UltimateZip 2007

UltimateZip is a commercial file compression utility. You can use it to compress all your documents in a single package in order to save disk space or to hide your sensitive information from prying eyes, protecting it with a password.

Other things you can do with this powerful program are automating the process of backing up your important data and creating self extracting files to share your favorite books.

The version 3.2 doesn't support the CD/DVD burn feature. If you already have UltimateZip installed on your computer, you are advised to update it to the most current version, which is fully compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP and Vista.

This full featured utility supports the extraction and creation of compressed archives in the following formats ZIP, 7-ZIP, CAB, LHA (LZH), TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, BH, XXE, UUE, and MIME (Base 64). And it can open and extract RAR, ARJ, ARC, ACE and ZOO. So with this tool you can virtually manage all kind of compressed archives, you won't really need anything else.

If you are concern about security and want to protect your compressed files from being viewed by others, then you can use the full support for WinZip AES standard (128-bit/192-bit/256-bit AE-1 and AE-2) and UZE encryption. But remember, your password must be hard to guess. If you choose something like your pet's name or your birthday date, the password will be easy to break.

This program supports unlimited file size and unlimited number of files in ZIP archives, fast and strong compression/decompression and multiple disk spanning. Multiple Disk Spanning is useful, for example, if you want to burn an 8 GB DVD image but you only have 4.7 GB disks. With this function you can split your DVD image into several smaller parts to burn them. And, when you want your big file back, you just need to extract it to a hard drive. Certainly, if your DVD is a movie disk you should better convert it to DivX format, but that's another story.

In addition, this utility includes command line support. You can automate the process of creation and extraction of archives using scripts or other applications. You can also compress and extract multiple archives in batch mode. This is a useful feature when you have many compressed archives and want to extract them to different folders or when you have lots of folders and want to compress them into different archives.

You can also comment ZIP archives to remember what those big files with passwords and funny names are. UltimateZip can verify the integrity of your ZIP archives and repair them. It supports the creation of self extracting files for Ace SFX, Arj SFX, Bh SFX, Jar SFX, Lha/Lzh SFX, Rar SFX, Zip SFX and 7-Zip SFX. And can be used to automate the process of backing up your important data because includes a Wizard to create backup scripts.

This is a powerful alternative to WinZIP, WinRAR and PowerArchiver. If you just need a FREE file compression utility to deal with your daily tasks, then you can try ALZip, 7zip or QuickZip. And remember, if you have an issue with your current software, look in the developer's site, most probably there will be an updated version with the issue solved. Or if you are that kind of proactive and enthusiastic person, download the source code if available and try to make it better!