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Once scorned, comic books are considered an art form today, and the garish covers and lurid stories that led to panics in the 1950s are now worth big money to collectors. But many classic comics are available, often for free and usually complete, cover to cover, as CBR files in online comic book archives. CBR files have a longer name, but all you really need to know is they're complete comic books in one file. And all you need to read them is an Internet connection and a comic book reader, a tool that can open and display CBR files. CBR Reader is such a tool. It's free. It not only opens and displays CBR files but also converts and saves them as JPEG, GIF, PNG, or BMP image files.
Browsing online comic book archives, you'll see lots of covers in every genre: action, horror, science fiction, romance, classics -- all colorful and elaborate. If you're expecting similar excitement from CBR Reader's user interface, don't. It's almost a plain blank window, except for an empty, split sidebar on the left, and it has but three menu entries: File, View, and Help, and the Help file is just an About dialog with a Web link. The View menu has useful navigation controls like Zoom, Up and Down, and Next Page. The File Menu offered three choices: Open, Save As, and Exit. But what could be simpler? And simple is just the thing since CBR Reader has but one job, even if it is a good one.
We tried a CBR file in our archive, and CBR Reader opened it quickly -- much more quickly than some prehistoric readers (although the computers are quicker now, too). The small, upper section of the sidebar is a file list display; it showed the single CBR file we'd loaded, while the lower part showed each page of our comic book. Selected pages appeared in the main window. Right-clicking the image opened the navigation menu; we could also zoom with our scroll wheel. Resolution is excellent; navigation crisp. All that remains is to spend hours reading the comic books we downloaded!
Publisher's Description
From Cbrreader:
CBR Reader is a small tool to read the cbr files, allows you to easily open and view the content of the *.cbr files. It is simple and practical, all major operations can be done with keyboard shortcuts, it is easy to use very much. In addition, the software can save image to other image formats, can support jpeg, gif, png and bmp image format.
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All versions:
3.2 starsout of 6 votes
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Current version:
3.2 starsout of 6 votes
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My rating:
Write review
Results 1-6 of 6
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"crapware addware"
Version: CBR Reader 1.0
Pros
I don't know, was a little skeptical once I had it downloaded.
Cons
It somehow redirected my browsers to a social addon(plugin) and tried to automatically install it. It failed to install on Firefox because it always gives you a small delay before really installing it and I quickly cancelled it. With Chrome it instantly installed it. I would stay away from this CBR Reader as much as possible. Luckily I found some safe alternatives.
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"Works fine, but..."
Version: CBR Reader 1.0
Pros
Works fine, easy to use
Cons
Tries to piggyback other crapware (Funmoods) along with the software.
Summary
Why oh why do developers and computer manufacturers feel the need to include crapware, bloatware, and other annoyances along with the desired product? If I wanted Funmoods installed on my machine, I would search it out and install it myself separately... I really do not appreciate CNET and others trying to sneak this garbage under the radar on me. For that reason I'm giving this product three stars.
Otherwise it installs easily enough, works fine, and is easy to use. -
"It's A Comic Book Reader"
Version: CBR Reader 1.0
Pros
It does what it says, it will read CBR and CBZ files.
Cons
Not any so far...
Summary
If you want to be able to view those comic book files you have, then download this. It's free, what have you got to lose? 4 out of 5 Stars
By the way, this program didn't set off my Anti-virus Programs. Also, it's got a very simple User Interface. Click "File", then "Open", and you're reading that CBR file you had sitting on your Hard Drive.
Updated on Sep 23, 2012 -
"Excellent Tool"
Version: CBR Reader 1.0
Pros
I use it to read comic books. It is as easy to use as clicking on the file and reading.
Cons
So far, everything is great, no cons.
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"Works Great"
Version: CBR Reader 1.0
Pros
Finally can read whatever comics I want.
Cons
Wish I had a tablet to read them on.
Summary
Reads Comic books (probably other things too). Works great, but can be a bit confusing to navigate.
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"CAUTION This program set of my anti-virus program."
Version: CBR Reader 1.0
Pros
None. Never got to try it
Cons
It set off my AVG anti-virus program.
Summary
I downloaded it, got warned, and sent it straight to my vault
