The final version of WinRAR 3.60 is out now! Here’s a download link to feed the impatient (MS-DOS, MacOS X, Linux, FreeBSD, PocketPC).

WinRAR 3.60, the compression giant’s latest stable version since 3.51, brings forth several new features such as multithreading support for multiprocessor/hyperthreading/dual-core computers, up to 15% compression speed boost, explorer-style treeview panel for both file and archive mode, command line archive conversion.

Other various improvements (see full list of changes below) target archive handling and manipulation, LZH/lh7 decompression support, better benchmark tool options and several command line commands and switches.

The Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS X and PocketPC ports have been updated as well to version number 3.60.

*** WHAT’S NEW IN WINRAR 3.60 FINAL ***

1. Multithreaded version of RAR compression algorithm improves
the compression speed on computers with several CPU,
dual core CPU and processors with hyperthreading technology.
Multithreading is enabled by default, but you can disable it
in “General” part of “Settings” dialog.

In the command line mode you can control multithreading with
-mt switch.

2. WinRAR can display the folder tree panel allowing to navigate
in disk and archive folders. Use “Options/Folder tree” submenu
to enable the folder tree. It can be configured separately
in file and archive management modes.

Folder tree replaces “Browse for folder” command previously
available in “File” menu and uses its Ctrl+T keyboard shortcut.

3. Now WinRAR “Rename” command also works with ZIP archives.
Previous versions could rename files only in RAR archives.

4. Added decompression of LZH archives created with “-lh7-” algorithm.

5. New “Remove duplicate folders from extraction path” option
in “Settings/Compression” dialog.

If this option is on and you unpack an archive which root folder
has no files and only one ’somename’ folder and if destination
folder is new or empty and also ends with ‘/somename’, WinRAR
will exclude one ’somename’ from resulting ’somename/somename’ path.

6. New “Define volume sizes…” button in “Settings/Compression”.
This button activates “Define volume sizes” dialog. Here you
can customize the list of predefined volume sizes associated
with “Split to volumes, bytes” field in archiving dialog.

7. Speed of RAR general compression increased for some data types.
Depending on data type and size the gain may achieve 5 - 15%.

8. New “Rename automatically” option in the extraction dialog
and command line -or switch to rename extracted files automatically
if file with the same name already exists. You can also enable
the auto-renaming mode directly from the overwrite confirmation
prompt with “Rename All” button.

Renamed files will get names like ‘filename(N).txt’,
where ‘filename.txt’ is the original file name and ‘N’ is a number.

9. “Set modification time” option in “Advanced” part of extraction
dialog is accessible also for ZIP archives. Previously it could be
changed only for RAR archives.

10. “Multithreading” option added to “Benchmark and hardware test”
command, so you can compare performance of usual and multithreaded
versions of RAR compression algorithm.

11. New ‘ch’ (change archive parameters) command line mode command.
Its purpose is to apply switches like -av, -tl and -cl to archive.

12. New ‘cv’ command line mode command. It provides the command line
interface to WinRAR “Convert archives” command. It is supported
only by winrar.exe, not by rar.exe.

13. New command line -sl and -sm switches to set size
limits of processing files.

14. New command line -fcu[file] switch allows to read archive
comments from Unicode files. It also modifies behavior
of “cw” command, setting the comment output format to Unicode.

15. 7Z added to list of formats stored without compression
when using -ms switch without a parameter.

16. Switch -e[+] is now supported by most of command line
operations including extracting and deleting files. Previously
it was supported by only archiving command.

17. It is allowed to use environment variables in archive name
in archiving dialog, in destination path in extraction dialog,
in folder names on “Compression” and “Paths” pages in WinRAR
settings. For example, you can enter ‘%temp%’ in “Folder for
temporary files” field.

*** RELEVANT LINKS ***

Download WinRAR 3.60 Final for Windows (.exe installer, 1MB, md5 = C05F9669B7ED0CABC278F0A68AA683E2)

Download RAR 3.60 for Linux (.tar.gz package, 735KB, md5 = 50C530F0896CFF4F922BB480CCB1AA18)

Download RAR 3.60 for FreeBSD (.tar.gz package, 700KB, md5 = 25B783A1D98E1311002244E40380D91B)

Download RAR 3.60 for MacOS X (.tar.gz package, 357KB, md5 = 41E6B7F4A9ABC797B612DAD55D3DCC3D)

CCleaner just got updated a few minutes ago to version 1.32.345. Nothing major though, since most changes are small bugfixes and new UI language translations. Other improvements target the Opera detection routine and some installer issues.

In other news, CCleaner appears to have gone “corporate” recently, as it is now branded by Piriform LTD in the installer (digitally signed), inside the program and on the website. The Yahoo! Toolbar is still bundled but users can choose not to install it by unchecking an option in the install wizard.

