Anyone use PowerArchiver (not free)?

Topic

New Reply

I don’t use it myself, but an interesting review here at DonationCoder.com where they seem to rate WinRAR as the best.

Reply | Quote

Replies

I’ve read that the next version of WinZip will not be included in my free lifetime updates from my current license. Whether that is true or not, I have been looking at alternatives and one of the most full-featured appears to be PowerArchiver 2006 which throws in its Outlook add-in for free (unlike WinZip).

Anyone used PowerArchiver recently and have any comments to share?

Added: I guess the “no free upgrade” rumor for WinZip is true (see attached); there are now “subscription” and “maintenance” options for upgrades…

Reply | Quote

Check out the two free products mentioned on the Best Archive Tool – DonationCoder.com page. I prefer TUGZip to 7-ZIP but to each his own.

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

winzip has been free for far too long for me to ever consider buying it now

Reply | Quote

I’d go with Joe on TUGZIP. It’s a great utility and you can do a certain amount of scripting for automation. Try it, it’s totally free.

Reply | Quote

Strangely I get “connection refused” for http://www.tugzip.com/%5B/url%5D.

Anyway, I asked about PowerArchiver in particular because I have a special requirement: I need a product that can open ZIP archives I encrypted with the AES used in WinZip 9.0. I also would like one that can read PKZip’s AES encrypted archives. This limits my choices a bit.

Reply | Quote

Another good zip utility is ZipGenius. I believe it encrypts using AES (among others) and it is also free. I’ve used it and it’s good but the scripting became a little complicated for my needs.

Reply | Quote

The site seems to be up now. I check in the forums and as of TUGZip 3.3.0.0 AES is claimed to be supported. 3.4 is the current version.

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Yesterday, I found that PKWAre has a free ZIP Reader at http://www.pkware.com/home_and_small_offic…windows/reader/%5B/url%5D.
It is stated that “Unzips (extracts from) any .zip file”.
I would expect that it extracts the AES stuff, but then I’ved been disappointed before.

Reply | Quote

If you’re prepared to wade through it, there has been lots of discussion on the usenet: powerarchiver comparison – Google Groups

This thread, for instance, discusses some comparisons with other archiving programs.

Alan

Reply | Quote

Thanks, but it seems version 9.5 is too new to have been discussed except on “cracks” groups…

Reply | Quote

See http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=…653&dcaid=17653%5B/url%5D if you are interested in a free (after rebate) Stuffit Deluxe 9 for Windows.

Reply | Quote

Stuffit Deluxe 9 doesn’t open WinZip archives encrypted with AES. See http://support.allume.com/techsupport/foru…topic.php?t=707%5B/url%5D and post 531098. Maybe version 10 (Windows release date unknown)?

Reply | Quote

Hmmm, I tried posting a response, but it appears to not have made it to the Lounge.

The article you referenced indicates that Stuffit X does support AES.

Also, http://www.stuffit.com/compression/sitxformat.html%5B/url%5D states that Suffit X is supported on Windows.
Also, I downloaded the Stuffit DEluxe 9 Help which states:

“StuffIt X archives can be created with encryption. There are 4 compression methods supported:

1=RC4 – Supports up to 512bit key lengths.

2=DES – Supports up to 64bit key lengths

3=BlowFish – Supports up to 448bit key lengths

4=AES – Supports up to 256bit key lengths”

Reply | Quote

Here’s a test file for those with various programs installed. Can you read the phrase of the day? The password on the .txt file inside is Howard.

Note to Howard: as far as I can tell, that is not .zip compression but some kind of proprietary format.

Reply | Quote

Congratulations! (WinZip 9.0)

Reply | Quote

I do not yet have the software.
Ordered yesterday, have not yet received notice tat the critter has been shipped.

FYI, ZIP-Central expands the file and tells me that there is a file named “Test Document.txt”, but won’t extract the file.

Reply | Quote

I’ve installed TUGZip.

It handles your file.

Reply | Quote

Stuffit Deluxe 9 was supposedly shipped to me yesterday, so I can test your file when I install the software.
It’s coming by USPS, but I do not know from where it shipped.

Reply | Quote

Got Suffit Deluxe 9 today.

It appears that it won’t extract your file.
Archive gets opened, but it does not like the password when I try to extract the file.
So, I guess I’ll also keep TUGZip installed.

Reply | Quote

So, now I have to prove to the WinZip people that I am a registered user of version nine in order to get version ten for fifteen bucks? Oh, yeah, I’ll find that three-year-old confirmation email in a flash…

I, too, may be seriously looking into Power Archiver when WinZip 10 comes out. I’m not entirely happy with them at the moment.

Reply | Quote

WinZip 10 IS out. Get your wallet handy.

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

My e-mail from Nico Mak Computing, Inc. (long abandoned former name) is dated 8/13/1998. (Yes, I am a packrat.)

I suppose if the deal had been advertised as “7 years of upgrades” it wouldn’t be so annoying that they were ending that policy now…

Reply | Quote

LOL… Come to think of it, I think I bought it in early 2001, so it’s four years, not three. I suppose that’s a fair deal, considering how often I use it, and how long I used the evaluation version before finally breaking down and paying for the license.

How the H*** did you find a seven-year-old email??? LOL.

Reply | Quote

Heck, I’ve got 9-10 year old email on my current system.
Even older on another system.

Reply | Quote

obviously a newbie to the web, I’ve got emails dating back to 1989 on one of my PCs

Reply | Quote

I never used a PC before Oct 1992.
All mail before that was in VMS or Ultrix on DEC’s computers.

Reply | Quote

What about using more than 1 free archiver to get the functionality you need.

For years, I used the free Stuffit Expander and Wiz.
Then I shifted to the free Stuffit Expander and ZipCentral.
Now, I have te free Stuffit Expander (version 6), TUGZip and ZipCentral.
And I will still be getting the free Stuffit Deluxe 9, which I understand has the latest version of Stuffit Expander on the CD-ROM.

I guess that I’m all ZIPped up fer a long time!

Reply | Quote