Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: JZip 1.2
Iain Laskey examines a free alternative to WinZip
| Product | JZip |
|---|---|
| Company | MSGTAG |
| Web | www.jzip.com |
| Price | free |
| We like | Free, easy to use, fully functional |
| We don't like | Can't create RAR files |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
When most people think of Zip files, they think of WinZip or perhaps Windows' rather meager built in Zip file handling. However, there are lots of alternatives and one such one is JZip which not only offers much of the same facilities as its rivals, it does it for free.
JZip is a quick download weighing in at a mere 2.3Mb. Once installed, it offers the usual facilities one would expect from such a tool. You can create, open and update Zip files either via the program itself or by using the various right-click menu options it installs into Explorer.
You can work with files by clicking on the buttons or via drag and drop, the latter usually being easier.
Whilst Windows XP's built facilities are OK for the basics, the one area where something like JZip can really make a difference is Vista - well known for its appalling speeds when working with compressed files. Here JZip deals with compression tasks many times quicker. Our quick tests revealed a files that took 40mins with Vista's built in tools took just 3 minutes with JZip.
JZip can work with files created by Zip, TAR, GZip and 7-Zip and open and extract RAR and ISO files. The shell integration also supports cab files. We would have liked the ability to create RAR files though.
At its core is the 7-Zip compression engine which claims high reliability as well as good speeds when working with files. Whilst it currently only supports Windows, we are told Linux and Mac versions are due later this year.
In terms of usability, if you've used any other Zip package, you'll feel right at home. The interface is simple, works well and offers everything you're likely to want without wandering off into non standard areas which would render its output incompatible with other Zip tools.
You certainly wouldn't want to rely on its encryption for anything other than medium levels of protection for instance. It does have a Zip file checking option though which is useful when dealing with corrupted files.
We did like the more flexible options for splitting large files into chunks. This is easy with WinRAR but other Zip prgrams often limit your options in this area.
Checking out the support forums shows very few issues being reported and the developers are producing regular updates to fix those that are known. In our tests we hit no problems whatsoever though.
Conclusion
It's makes a nice change to review something that does exactly what it is designed to do without either having problems or being bogged down with two much feature-creep. JZip lets you open, work with and create a variety of compressed file formats. It does it quickly, simply and beats Windows own tools hands down. Given the price, downloading and installing JZip is a no brainer.
