Ashampoo ZIP FREE 1.0.7

Overview

One of the most crucial applications that any computer user needs to install in his computer, is undeniably one for opening archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.). My first priority after doing a fresh OS install is to get an application like this in order to open several other ZIP files that will follow. Recently Ashampoo launched its own ZIP program, namely Ashampoo ZIP Free (with a Pro version available as well), so I decided to give it a try and I was not surprised, knowing Ashampoo's quality of products.

Installation

Installation is only a few steps long, so it won’t take more than a minute to complete. The settings throughout the steps are very simple (shortcuts and stuff), and the main installation process is really quick.

Of course no advertised 3^rd party programs are included in the installation package (and obviously no malware).

Supported operating systems are Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 (32 and 64-bit).

Interface

The interface is quite a beauty; nothing less expected from Ashampoo, anyways. The design was created to meet the latest software UI design trends (initially set by Microsoft in Windows 8).

All of the program’s features divided into big square buttons divided into groups of different colors: purple buttons belong to the Archive group, green buttons belong to the Applications group and orange buttons belong to the Tools group.

The logo of the application (Ashampoo ZIP Free) is located at the top left corner of the window, and at the top right corner are 3 misc buttons: Internet, Options and Help.

Pros

Ashampoo ZIP Free is very easy to use from within the application itself. Each of the aforementioned button groups includes the following features:

Archive: New Archive, Open Archive.

Applications: Encrypt Files, Decrypt Files, Virtual ISO Drive, Office/PDF Security, ZIP Crypt, Cloud Browser.

Tools: Batch Archive Creation, Multi Extract, Archive Converter, Repair Archive, New SFX Archive, Write Multi-Volume ZIP.

Note however, that all of the features in the Applications group and the first 3 features from the Tools group (Batch Archive Creation, Multi Extract, Archive Converter) are only available in Ashampoo ZIP Pro.

After you install Ashampoo ZIP, new options will appear in the right-click context menu in order to make your archive management tasks easier and faster. The context menu options that will be added are: Open with Ashampoo ZIP, Compress To “<File Name>.zip”, Compress & E-mail To “<File Name>.zip”, Compress To “<File Name>.7z” and two other submenus (“Compress To…” and “Ashampoo ZIP Free”).

The program supports creating and extracting ZIP, 7-ZIP, CAB, TAR and LHA file formats and can extract (only) from more than 30 different formats, such as RAR, ZIPX, ARJ, ARC, ACE, MSI, DMG, VHD, LZMA, CramFS, Z, WIM, ISO and others.

The encryption algorithm used to lock archives is AES with 256-bit strength.

The built-in Preview feature allows you to view several image, video and text file types.

Cons

Even though the program made its initial appearance very recently, we found no bugs or issues while testing the program.

Alternatives

There are so many applications for managing archives that you probably won’t have an issue finding one that suits your needs. The best and most popular ones are: 7-Zip (free), WinRAR (freemium), WinZIP (freemium), Universal Extractor (free), PeaZip (free), and HaoZip (free).

Conclusion

Ashampoo ZIP Free is a new player in the game. As a matter of fact, it’s really worth upgrading to the Pro version so as to have many more features available; check out the Free version first to get a taste of what is available in the Pro version.