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Top 5 Compression Utilities

Move beyond your bundled software with one of these backup utilities.

Danny Allen

Wednesday, December 27, 2006, 02:00 PM PST
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What Our Ratings Mean • How the Charts Work • Service & Reliability Methodology
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Rank Name PCW Rating
PIDs
1
BEST BUY
ConeXware PowerArchiver 2006 (9.63)
ConeXware PowerArchiver 2006 (9.63)
• Price when rated: $20
• Compressed test-file size: 87%
• Compression speed: Very Good
• Ease of archive creation: Very Good
• Ease of archive extraction: Superior
• PCW Rating: 83 Very Good
• Download
Vendor's Web Site
Versatile, easy-to-use app provides numerous archive formats and encryption support, plus a range of useful, integrated tools.
(Last Rated: January 18, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
2
M.Dev Software ZipGenius 6 Standard Edition
M.Dev Software ZipGenius 6 Standard Edition
• Price when rated: Free
• Compressed test-file size: 88%
• Compression speed: Poor
• Ease of archive creation: Good
• Ease of archive extraction: Superior
• PCW Rating: 81 Very Good
• Download
Vendor's Web Site
This free alternative generally competes well against its commercial competition.
(Last Rated: January 18, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
3
Smith Micro Software StuffIt Standard 9.5
Smith Micro Software StuffIt Standard 9.5
• Price when rated: $25
• Compressed test-file size: 89%
• Compression speed: Superior
• Ease of archive creation: Good
• Ease of archive extraction: Very Good
• PCW Rating: 79 Good
• Download
Vendor's Web Site
StuffIt delivers strong archive management and encryption options, but suffers from a few usability annoyances.
(Last Rated: January 18, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
4
RARLAB WinRAR 3.61
RARLAB WinRAR 3.61
• Price when rated: $29
• Compressed test-file size: 89%
• Compression speed: Very Good
• Ease of archive creation: Very Good
• Ease of archive extraction: Superior
• PCW Rating: 76 Good
• Download
Vendor's Web Site
WinRAR is the only program capable of creating RAR files. It boasts powerful automation and command-line tools.
(Last Rated: January 18, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
5
WinZip Computing WinZip 11 (standard)
WinZip Computing WinZip 11 (standard)
• Price when rated: $30
• Compressed test-file size: 86%
• Compression speed: Poor
• Ease of archive creation: Good
• Ease of archive extraction: Superior
• PCW Rating: 74 Good
• Download
WinZip 11 retains a familiar interface but lacks some advanced tools. Its strongest ZIP compression option can't be extracted by any program except WinZip 10 or 11.
(Last Rated: January 18, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
Pending
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