Ah WInZip, I reckon its been years since I last even touched WinZip, with so many other compression and extraction related softwares that are free out on the net there is no denying that WinZip has lost its once glorious trademark in file compression technology.

However, with the launch of WinZip version 12, could we expect a comeback from the old king of compression? That’s take a brief look at its new features… Version 12 of this venerable archiving tool packs a couple of excellent new compression features and enhancements. The best new feature lets users compress JPEG images, this is something that’s been known for its difficulty because of their already-compressed nature. Another new feature, Zip from Camera, lets you transfer and compress photos directly from your camera. As long as the model is supported, the improved thumbnail view will not only let users view thumbnails of their archived images but it will also let you browse images within ZIPs without having to extract files first.

Encryption features get more than a new coat of paint in this version, with customisable password requirements and enhancements for system administrators that let them determine how, if at all, encryption is enforced.

Just in case you were wondering, AES is supported, with the option for both 128-bit and 256-bit security. Files and folders can also be renamed within a ZIP, and the new Smart View is content-sensitive, automatically choosing the Thumbnail view for images, for example. The flexible drag-and-drop support is great, allowing you to drag files to and from the interface, which will zip or unzip them automatically.

The new contextual menus will enable you to perform most of WinZip’s functions on the fly. Overall, WinZip’s latest update with a whole package of new ideas and functionality makes it still the best compression programs available. By being able to provide all the features necessary to create easy backups, compress and e-mail files and manage downloaded files effectively, this once ever so popular PC tool will probably take advantage of its new features and remain as one of the top 10 compression tools certainly for sometime to come!

From WinZip…

WinZip is the original and most popular of all Windows ZIP file utilities. Wizard/Classic interfaces accommodate both first-time and experienced users. With WinZip you can quickly and easily compress and decompress files, folders, and entire folder trees to save storage space and reduce e-mail-transmission time, as well as encrypt and decrypt your sensitive documents. Features include tight integration with Windows Explorer, support for most Internet file formats, and one-click zipping and e-mail. WinZip 12 adds new features for JPEG compression, the ability to ZIP files directly from a digital camera, an enhanced thumbnail view, a built-in image viewer, support for the LZMA compression method, customizable password policies, more encyption options, and other new features.

WinZip has a free to try 45-day trial version (just over 13 Mb), if you like it, its available online for $29.95…