Nowadays, when there are numerous compression tools on the market, the choice of the perfect tool for you depends on your priorities, such as available encryption suite, compression speed or the power of compression.
PowerArchiver is a compression tool that embeds every important feature that such a program must have.
The first interaction with the program offers you a nice looking interface, one that is highly customizable, and which is very responsive to commands.
Visually, what I enjoyed the most was the multitude of skin theme options.
When it comes to available features, PowerArchiver combines many useful tools in one single package.
The program toolbox offers support for over 60 compression file formats, such as zip, zipx, 7z, iso, rar or OpenPGP, and the ZIP/ZIPX engine is faster than ever.
Moreover, it has FIPS 140-2 validated encryption built in, and it's compatible with
WinZip, SecureZIP, and PA format.
Another included features are a Virtual ISO Drive, that mounts ISO images, a Data burner, and support for cloud sharing services, for six of them software installation not being needed.
In conclusion, PowerArchiver is a rich-feature compression tool, has a reasonable price, but seems more intended for business users because of its high use of system resources and complex customization options.
v12.0 [Mar 8, 2011]
- Faster startup - We looked hard and optimized startup time for PowerArchiver 2011. Registered users will see at minimum 0.5s difference between older versions, and users with slower computers will see much bigger differences.
- Edit multiple files - Edit and Update unlimited number of files inside archives. PowerArchiver will continuously monitor all files you have opened for any changes.
- Patchbeam Update System - Get latest version via 2 second updates, made possible by our Patchbeam update system.
- Save and Restore Settings - Easily Import and Export PowerArchiver settings.
- Play sound when Done - Plays sound once operation is done (pick any tune you want!)
- Improved shell extensions - ability to split tools into separate shell extensions, added special compress to zipx shell extenion.
- Improved File Manager - now with breadcrumb bar for easier navigation, as in Windows 7.
- Better support for large DPI - PowerArchiver 2011 windows and dialogues now automatically adjust to larger font DPI.
