WinZip (32-bit) 6.3b4

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

The reigning top dog of the utility world gets some nice behind-the-scenes improvements while maintaining the familiar usability and interface that we've come to trust. WinZip is still king at creating ZIP archives, and this new version expands its kingdom on a number of fronts. New features include AES 128- and 256-bit encryption for tighter security, an improved compression algorithm that gives you better compression ratios, and new technologies that remove the size restrictions on ZIP archives. Other handy features include a user-friendly zipping wizard, a split archive function that converts even very large ZIP files into manageable sizes for easier e-mailing, span-disk capability for complete backups, integration with virus-protection software, and the ability to drop whole programs into one self-extracting archive.

Although this is the most compatible version to date, WinZip still relies on ZIP alone to archive your files. We would have liked to see support for RAR, ISO, and ACE archives. Overall, however, WinZip is a fantastic program, and the new features improve on what it does best. Whether you're an old pro or a new user, this is a must-have upgrade. Watch the CNET video review of WinZip (32-bit):

Publisher's description

From WinZip Computing :

WinZip is an interface for working with ZIP files. View the contents of ZIP files, extract a single file or all files, view text files, scan for viruses, and more. The built-in WinZip wizard makes handling ZIP files especially easy for novice users. With it, you can open and extract UUencoded, XXencoded, BinHex, and MIME files (Base 64, plain text, and quoted-printable).WinZip 6.3 allows users to download and open archives from the Internet with one click via Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. There is no need to save to disk and then switch to WinZip or to the Windows Explorer or File Manager to open the downloaded file. In addition, all files that have been downloaded are copied from the Internet browser's temporary folders to a folder of the user's choice; this ensures that a permanent copy of the download is saved on the user's system. This latest beta version supports Netscape Communicator 4.0 and 4.01.

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