Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: WinZip 8.1
WinZip gets zippier with the latest release.
| Product | WinZip 8.1 |
|---|---|
| Company | WinZip Computing Inc. |
| Web | www.winzip.com |
| Price | Shareware $29 to register. Free to upgrade from v8.0 |
| We like | You need this! |
| We don't like | No - we can't think of anything we don't like |
| Rating | 10/10 |
| Requirements |
Anyone familiar with WinZip will know how essential it is and can safely skip this paragraph. If you are not sure what WinZip can do for you, and judging by your emails, there are plenty of people in this category, the simple answer is that WinZip compresses and expands files to make them quicker to send and receive via email or the Internet. Let's face it, time is money and anything that saves time on the Internet has to be a winner. Most of the files you download from our download libraries or elsewhere on the Internet will be compressed. You can tell this from the suffix. Any file with a .zip suffix needs WinZip to expand it.
WinZip will also let you break a large file or directory down into smaller chunks so you can "span" across several floppy disks or other removable media. You can even password protect your archives but watch out - the password can be cracked relatively easily.
You can find out more about how to use WinZip in our computing guide: Squeeze those files.
So what's new in 8.1?
The latest version is a gradual evolution of a mature but excellent product. There are dozens of minor enhancements but here are some of the headline-grabbers.
Better support for XP
WinZip 8.1 has been optimised for Windows XP. Not only does it operate as native Windows XP program but the menus, buttons and controls now match the appearance of the current Windows theme.
Better integration
WinZip 8.1 is better integrated with Windows Explorer. For example you can now select and extract multiple Zip files in a single operation from the Explorer window. A particularly useful feature is the new Explorer context menu that allows you to print a list of files in a Zip file.
File splitting overcomes email limitations
Thanks to the new Split function, WinZip now lets you split an archive into several Zip files. They can later be recombined when required. This is very useful to overcome limits on the size of e-mail attachments and as an alternative to disk spanning. When splitting archives, you can select from a range of sizes or specify your own. Winzip then creates a number of files, the last of which has the .zip suffix.
New taskbar tray icon for faster use
A new Quick Pick taskbar tray icon lets you start WinZip and access your zip files quickly. Just left click the icon to open WinZip, or right click it to instantly reopen recently used Zip files or access your Favorite Zip Folders.
...and the final word
To sum up, WinZip 8.1 adds better support for XP, better integration with Windows Explorer and a neat file splitting function. It's a superb shareware tool and excellent value for money at USD29 with free upgrades for registered users of earlier versions.
