winrar functions, what do they do

[junjun]

There are some function of winrar that I don't know what they do.

1) change drive(complete no idea what it does)

2) virus scan (it has a in-built scanner? Or it use your anti virus?)

3) self extract: if you double click a rar archive and click the self extract what does it do? Extract itself where?

4) extract whithout confirmation means it will extract itself without you knowing?

 

[3D Jed]

self extract creates an exe file that will extract without the recipient needing winrar. the dialog box lets you browse to a destination folder (eg desktop). the recipient of a self extract file must have the same OS ie an exe created in Windows will not open on a Mac. one downside is that some email progs (eg gmail) don't allow exe attachments, because they are often a virus. see pic of self extract in progress

 

[Alejandro85]

1) change drive(complete no idea what it does)

It's just like a shortcut to show another drive in the main WinRar window. Goes to the root of the drive you select only, nothing fancy. I believe this is mostly a leftover from the very first versions

2) virus scan (it has a in-built scanner? Or it use your anti virus?)

Again a shortcut, this time to your antivirus. What it does is to ask for your AV executable (first time, then saved in config), extract the whole contents of rar to a temp folder, and run your AV on them.

3) self extract: if you double click a rar archive and click the self extract what does it do? Extract itself where?

It takes a .rar file and makes a .exe out of it. The purpose is to create a file that can be decompressed on its own (hence the name "self-extracting"). With a regular .rar file, you need to have WinRar to get its contents (or anything compatible, like WinZip or 7Zip). Self extracting .exe files are totally independent from those programs.

4) extract whithout confirmation means it will extract itself without you knowing?

It does the very same extraction as normal, but in case of conflicts (like existing destination file) it will NOT prompt you, but instead overwrite without asking. Of course you'll know, as you're clicking that button for initiation that action.