The company’s homepage includes a rather worrying statement: “Our costs are covered by contributions from our grateful users and from the ads you see on our websites. We hope to keep it that way for as long as we can“, which basically means that, at some point, CCleaner will stop being free.

A real pity because, while the app does its job very well, an important appeal of CCleaner was that fact that it is freeware. Let’s just hope that moment is still far along and we can continue to enjoy CCleaner.

Piriform’s website also mentions other projects under work; nothing certain though, no product names or purposes were made public. However, they claim the new projects will be launched this year, so we do not have that much to wait.

*** WHAT’s NEW IN CCLEANER 1.32.345 ***

- Updated Opera detection routine.
- Fix minor bug in registry cleaner.
- Compatibility fixes in the installer.
- Moved Prefetch cleaning to Advanced section.
- Removal of some redundant code.
- Added Serbian Latin translation.
- Added Serbian Cyrillic translation.
- Updated Spanish translation.
- Minor interface tweaks.

*** RELEVANT LINKS ***

Download CCleaner 1.32.345 without Yahoo Toolbar (.exe installer, 571KB)
Download CCleaner 1.32.345 (.exe installer, 1.4MB)
Take the CCleaner Feature Tour
Visit CCleaner Homepage

Windows and web-based application developer JAM Software probably called it a day early today, since their flagship software, TreeSize, got a brand new version update: 4.0.2.

Both TreeSize Professional and TreeSize Personal were bumped to version 4.0.2 with several functionality and speed bugfixes. Novelties include Unicode support in the Scan include/exclude patterns. Hurra for strange alphabets!

*** WHAT’S NEW IN TREESIZE 4.0.2 ***

- The Scan Include and Exclude patterns (View > Options > Include/Exclude) are now also Unicode enabled.
- Bugfix: Loading XML Reports that contained foreign language characters occasionally caused errors.
- Bugfix: A combination of the two command line parameters /OPEN and /EXCEL did only open the XML file, but did not start the Excel export.
- Bugfix: Double clicking on a file in the chart now opens the file also in a folder with no subfolders.
- Several minor bug fixes and improvements have been incorporated.

TreeSize Professional licenses can be purchased for 37.95EUR (single-user), whereas Personal licenses cost 16.95EUR (feature matrix)

*** RELEVANT LINKS ***

Download TreeSize Professional 4.0.2 (.exe installer, 3.1MB)
Download TreeSize Personal 4.0.2 (.exe installer, 3.1MB)
TreeSize Professional vs TreeSize Personal vs SpaceObserver Comparison
TreeSize Overview (Developer’s Page)
Purchase TreeSize Professional or Personal

This is not so fresh but I couldn’t miss it and neither can you: WinACE got updated on the 12th of July to version 2.65.

Apparently, this release brings only a “new option for licensing your copy of WinACE”. This is how the developers call it; I call it adware supported software. Either way, what it all boils down to is this: if you want to legally use WinACE you can either go the “old way” and buy a license for 29 bucks or the “new way” by installing a “consumer utility that delivers relevant advertisements, exclusive offers and money saving coupons based on the web content that interests you”, namely the notorious WhenU Save adware thingy (check the link for some info).

Good? Bad? Well, in my opinion, it’s not going to make too much of a difference and here’s why: nobody wants adware on their computer, except the so-called “non-tech-inclined” people (also refered to as lazy or ignorant) since they might not have a clue about what those nice and shiny popup offers really do (invade privacy by tracking web browsing patterns, in short). But then again, these “not-computer-proficient” boys and girls don’t normally end up working with WinACE, they generally use the ZIP capabilities integrated in Windows or WinZIP.

I believe that advanced users don’t count in this situation - they’re going to buy it or crack it as they did before.

I wonder what will be the outcome of this for e-merge GmbH and WinACE, if the association between them and “partner WhenU” (quote) will somehow hurt their image.

When you first run WinACE 2.65 you are prompted to read some shareware information that states that the software is fully functional for 30 days, after which you will either have to purchase a license or get a free one by “installing an advertising-related software product”. You are warned that if you uninstall the adware, the “free” license will become void. WhenU Save is not included in the standard WinACE installation kit - it has to be downloaded from the Internet. The download and install process can be initiated from the shareware notice window itself. I tried to see how it works, but it hanged and the download step, although my firewall was not configured to block WinACE’s access to the Net.

Download WinACE 2.65 for Windows (.exe installer - 3.6MB)
Download Unace 2.5 for Linux (.tgz - 200KB)
Download Unace 2.5 for Mac OS X (.dmg - 136KB)
ACE products download page (various operating systems)