I like WinRAR. Seems to me WinZIP 10 largely catch up to WinRAR, except the folders view [which you could just as well open Windows Exporer or whatever].

One reason I prefer WinRAR is the more effective sytem to recover from a corrupted archive file. Stuffit, which is available for Win and Mac, also has effective recovery system built in.

Some still seek the “smallest” or the “fastest” archive or archiver–in this day of XP, 1 GB RAM, and broadband, perhaps this is not so important. If you have older systems, then this is more important.

Ease of use might be important. This is in the eye of the beholder. Stuffit is very easy because it works like a MAC. WinRAR is very easy once you figure out how to use it ;-). Any archiver can be mastered and put to use.

One advantage of the [old fashioned]zip format is it is natively supported in XP and most have an extractor.

I like to archive files so they are in one place, and even the long [>64 character] filenames fit on a standard format CD-R.

If you need encryption, it is available. either in most of the pay archivers, or separately in open source freeware applications. Use AES or Blowfish, and nobody will recover your stuff for 100+ years–& if you forget the password neither will you ;-).

In conclusion, it seems to me you can have whatever you want in the archive situation.

For legal and free, go to pricelessware and see what free archivers and encrypters they recommend. All are great.

For good and pay, buy WinRAR, Stuffit Deluxe, or WinZIP.

For illegal, great, and free, you can get most of the pay archivers–if you are awarez of how…