Universal Extractor

Universal Extractor does exactly what it says: Extracts from any type of archive.

You may wonder “well, I’ve got 7-Zip/WinZip/Winrar/whatever, why do I need this?” The great thing about this program is that it can actually extract files from installation packages, which can be useful in various cases — testing for portability, scanning for viruses, or just having trouble with the installer itself.

(I did run into one glitch: On some older, 16-bit installers, it won’t extract the files. No big deal, though. Does anybody even use 16-bit programs anymore?)

Better than WinZip

7-Zip is better than WinZip (IMHO). Why?

1. Free: Unlike WinZip, you can use it for free for either personal or business uses.

2. Open-Source: It is free to use, distribute, and modify.

3. Linux: There are distributions available for Linux.

4. 7z: 7z is a new archive format, with high compression rate, AES-256 security, and open architecture.

There are also other reasons why I prefer it to WinZip, but these are just a few.

Corrupted ZIP file? Use DiskInternals ZIP Repair to save it.

I first stumbled on this a few years ago, when I had my ancient Windows 98, with only a six gigabyte hard drive. As I didn’t have a CD burner, “backing up” often meant compressing files into ZIPs and transferring to my mother’s computer. Needless to say, sometimes the ZIP files got corrupted during the transfer. In fact, one wrong byte can corrupt an entire ZIP.

Then I found DiskInternals Zip Repair.

I had about 200 images in a corrupted ZIP. I only lost one. As well, it’s very easy to use, and doesn’t let you accidentally overwrite the ZIP file while recovering.

I also recommend taking a look at their other software — judging from the trial versions, they look pretty good.