I've been using a free trial of winzip that is soon to expire. Is there any free programs that are just as good & easy to use? Thanks.
Does anyone know a good zip program that is free?
(19 posts) (12 voices)-
thenameipicked
MemberYou can actually continue to use winzip after the trial is over, but I agree with campy. 7 Zip is plain better.
Posted 14 years ago # -
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
BlockedThe program I use currently is 7Zip. It has a bit geeky interface, but it does compression and decompression well. Its Explorer context menu items are very easy to use. Another worthy program is Universal Extractor. Although it doesn't compress, it will extract just about any archive file you'll encounter, including most installer EXEs. It's recommended that you update the version of innounp that's included with UniExtract so that you can extract the latest Inno Setup programs (which are extremely common, alongside NSIS and InstallShield).
(Wow... concurrent postings)
Posted 14 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruI use 7Zip some of the time now, though still use Winrar mostly. I found my copy of Winrar wouldn't open some archives; it kept throwning up corrupted archive messages. I discovered after buying Flatout 2 via Direct 2 Drive last year that a lot of the files that Winrar said were corrupted actually unpacked with 7Zip and worked perfectly. The only reason I found out was becasue I'd bought Flatout 2 from Direct 2 Drive but everytime I downloaded the file it was corrupt. The guys at D2D checked the file and said it worked perfectly for them, so I decided to download and use 7Zip and discovered the game unpacked and worked perfectly. I continue to use Winrar, but when I get a corrupt file warning or the file is a 7 Zip archive I use 7Zip.
I would therefore recommend 7Zip if you're looking for a free alternative to the commercial titles (Winrar and Stuffit). I've never ever had any problems with it so far.
:)I also have StuffIt v10 which has better compression rates than the others, but I rarely bother with it unless I'm uploading a file to Filefront, because the interface is a little confusing.
W.R.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I've been using 7-zip for years with no problems. I got it originally to open some .rar files and found it very nice. For most cases, I don't really need it (except for weird ones like .rar) because since Win 98, PKZip is built into Windows. I used to have a license for PKZip but that was the DOS version (and that dates it over 10 years). :)
Posted 14 years ago # -
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
BlockedIt's odd that Norton would give a warning about 7zip. Open source programs are least likely to get virus warnings.
(BTW, would someone fix my links for 7zip? Somehow the http got chopped off.)
Posted 14 years ago # -
Campy
MemberDawn, jZip should work fine for you. It is pretty much 7-zip with a different interface (claims to be better). Since I was already quite familiar with 7-zip when jZip came out I just stuck with 7-Zip. Also, 7-Zip was more established and I thought it might be updated more frequently. That said, both work fine. I and many others have used 7-Zip for years with no problems despite what Norton is showing. However, I have had issues with Norton.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Idunnobutiwastold
Gaming AcolyteI've been using ZipGenius, a freeware ZIP-archive suite from the country that gave us the Ferrari. ZipGenius provides unobstrusive operation paired with a non-geeky interface (thanks to the prominent icons on the toolbar). The developer appears to be maintaining more than one website for their product. These links worked for me...
Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ZipGenius/40260826813#!/pages/ZipGenius/40260826813?v=infoProduct's Website:
http://zipgenius.altervista.org/Download Links:
http://www.zipgenius.it/index.php?id=33Posted 14 years ago # -
I liked 7-Zip so much when I first used it I donated/registered.
Some people like ALZip (I haven't used it in about 5 years myself), they have a free license giveaway right now for their upcoming version here: http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALZip/free-alzip-license.aspx
Anyway, there are plenty of options!
Posted 14 years ago # -
goodgotd
MemberPersonally I use WinRAR the most (the 3.62 pc welt giveaway) for compressing stuff, since it gives me a decent mix of speed, compression, split size, and recovery data (I tend to use 5-6%, rather than the stock 2) but I keep Universal Extractor and 7-Zip 4.65 (2009-02-03) handy- 7-zip usually I use the command line version with a batch file to avoid cluttering the right-click menu.
zipgenius I tend to point newbies at, it's good and free- but I cut my teeth on CP/M 'archivers' with no compression, just made one file out of many. I used to use WinACE for absolute best compression saving to floppies, but these days data security trumps compression when all I use are DVD-R's to store stuff.
I gave up on alzip when they started getting nosy about personal data. <shrug>
Posted 14 years ago # -
Anonymous
UnregisteredIZArc or jZip http://portableapps.com/
For backup if Zip not work portable zip
Posted 14 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruHi GMMan I had to change the coding as well {i.e. [ url=address]name[/url] }; the forum no longer uses the coding that you used for your links. They work now :) I couldn't get your address for Universal Extractor to work so found another one to replace it.
W.R.
Posted 14 years ago # -
goodgotd
Memberhere's the homepage for Universal Extractor 1.6.1
and IMHO Norton is something one needs to purge from their system, not depend on for security.
Posted 14 years ago #
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