Zipware 1.2
Compression has several advantages. For example, online sharing compressed files is easy, because it helps to save bandwidth and time. The challenge we face is that there are so many archive formats, you may be forced to have several programs open different formats. However, Zipware let you compress and decompress all types of files, including Windows and Linux compression format.
Using Zipware
Zipware requires administrator rights to install and run properly. It gave us the option to add it to Windows Explorer context menu and make it the default program for ZIP files during installation. The installation process was smooth without any sign of bundled software.
We launched the application via the shortcut the installer created on the desktop. The neatly arranged graphical user interface was divided into three main parts: the upper part contained buttons for performing various tasks; the left pane displayed the selected archives while the right pane showed the contents of the archives.
The right pane gave us different details about the files, including their names, compressed and actual sizes, compression ratio in percentage, modification date and file type. If we wanted more details, we simply clicked the “Info” button, which even allowed us to add comments.
When we wanted to extract the archived files, Zipware gave us the option to create a containing folder, which had the same name as the source archive, perform a flat extract excluding extract paths, extract all files or select the ones to extract. We could select files using wildcards. We also selected what we wanted to happen if the destination contained similarly named files.
Apart from extracting archives, the application allowed us to convert them from one format to another. We just needed to select the archive to convert, specify the destination of the converted archive, its format and compression style. We could make other configurations like splitting archives at given sizes, compressing shared files and specifying custom parameters. We could also encrypt the archives.
Another handy feature of Zipware is the ability to scan archives using VirusTotal. Please note that you must be online to use this feature.
The program allowed us to make some configurations, including selecting language, adding or removing it from the context menu and selecting the file types to associate with it.
Conclusion
Zipware is a powerful tool for handling many types of archives. You can not only use the program to create and extract compressed files but also convert the archives to other formats and scan them using VirusTotal. It requires little system resources.
