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#11
I did not like paying for WinRar, so I started using the free 7zip. I have not looked back...
I did not like paying for WinRar, so I started using the free 7zip. I have not looked back...
I paid for WinRAR once, back in 2002, and have used its license key ever since, right up through the current 4.0 version.
Of the two I prefer the Winrar of GUI, but 7-Zip is on my PC for the rare occasion it comes in use. However my preferred app is Extract Now. The main reasons are for its right click on a directory and being bale to search for archives. If you have folders inside a folder and each contains split rar archives, this makes it a breeze to extract them all quick and easy, and if I choose to it cleans up the mess by deleting all the rar files!
Don't know, but that's how it worked.
The original 2002 purchase provided me with a RARREG.KEY file, and it simply needed to be dropped into the \WinRAR program folder... and presto, program registered. I'm still using that original RARREG.KEY file today, with the 4.0 64-bit version of the product.
Never a problem throughout all the intervening 2002-2011 years.
One additional comment... I've recently had need to investigate and then extract from the installation files on a Win7 install DVD.
Specifically, these are compacted inside of INSTALL.WIM on the DVD.
And WIM files are NOT supported by the named alternatives, to the best of my knowledge.
Turns out there IS another non-free product, WINMOUNT, which DOES fully support WIM files... along with RAR, ZIP, 7Z, ISO, etc., so it too should be considered an option.
Now there is a "free" version of WINMOUNT, but it doesn't support WIM files as large as those found on the Win7 DVD. So you need to acquire the "non-free" professional version if you really want to be able to fully utilize its WIM-related feature for that purpose, which after all is the only truly common use of WIM files so you have no choice.
I've purchased WINMOUNT for just this WIM-related reason, and I also use WINRAR for virtually 100% of my normal needs as I'm used to it and it works perfectly on everything else (including RAR, ZIP, 7Z, ISO, etc.).
Don't know what to say.
Just went back and checked my software-related email folder, and the only purchase receipt, correspondence, and attached "single PC usage" RARREG.KEY from RARSALES was back in late September 2002. That's it.
Doesn't actually say what version of WinRAR that applied to, but I'm going to guess it was version 3.
And I have never had any problem using it to register all newer releases, including the current 4.00 64-bit version I'm running.
Don't know how to explain your experience of failing to get the same results. Why not write to WinRar GmbH and ask?
I use both, but it depends on what you want to do. For basic compression creation and extraction, I like 7Zip. But, if you want to easily make a package (like a self-extracting zip file that launches a VBS or MSI or setup), I use WinRAR.
Also, the way 7Zip does extractions, I've seen it cause errors if you are doing more than one at a time. WinRAR does not have this issue.