A decent file archiver, compresses and extracts a variety of archive and file types!
7-Zip is open source software – you don’t need to register or pay for it. In fact, you can use it in a commercial organization. Unlike WinZIP and WinRAR, 7-zip is open source (free) – and works in 63 languages. 7-Zip works in Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP.
7-Zip is a free archiver that can face commercial ones like WinZip without breaking a sweat. First of all, the File Manager that is used as a graphical interface deserves its name. You can enable two panels display using the F9 key and you get an extremely useful file manager. Its keyboard shortcuts are those well known for such programs, like F5 - copy, F8 - delete and so on. The Archiver is the fastest and the best among all the archivers (proved in testing). In our tests, 7z archives were up to 40 percent smaller then their ZIP equivalents, although compression did take longer, and the highest compression settings can hog system resources. Advanced options include the ability to create solid and self-extracting archives, and to adjust the compression level and password protection. The context menu options, which include "testing" an archive, indicate that 7-Zip should be taken seriously.
You can go to page for free downloading of 7Zip.
7-Zip is just what it claims to be: a fast, easy to use and reliable archiver with improved compression ratio. It can also be employed in the file manager role without any problem. Works like a charm with most archive formats on Win7. It even works when I associate Mozilla add-on files (.jar & .xpi) which saves me having to rename them to *.zip, open with Win7, close with Win7, rename back to their previous name.
Its interface seems a bit outdated and when trying to use large dictionaries it needs large amounts of memory to work (over 1GB for dictionary sizes of 96 and 128MB).
If you need a good file manager and an outstanding archiver you can try to get two different products, losing a lot of time testing in order to find the best in each category... or pick 7-Zip from the beginning and do something more useful with your time. I hope this review will guide you on the right path. Enjoy your journey!
Pros: Works every time, without fail. No muss, no fuss, just gets 'er done. Cons: Can't think of anything negative! Summary: Solid, dependable, reliable. 5/5
On my old laptop a while ago, I used another extractor for downloading items and extracting them. But today, when I went to download it onto my new laptop, I found out that it was not free anymore. I frantically searched the internet for an equal or better solution. When I found 7zip I though "Hell, might as well try." So long story short, 7zip really saved me! It works better and faster then Winrar and the others and it's free!
Pros: Opens all types of files with ease and simplicity. Cons: None that I can find so far Summary: Love this program. 5/5
Pros: Read summary again: waiting Cons: Standby THINKING-THINKING-THINKING : OUT-OF-MEMORY Summary: The 1% of the high spenders need not download. 5/5