WinRAR

Good: WinRAR is one of the most easy to use archive compression tools I have ever met. And most of files can be easily extracted or compressed, especially it did a really good job when compressing larger file. So if you need to compress large files frequently, WinRAR is a good choice.


Bad: Obviously WinRAR is not as popular as WinZip online. WinZip takes larger market rate in archive compression field than WinRAR, because WinZip is bonded with Windows operating system. So for users who don't need to compress and transfer files online frequently, WinZip is enough.

Setup

Just like WinZip, The installation of WinRAR is extremely easy for everyone. 3MB disk space is enough to install. Compared with WinZip, 7zip, and Stuffit etc, it is much smaller. Unfortunately, WinRAR doesn't offer a quick door for uninstallation; you need to remove it through Control Panel or other extended programs.

WinRAR is definitely easy to control for everyone. For beginners, the functions added into right click menu is enough. All you need to do is just selecting the right option, compress or extract. That is it!

And if you requires advanced functions such as compression rate setting, encryption etc, WinRAR are still helpful.

Features

Why do we compress files? Because we want to make it easy to transfer while keeping the quality of original file, especially when compressing video and audio files, the most important factor we care about is how a compression tool keeps the quality of original file. According to our testing result, WinRAR did a really good job. Even the compress rate is lower

Among several programs available on market, WinRAR is the right one to compress large number of files, since the size of a zip archive, as well as the size of any single file within a Zip archive is limited to 2GB, while WinRAR does not. Here I need to postal that most of popular compression formats such as zip, iso, 7z, cue, etc are compatible with WinRAR, so after you install WinRAR, and there is no need to install WinZip and other programs again.

Interface

“Ohm, good” That is exactly what I say when I open the main window of WinRAR. Generally speaking, the interfaces of archive compression programs on market usually are not as attractive as those multimedia related software’s. However, WinRAR gives me a different feeling that system utility can be fashion and attractive as well.

The main interface of WinRAR is very brief and concise. Most of frequently used functions are listed in menu. The big icon for each feature gives a very direct impression that what it means. I think over 90% computer users can easily control it; even you are just a beginner.

Actually we even don’t need to open the main window of WinRAR, after we are familiar with its features. Because all you have to do is just select archives, then choose the right option in your right-click menu.

System Requirements

WinRAR can be running on almost all of operating system such as Windows, Linux, Mac O/S etc. And it takes less than 4MB disc space, which can be ignored in common used 80GB hard disc for pc owner today. The only bad thing is that when you compress a large number of files into one, WinRAR will take much memories, and your system running speed will decreasing obviously so that you can not even running any other programs at the same times. Please note that is a common problem for all of available archive compression tools. In our testing, WinRAR is much better than WinZip.

Conclusion

WinRAR is a very good archive compression tool for both beginner and advanced user. The concise interface, powerful functions, and higher compatibility are really worth your money. If you need to compress large –size file frequently, WinRAR is a better choice. If not, then WinZip will be enough for you.