Thread: Win Zip 12

There isn't much to talk about WinZip 12 that isn't already there in the public domain. For all practical purposes, it remains the dominant file compression utility. If you are a PC user, chances are remote that you haven't used this software, and there are plenty of freeware applications that can do the job as well as WinZip. But that is not the reason why we are talking about it now. What has got our attention is a new WinZip feature that is meant to entice more people back onto its side.

Features

Now, WinZip offers more support for users with digital cameras. Image files are more efficiently compressed with version 12, without compromising on photo quality
or data integrity. Plus, WinZip's image viewer displays images within compressed files and lets the user rotate them. A new algorithm decides which compression method is the best, based on the file type, lending greater ease of use to the user.



The 'Zip from Camera Wizard' makes it easy to transfer photos from your digital camera and compress them to a ZIP file. New users can walk through the process step-by-step while experienced users may prefer the streamlined, one-step approach. When transferring and compressing images from cameras that support orientation tags, WinZip auto-rotates the photos before compressing them so they are correctly oriented in the Zip file.

Performance

We compared the performance of version 12 against its predecessor to see if it was any better when actually compressing. Surprisingly, version 12 is a system resources hog. It takes about half a second longer on average to open, and utilizes more physical memory and the CPU usage is also high. It's only marginally worse at creating ZIP and LHA compression format files, but taken together, this release's innards don't seem to have improved.

Verdict

With added support for more compression formats, WinZip is finally getting back
in the game. It now supports more file formats including ISO Image files.
However, users can save a few bucks and stick with freeware-PeaZip, available on this month's CHIP DVD, is a personal favorite.

FOR:

Added security, added support for LHA and LZH compression formats.

AGAINST:

Lacks writing ability in many file formats supported.