WinZip 14 Plus (Standard) Review

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(More customer reviews)Good 'ole WinZip reappears! Most computer users from back in the late 90's and early '00's are very familiar with WinZip. It was really the only game in town and Microsoft Windows did not yet support the ZIP format natively. As time passed however, a number of competitors, including native support in Windows, vanquished WinZip from most end-users' consciousness. Is WinZip 14, a product of Corel Corporation since mid-2006, worthy of your attention in 2010?
PROS:
- Nice Ribbon style interface
- Windows 7 Integration including libraries and jump lists
- Secure destruction of temporary files from opened compressed files
- Easy encryption of compressed files
- New ZIPX compression improves compression ratio and compresses JPG files
- Supports many compression files including RAR, ISO, 7Z, CAB & others
CONS:
- ZIPX format not widely adopted yet
- E-mail companion only works with local e-mail clients
- Expensive bundle
- Requires Internet activation
First off, if you don't deal with a lot of compressed files, there is no point to owning WinZip or any other advanced file compression application. If you just unzip a few zip files that come your way, native support in Windows is just fine. There are also a plethora of free and open source programs available as well. However, if you do have a need to manage lots and lots of compressed files, an application like WinZip 14 Standard Edition makes life a lot easier. Several years ago, I favored WinRAR for it's ease of use and great compression. However, I didn't feel like paying for upgrades any longer so I switched to the open source 7-Zip, which has served me well for the past few years. In the work place, I have also used Power Archiver, which I found to be overkill for my personal needs, but an amazing program nonetheless. Though I consider myself a power user, even WinZip 14 is more than I need, but I am happy to have it by my side.
INSTALL
The installation was simple. When inserting the CD-ROM, setup starts and then connects to the Internet and downloads the latest version onto your desktop and begins installation. Once complete, you are required to enter your activation key and name to activate WinZip. Oddly, I launched WinZip after completing the install, only to be asked for the registration again.
INTERFACE
The interface is nice to look at if not a bit busy. Of course, with all of the features added to WinZip since I last used it (a decade ago?), I suppose they needed to add more buttons/selections to the toolbar. For the most part, I found what I needed with minimal effort and preferred the ribbon style menu as opposed to the wizard and legacy menus. I also liked the thumbnail view of files in a compressed file.
PERFORMANCE
It performed well in all operations I performed, including creating, opening, encrypting and extracting files. However, I could not find a significant performance difference between WinZip and 7-Zip or Power Archiver.
FEATURES
The standard edition does not have backup functions or the ability to view images inside a compressed file. For those features, you need to upgrade to the PRO version. The standard edition though, has most of the features that an advanced user might want or need including the ability to encrypt compressed files, create self-extracting files, and spanning compressed files into smaller files. With storage being relatively cheap these days, I don't find a significant need to compress files very often other than for delivery over e-mail. Unfortunately, the WinZip 14 Plus bundle's included e-mail companion only works if you happen to use a local e-mail client. The integration is seamless, sure, but the use of local e-mail clients is shrinking with each passing moment. For corporations, the Outlook integration is probably useful. But for end users like myself, who have relied on web e-mail for years now, a browser plug-in would've been cool, if that were even possible.
SUMMARY
WinZip 14 is a very good compression application. For average users, it is probably unnecessary and relying on open source or native support in Windows is probably sufficient. Power users will find a lot to like in the 14th iteration of WinZip. Still, Corel has stiff competition. Between WinZip 14 Standard and Power Archiver 2010 Standard, it would be hard to choose, but I'd likely go with Power Archiver because of price as well as the ability to preview images within the archive. WinZip 14 by itself is a 4 star application, but this overpriced bundle with e-mail companion can only muster 3.

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WinZip 14 PLUS, a combinationoffering of WinZip 14.5 Standard Editionas well as WinZip's Email Companion 2.0. Two great WinZip products in one bundle for Amazon.

