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WinRAR 5.50 Review
#1
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WinRAR is a powerful windows archiver software that can create compressed files in both RAR and ZIP formats. It can also unpack most known file formats such as RAR, ZIP, ISO, CAB, 7ZIP and many more. It can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.
The program is on top of archiving software category for more than 20 years. It is small in size, easy to use, offer many options, friendly user interface. No doubt it is one of the most popular applications
WinRAR is easier to use than many other archivers with the inclusion of a special "Wizard" mode which allows instant access to the basic archiving functions through a simple question and answer procedure. This avoids confusion in the early stages of use.

Homepage
 
http://www.win-rar.com
 
The current version is 5.50, it was released on August 14, 2017
 
Download and installation:

WinRAR is compatible with all windows versions (both 32 and 64 bit versions). You can download the free trial version from the official website. HERE 
The installer is small (2 Mb). Installation is very easy and can be completed in a few seconds. In the last step, you need to specify file associations. You will have 40 days free trial after which you need a license to continue using the program. After purchase, a license key will be sent to you. Simply put it in the installation folder and extract to activate the program

Key Features:

Open and Extraction (Unpack) of an archive:

Using the program you can open and decompress any supported archive format using the right context menu items; extract here or extract to specific location.

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Archiving (Compression):

WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression. By consistently creating smaller archives, WinRAR is often faster than the competition. This will save you disk space, transmission costs and valuable working time as well. WinRAR supports all popular compression formats (RAR, ZIP, CAB, ARJ, LZH, ACE, TAR, GZip, UUE, ISO, BZIP2, Z and 7-Zip). WinRAR supports files and archives up to 8,589 billion gigabytes in size. The number of archived files is, for all practical purposes, unlimited.

WinRAR is ideal for multimedia files. WinRAR automatically recognizes and selects the best compression method. The special compression algorithm compresses multimedia files, executables and object libraries particularly well.

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Compression options: 

These include general options which lets you select save location, archive name, split size and encryption with password. In addition, the program has many compression methods that can be specified by the user. These include normal (default), good, best, fast and fastest. You can also specify the profile, update mode, archive format and many advanced options, for example test archive, lock archive, delete after archiving and so on. Other options include advanced features, backup options, recovery options, add comments to your archive, options, the option to add or exclude files to your archive, and time (file time to store, time to process and archive time)

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RAR5 Default Archive format:

When users archive or share files, they will benefit from an outstanding compression ratio along with a fast compression rate to save you space and bandwidth. From version 5.50 on WinRAR and command line RAR use RAR 5.0 archive format by default. The user can change it to RAR 4.x compatible format with "RAR4" option in archiving dialog or -ma4 command line switch. This change affects only new, clean installs. If RAR format has been saved in the default compression profile in previous versions, WinRAR respects these stored settings.

Split archives:

WinRAR allows you to split archives into separate volumes easily, making it possible to save them on several disks for example. It will be easier to send via email attachments

Encryption is very important feature which protects your files against any unauthorized access. You can encrypt your files with 256-bit strong encryption feature (this AES-256 bit strong encryption feature is only available with RAR5 format). This can be easily done either during creation of an archive (using password button) or for any existing archive on your computer. All you have to do is to launch the program, select any archive you wish to encrypt, then select default password from file menu or the lower bar. You can apply this password for all archives you have and even encrypt file names if you need. RAR passwords can be stored in password manager which accessed using “organize passwords button”.  You will be able to edit or delete any password or move it up and down.

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Password Manager Improvements:

In passwords we trust. And with WinRAR’s 256-bit password protection the user won’t be having any trust issues. In the latest release, the password dialog has been updated, and from now on there is the possibility to use a master password. The "Set master password" button in "Organize passwords" dialog can be used to encrypt saved password records and protect them from unauthorized access. If the entered password does not match the master password, it is treated as a usual password for archive operations. To permanently save the master password WinRAR has to be closed.
The latest version uses a new data format for the password organizer, so passwords stored in the "Organize passwords" dialog are not readable by older versions. It does not affect archive encryption formats and encrypted archives are compatible with previous WinRAR versions. Organizer data is converted to a new format only when users save it, but not immediately after installing WinRAR.

In addition, the usability of decompression dialog of password protected archives has been improved. If a wrong password has been entered when unpacking an encrypted RAR5 archive, WinRAR now proposes to enter a valid password for the same file instead of aborting extraction.

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The security of other compression file formats has also been improved further. From version 5.50 on WinRAR uses AES-256 by default in CTR mode to encrypt ZIP archives as it is significantly more secure than the ZIP 2.0 legacy encryption algorithm. An extraction support was added for .LZ archives created by Lzip compressor and LZ and ZIPX have also been added to the list of associations in Settings/Integration dialog.

Shell integration: so that you can use most of the program features via right context menu options. For example: You can extract, add to archive and many more 

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SFX tool : Create self-extracting archives through the built in SFX tool. This allows you to send compressed files to any user with no archiving software needed to extract the contents.

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Wizards Feature: This is a built in tool which helps you to create new archive or unpack (extract) any archive on your computer or add files to already present archive. You will need to select one of the three options available and go with simple steps to complete. 

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Recovery record and recovery volumes allow to reconstruct even physically damaged archives

Integrated virus scan and search feature. You can the built in search function to easily find any files you need and specify security software to automatically scan compressed files for any threats

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Test and repair of archives, this helps to repair any corrupted or damaged archives. You will not lose any important information.

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Convert archives into other supported formats and to SFX format which allows you to extract the archive with no need to use the program

Get information about the archive: this feature allows you to have all information you need about the archive. You can also add your comments to the archive.

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Compatible with all windows versions including windows 10. For all Android users, the RAR for Android App is available on Google Play. The command line version of WinRAR is also available for Linux, FreeBSD and MAC OS X.

User Interface is very friendly, intuitive and easy to use. Interestingly you can download and use themes if you wish. There is menu bar with buttons which include all the program features (such as file, command, options, tools...)

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Multilingual support (more than 50 languages supported) 

New Features:

There is continuous development of the program with many new features added. For the full list of changes added in the new version, please visit here:

http://www.win-rar.com/whatsnew.html?&L=0

Settings:

Settings can be accessed under Option Menu. These are categorized under 7 buttons:

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General settings include the options that control toolbar, buttons, system, history, interface, logging
Compression: include the options for file compression such as compression profiles, split volume sized, default folder for archives, default folder for extracted files,
Path: include folder for temporary files (used with removable disc) and start up folder
File list: list type, style, files, selection and set font
Viewer: Viewer type (Internal or external or associated program or ask), internal viewer options, external viewer name.
Security options as file types excluded from extraction, wipe temporary files and virus scanner
Integration options include the file types associated with the program, shell integration, Interface (add to desktop, start menu or create program WinRAR group) and context menu items.

Pros:

Powerful archiving software
Easy to use with familiar user interface
Wizards feature
Scan of archived files
Encrypted files
And many more

Conclusion:

WinRAR is a powerful archiving software which offers the best way to compress files for efficient and secure file transfer, faster e-mail transmission and well organized data storage. It provides complete support for RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, XZ, Z archives. It is small size, easy to use with friendly user interface
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#2
Thanks for the good review
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#3
thanks for detailed review Heart
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#4
Thanks for the good review tarek!
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#5
Great review.
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