yes. The latest. It simply didn't do anything, very annoying.

@Tokar, sure but .rar and .iso are more important to me than front page. Winrar is basically the standard now, the standard that winzip used to be. Rarring is more important than editing a wmp or winamp skin file, which is pointless, i just drop it in the skin folder. Not to mention tugzip's bootiful icons curteousy of foood :D

I don't want to make you guys believe I'm biased. Zipgenius is also an amazing program, it is #2 on my personal list. However, it just doesn't have the basics that I need for an extracting/compressing program. If it wins in the goodies doesn't matter to me if I can't get the basics. I plan to test izarc next :)

Edited February 14, 2006 by slimy

[BrutalFluid]

Winrar is really good and thats what i use (Y)

[Allan]

ZipGenius is the only program I use, and install on my clients computers

[Doli]

If your looking for a program just to read .zip and .rar files, i say 7-zip, small (821 KB download) and simple. It cant make .rar files only read and extract them it can make .zip files.

ZipGenius and TUGZip look ok but if you dont need all the extras then 7-zip looks good.

[Tokar]

Yes. The latest. It simply didn't do anything, very annoying.

@Tokar, sure but .rar and .iso are more important to me than front page. Winrar is basically the standard now, the standard that winzip used to be. Rarring is more important than editing a wmp or winamp skin file, which is pointless, i just drop it in the skin folder. Not to mention tugzip's bootiful icons curteousy of foood :D

I don't want to make you guys believe I'm biased. Zipgenius is also an amazing program, it is #2 on my personal list. However, it just doesn't have the basics that I need for an extracting/compressing program. If it wins in the goodies doesn't matter to me if I can't get the basics. I plan to test izarc next :)

I agree. WinRAR has pretty much become a standard.

I also agree that most of those things that ZipGenius does are niche kinds of things. You or I may not need WinAMP skin file or WMP skin file reading support...but I'm sure someone out there does.

Im sure there are some web developers who need FWP support...

etc. etc. etc.

My posts dont indicate I dont use it. WinRAR is my main and only program.

I have ZipGenius installed when I want to fool around with it though.

I know you like TUGzip, but the rar compresison abilities are provided from WinRAR itself, as opposed to say...an integrated DLL file or something.

Once ZipGenius gets RAR compression built in, it will be the best program on the planet earth. At which point I will switch to it full time.

[zipgenius]

RAR compression is not available to third parties.

Once I asked to WinRAR producers if I could ship rar.exe within ZipGenius setup package, and they answered that rar.exe (the command line compression tool) must be bought just as WinRAR. So having a ZipGenius acting as an interface for a commercial plugin is pretty useless and it may endorse people to use an illegal copy of rar.exe.

Moreover, IMHO 7-zip has better performances than RAR. RAR compression is partially overhyped because not so many people knows 7-zip and/or they don't know how to get the best results with 7-zip compression format.

[zipgenius]

Zipgenius won't even extract when you just drag the file away from it.

Which feature of the following doesn't work for you?

File extraction through drag and drop from ZG GUI? (View Flash demo)

File extraction through right-click drag and drop from anywhere? (View Flash demo)

[Minchino]

Oh wow, how have I never hear of ZipGenius or Tugzip before. :huh: I had heard about 7-Zip but never tried it. Looks like I might have to give some of these a go.

[Tokar]

RAR compression is not available to third parties.

Once I asked to WinRAR producers if I could ship rar.exe within ZipGenius setup package, and they answered that rar.exe (the command line compression tool) must be bought just as WinRAR. So having a ZipGenius acting as an interface for a commercial plugin is pretty useless and it may endorse people to use an illegal copy of rar.exe.

Moreover, IMHO 7-zip has better performances than RAR. RAR compression is partially overhyped because not so many people knows 7-zip and/or they don't know how to get the best results with 7-zip compression format.

well...just answer me this:

can ZipGenius support extraction of the .001 (.002, .003, etc.) volumed type that you would normally find in the underground scene?

ZipGenius developer:

Can you implement what this guy has done:

http://blogs.pingpoet.com/overflow/archive...06/02/2449.aspx

that being...a way to read and extract .MSI installer packages.

The program is distributed as freeware and comes included with the program sources.

[zipgenius]

well...just answer me this:

can ZipGenius support extraction of the .001 (.002, .003, etc.) volumed type that you would normally find in the underground scene?

If you got all the volumes of the same archive, ZipGenius usually reads them as RAR archives. You might find a corrupted volume and you won't be able to extract files from the multi-volume archive.

Can you implement what this guy has done:

http://blogs.pingpoet.com/overflow/archive...06/02/2449.aspx

that being...a way to read and extract .MSI installer packages.

The program is distributed as freeware and comes included with the program sources.