WinZip 14.5 Standard Edition WinZip is the original and world's most popular file compression software for Windows. No other file compression utility is as easy-to-use or offers the comprehensive feature set and productivity-enhancing approach that has made WinZip the gold standard in file compression tools. Now including support for Windows 7 and featuring an Office 2010-style ribbon interface, WinZip 14.5 works the way you think, zipping and unzipping files effortlessly for quick, efficient, and secure uploading and downloading, email transmission, and data archival.
With WinZip you can quickly zip and unzip files to conserve storage space, speed up emails, and decrease download times. In addition to state-of-the-art file compression, WinZip offers strong AES encryption for securing sensitive data, the ability to bundle files into convenient, compressed packages and share them instantly, and an automated data backup facility to prevent data loss.
Compress files with WinZip to save space and reduce transmission times. Create Zip, LHA, and new Zipx files--our smallest Zip files ever. Zip documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, presentations, you name it. WinZip even supports advanced photo and image compression. Now you can compress your digital photographs and graphic images by 20 – 25% with no loss of quality or data integrity. This lets you send files faster and fit more on your flash drive, CD/DVD, or hard disk than ever before. Let WinZip select the best compression method to maximize efficiency. You can even use it to create self-extracting Zip files, which are ideal for distribution to recipients who may not own WinZip.
In addition to zipping files, WinZip opens and extracts content from the industry's widest selection of compressed file types, including Zip, Zipx, RAR, 7Z, BZ2, LHA, CAB, IMG, ISO, and most other file archive formats.
Use WinZip to secure confidential files using password-based AES encryption. WinZip keeps your files completely safe when saving or sending. Plus it auto-wipes (shreds) temporarily extracted copies of encrypted files using the U.S. Department of Defense standard (DoD 5220.22-M). This prevents them from being recovered and misused. You can also define your own password policy for the utmost security.
Package and share files with WinZip. Bundle files into packages, creating convenient logical groups of related files then send them instantly via email. Zipped packages are perfect for organizing and securing email attachments, which send faster thanks to smaller file sizes. This is especially helpful when sending digital photos. And those photos can be viewed without extracting using the WinZip image viewer. You can even resize your high-res pictures with just a click, so they email even faster and fit standard computer screens.
New features in WinZip 14.5 include:
Microsoft Office 2010-style ribbon interface places key WinZip functionality right at your fingertips, simplifying essential tasks and increasing your productivity
Support for Windows 7 Libraries, Jump Lists, Multi-Touch Gestures, and more makes working with Zip files effortless
'Zip' option on the Home tab works the way you think, letting you select the files you want to zip up, choose your zipping options, and save your Zip file wherever you decide
'Encrypt' check box makes it easier than ever to password protect your confidential files
'Attach to E-mail' button lets you email a Zip file instantly and provides advanced options like using 'best method' compression and file encryption, and resizing photos so they send faster and fit standard computer screens
'1-Click Unzip' option automatically extracts the content of an archive to a folder it creates for you, then opens the folder in Windows Explorer, providing easy editing access
'Open With' button opens an Office document (or other file) from within a Zip file using the default Windows file association or the application you specify, and--if you make changes--WinZip offers to save them back to the Zip file for you
'Open With' button opens an Office document (or other file) from within a Zip file using the default Windows file association or the application you specify, and--if you make changes--WinZip offers to save them back to the Zip file for you
'Zip file previewer' lets you see what's inside a Zip file from within Windows Explorer or Microsoft Outlook and directly open zipped content files by simply double clicking on them
'Tools' tab presents practical utilities, such as a simple way to create a self-extracting Zip file, a means to encrypt an existing Zip file, and an option to unzip and try the contents of a Zip file then clean up afterward automatically

WinZip Email Companion 2.0WinZip E-mail Companion is an easy-to-use, time saving tool that reduces the size of outgoing e-mail attachments and provides password-based AES encryption to protect confidential information in those attachments.
It works seamlessly within Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail (Windows Vista) and is the perfect solution for reducing the complexity and time that it takes to send and receive attachments via e-mail, and will reduce the amount of disk space required to store those messages. Simply write your e-mail, attach your files, click Send and let WinZip E-Mail Companion do the rest. WinZip E-Mail Companion will ensure that your attachments are as small as possible.
Automatic, Prompted or Manual Zip and Encrypt Quickly and easily compress e-mail attachments when you press Send in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail. Sending confidential information? Use WinZip E-Mail Companion's password-based AES encryption option to protect your attachments.
Best Method using Advanced Zip File Compression Achieve optimal file compression to ensure that your e-mail attachments are as small as possible. This is especially helpful when you're trying to send files that may otherwise exceed the maximum size allowed by your (or your recipient's) e-mail service. Choosing our 'Best method' option will also reduce the time to send and receive your e-mail, and minimize the amount of space required to store e-mails with attachments.
File Exclusion List You can save time by excluding designated file types from WinZip E-Mail Companion's automatic compression option. You can also set a file size filter so that WinZip E-Mail Companion doesn't compress single files smaller than the limit you set.
Password-based AES Encryption Use strong passwords or passphrases to protect your confidential information from unauthorized access with WinZip's 128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption.
Alternate Attachment Extension Automatically change the file extension used for your compressed attachments to prevent some e-mail services from blocking them.
Legacy Zip 2.0 Support If your recipient has an older version of WinZip, he or she may not be able to open Zip files created with WinZip's AES encryption or advanced compression methods. Therefore, WinZip E-Mail Companion allows you to create compressed and encrypted attachments using the Zip 2.0 standard. Using Zip 2.0 compression ensures that any version of WinZip (or other standard Zip utility) can open the attachment.
Microsoft Office Integration Save your file as a Zip file or send your file as a compressed e-mail attachment directly from within Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
Flexible Configuration Customize the behavior and performance of WinZip E-Mail Companion to meet your specific needs.

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