Post Description

WinRAR - What's new in the latest version


   Version 4.10 beta 1

   1. WinRAR can create ZIP archives of practically any size.

      2 GB archive size and 65535 file number ZIP limitations of previous
      WinRAR versions are not valid anymore.

   2. WinRAR can create multivolume ZIP archives, which are also known as
      split ZIP files.

      ZIP volumes have names like 'volname.zip', 'volname.z01', 'volname.z02'.
      Use a volume with ".zip" file extension in all archive processing
      operations like starting extraction or opening an archive.

      Unlike RAR volumes, ZIP volumes cannot be self-extracting.

      WinRAR needs to have access to all ZIP volumes of multivolume file set
      at the same time, when creating or unpacking them. So it is impossible
      to create or unpack ZIP volumes on removable disks, one volume
      per disk. You need to create them all in the same folder.

   3. Added the high precision file time support in ZIP archives.
      WinRAR can store and extract modification, creation and last access
      file time in ZIP archives with 100 nanosecond precision.

      You need to set "High precision modification time" option in "Time"
      part of archiving dialog to store all 3 times in archive.
      Set appropriate "File time" options in "Advanced" part of extraction
      dialog to choose times to extract.

   4. Added support for Unicode names stored in ZIP extra field data.
      Different ZIP tools store Unicode names either in file header
      or in ZIP extra field and now WinRAR can correctly process both types
      of Unicode names.

   5. "Synchronize archive contents" option and -as command line switch are
      supported in ZIP format.

   6. Modifications of switch -ag behavior:

      a) -ag can be used with all RAR and WinRAR commands, not just
         with archiving only;

      b) 'N' format character behavior differs in archiving and non-archiving
         operations. When archiving, it is incremented until the first unused
         name is found. In non-archiving operations like extracting it selects
         the existing archive preceding the first unused name;

      c) 'I' format character allows to specify minutes regardless of presence
         and position of 'H' (hours) in format string. It can be used
         instead of 'M' (minutes), when you wish to place minutes before hours
         or do not need hours at all.

   7. By default, WinRAR proposes to update an archive if viewer modified
      an opened file or created any new files. New "Ignore modifications for"
      option in "Settings/Viewer" dialog allows to disable such behavior.
      You can enter one or several file masks separated by spaces here
      and WinRAR will not prompt to update an archive if file created
      or modified by viewer matches one of these masks.

   8. Changes in volume size input field. Now you can select size units
      in the drop down list to the right of volume size. Previous way
      to define size modifiers, by entering 'k', 'm', etc. character
      after the numeric size value, is also supported.

   9. Changes in "Predefined sizes" in "Define volume sizes" dialog.
      Floppies and ZIP disks are replaced by 5 MB and 100 MB volumes,
      added new entries for maximum FAT32 file size and for Blu-ray disks.

  10. New "Wipe files if password is set" option in "Options" page of
      archiving dialog. If you prefer to always delete encrypted files
      securely, you can enable "Wipe files if password is set"
      in the default compression profile.

  11. New "Wipe temporary files/Encrypted only" option in "Settings/Security".
      It allows to use a slower and more secure delete for temporary files
      extracted from archives identified by WinRAR as encrypted.
      Quick delete is used for all other temporary files.

  12. Changes in "Convert archives" command:

a) now it is possible to convert encrypted archives. Previously
         "Convert archives" command skipped them.

         Though, if you still prefer to skip them, you can do it
         by enabling "Skip encrypted archives" option in "Convert archives"
         dialog. It might be useful if you wish to run the conversion
         command in unattended mode, avoiding password prompts;

      b) special "rar2" archive type, which was specific for RAR 1.x
         and 2.x archives, is removed. Now "rar" archive type controls
         conversion of all versions of RAR archives.

         Since the convert command does not need to detect RAR archive
         version anymore, the initial search for archives is performed
         faster, resulting in shorter delay before displaying 
         "Convert archives" dialog.
  
  13. New -log[fmt][=name] switch allows to write archive and file names
      to log file in archiving command for RAR and ZIP formats and also
      in extracting, deleting and listing commands for RAR format.

      This switch is especially useful, when you need to further process
      an archive created with -ag or -v switches, because -log provides
      the archive name generated by WinRAR.
  
  14. New -@[+] switch allows to process all parameters starting from
      '@' character either as file names (-@) or as file lists (-@+).

  15. "Setup program" SFX options are moved from "General" to "Setup" page
      of "Advanced SFX options" dialog. Both "Run after extraction"
      and "Run before extraction" are now multiline, so it is possible
      to specify several setup programs for same SFX archive.
  
  16. "SetupCode" SFX script command instructs SFX archive to wait
      for termination of setup program and return the exit code of
      setup program increased by 1000 as the exit code of SFX executable.

      GUI equivalent of this command is "Wait and return exit code" option
      on "Setup" page of "Advanced SFX options" dialog.

  17. SFX does not support "S" (create in the top level of Start Menu)
      "Shortcut" command mode anymore. Recent Windows versions do not allow
      programs to add items to the top of Start Menu.