Thank you for pointing me to that project: now I can answer "yes, for sure". ZipGenius 6.5 will be able to read and decompress .MSI files. :D

(I am converting that project from C# to Delphi)

[Quillz]

Thanks for the TugZip link. I've never heard of it up until now.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

versions of Powerarchiver below version 7 i believe are also free :)

[Allan]

GO ZipGenius Go! I'll have to check the ZG beta board and get 6.5 again :p

[Slimy]

RAR compression is not available to third parties.

Moreover, IMHO 7-zip has better performances than RAR. RAR compression is partially overhyped because not so many people knows 7-zip and/or they don't know how to get the best results with 7-zip compression format.

Winrar isn't exactly overhyped. 7zip scores better on some tests and worse on others. However, it was created after rar, and therefore it isn't as popular. 7zip may be better, but that doesn't mean that people won't still use Winrar for a long time. Hell, I still know people that use winzip or don't know compression programs exist. 7zip is probably the step forward, but the transition will take a long time, and by then; UBER99zip may be available :p

File extraction through drag and drop from ZG GUI? (View Flash demo)

This one, I'll try a newer version of zipgenius when it's released.

May I request .iso support being added to zipgenius?

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I use 7-zip.

Blows the pants off WinRAR and WinZip, etc. Simply because its completley free AND supports all the formats they do. And then some.

[Tokar]

ZipGenius dev:

You might want to take a look at this program, which is also open source:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=122190

Its a free program which supports extraction from different archives seen in over 950 games.

Are you able to also implement support for Windows file packages?

Im referring to those files you will find on Windows 2000/XP/2003 install CDs...where the file name is like *.*_

i.e.

a file like winrnr.dll would be stored in the file: winrnr.dl_ on the cd. You can't just change the file name and get the file, there is an associated extraction process done in a CMD window.

edit: oh and by the way, you might want to take a look at the Excel file I made as far as ideas for what other filetypes you can implement.

[zipgenius]

ZipGenius dev:

You might want to take a look at this program, which is also open source:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=122190

Its a free program which supports extraction from different archives seen in over 950 games.

I have looked at the source code (it's Java) and I found that it is based on a plugin system. I am not sure what to do: many of those file types are just better known compressed files with a cutom file extension, like Quake's .PAK files that are just ZIP archives.

I wouldn't bother with adding all those formats, unless we can recognize what is their real file format (I would have to look at file header and to find a signature into that).

Are you able to also implement support for Windows file packages?

Im referring to those files you will find on Windows 2000/XP/2003 install CDs...where the file name is like *.*_

That is a very old compression format: if I can get the right Delphi source code, I will implement it.

edit: oh and by the way, you might want to take a look at the Excel file I made as far as ideas for what other filetypes you can implement.

Why not? ;)

[zipgenius]

This one, I'll try a newer version of zipgenius when it's released.

I have retested ZipGenius 6.0.2.1060 in a Windows 2000 virtual machine and drag and drop really works fine: see here.

Maybe I should learn more info about your PC config.

Which Windows version are you using?

If Win2K/XP/Server 2K3, are you the administrator?

May I request .iso support being added to zipgenius?

In this screenshot you can see ZipGenius 6.5 Alpha with an .ISO correctly loaded, but .ISO support is already available in ZG 6.0.2.1060. Unfortunately, some .ISO file is not well formed and it may cause errors while loading.

[Tokar]

I have retested ZipGenius 6.0.2.1060 in a Windows 2000 virtual machine and drag and drop really works fine: see here.

Maybe I should learn more info about your PC config.

Which Windows version are you using?

If Win2K/XP/Server 2K3, are you the administrator?

In this screenshot you can see ZipGenius 6.5 Alpha with an .ISO correctly loaded, but .ISO support is already available in ZG 6.0.2.1060. Unfortunately, some .ISO file is not well formed and it may cause errors while loading.

It would look to me that you were using a laptop with a joystick mouse for that video :)...IBM laptop maybe.

For future video recording, you should check out Camstudio:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Vi...Camstudio.shtml

It lets you define a sized window to record. The output is AVI.

[zipgenius]

I don't have a laptop: I use Wink for those video captures and I turn off some option in order to keep the size down.

[Tokar]

I don't have a laptop: I use Wink for those video captures and I turn off some option in order to keep the size down.

ah ok.

I was going to mention that you should implement IMG and BIN file extraction (both are CD image types)...but they are in that excel file.

[Bubble Wrap]

http://www.7-zip.org/ is a free and open source program.

i second that.

[JiveMasterT]

very informative thread. made me realize that 7zip isnt the only free extractor out there.

[CoolCatBad]

TUGZip 4 is not far away and should be a major advancement.

[whizbt77]

winrar for me, never tried anything else cuz frankly, i dont think all those extras are needed for 99% of all compressed files.