PowerArchiver - Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Basic:

How do I get started?

Technical:

How do I use PowerArchiver to e-mail archives?
How do I setup PowerArchiver to back up my files?
How do I create multiple archives at the same time?
How do I install a custom skin for the toolbar?

Short Questions:

Q: I have lost my registration information, can you help me?
A: Click here to go to our website where you can recover your registration info.

Q: I am still using older version of PowerArchiver and I have a problem. What should I do?
A: We always recommend using the latest version of PowerArchiver. Visit our Web site page to download it.

Q: Can PowerArchiver read AES encrypted ZIP files?
A: From version 9.0, PowerArchiver supports the latest ZIP AES standards. You can find out more here.

Q: I have a Windows 98 system and starting PowerArchiver sometimes causes Windows Explorer to crash. What should I do?
A: Windows 98 uses the old Rich Edit libraries and you need to update them. Visit the PowerArchiver Web site and select "Download" to get this update.

Q: When I click on "Contents" from the "Help" menu or a "Help" button, PowerArchiver does not display the help topic.
A: PowerArchiver uses a new form of Help file (Microsoft HTML Help) which you can download directly from PowerArchiver's homepage. To use this new help file, you must have Internet Explorer >=3.0 installed on your system.

Q: What is CRC error and why does it happen?
A: CRC error means that data that you are extracting does not match data that was compressed. Basically, your archive is corrupted. This usually happens when downloading files from Internet or if your CD is scratched. We recommend trying to download the archive in question again, since most of corruptions happen when data is being downloaded.

Q: My foreign language characters are not working properly, what can I do?
A: Go to "Options>Configuration> Miscellaneous" and toggle on/off the "Use OEM conversion for filenames" option.

Q: When did PowerArchiver become shareware?
A: Since version 7.0. We could not support the program by only advertising on our Web site, and had to make PowerArchiver shareware. Now, we have team of dedicated people working every day on new versions of PowerArchiver making sure PowerArchiver is the best compression utility on the market.

Q: Does PowerArchiver support skins?
A: Yes, but not in the whole program. You can only skin the PowerArchiver Toolbar. Click here for more information.

Q: Does PowerArchiver support spanning multiple disks with self-extracting (SFX) archives?
A: PowerArchiver self-extracting archives do not support spanning multiple disks. For creating more powerful SFX archives, download "SFX Maker". It is a free, powerful, standalone program that completely integrates with PowerArchiver. Besides many other features,SFX Maker supports creating spanned self-extracting archives.

Q: Does PowerArchiver support command line parameters?
A: PowerArchiver supports very limited features from the command line. For additional command line functionality, try PowerArchiver Command Line (PACL) available from the "Download" section of the PowerArchiver Web site. It is an excellent, standalone command line utility with many features, and it is totally free for registered users of PowerArchiver.

Q: What is the difference between PowerArchiver and other archive utilities?
A: PowerArchiver is easier to use and has more features than any other archive program. There is simply no other program that has as many features, works as well and it is still easy to use. Many programs try to emulate PowerArchiver, but they never manage to have the same features, stability and ease of use.

Q: Does PowerArchiver support other archive formats besides ZIP?
A: Yes, in addition to ZIP files, PowerArchiver currently supports creating and working with 7-Zip, CAB, LHA (LZH), TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, and BH (BlakHole) archives, and supports reading and extracting RAR (version 1, 2 & 3), ARJ, ARC, ACE (version 1 & 2), GZIP, BZIP2, and ZOO archives. PowerArchiver also has complete built-in support for XXE, UUE, yENC AND MIME (base64) Internet encoded files.

Q: How can I create TAR.GZ or TAR.BZ2 archives (compressed files)?
A: When creating a new archive, first choose TAR from "Save as Type". While adding files to that archive, choose "GZIPTar" or "BZIPTar" from the compression drop-down in the Options tab.
Q: What methods are currently supported for compressing CAB and LHA archives?
A: Both LZX and MS-ZIP methods are supported for creating CAB archives. For creating LHA archives, Frozen-6 and Frozen-5 methods are supported. Frozen-1 is no longer supported.
Q: Is PowerArchiver compatible with Windows 2000?
A: Yes. Version 5.5 contained a few small bugs under Windows 2000, but they were fixed long ago. PowerArchiver is completely compatible with Windows 2000.

Q: Is PowerArchiver compatible with Windows XP?
A: Yes. PowerArchiver 7.0 and greater will work great in Windows XP. PowerArchiver 2004 has been designed with full support for XP and has received Windows logo certification.

Q: Is PowerArchiver Year 2000 compliant?
A: All versions of PowerArchiver since 5.0 are completely Year 2000 compliant.

Q: Can I put a link to your home page from my Web site?
A: Yes, you are more than welcome to link to us! You can link to: http://www.powerarchiver.com.

Q: Can we put PowerArchiver on our CD-ROM or distribute it with our magazine?
A: Yes, evaluation copies of PowerArchiver may be freely distributed!

Q: In which programming language is PowerArchiver developed?
A: PowerArchiver was originally developed in Delphi 3.0 Standard and PowerArchiver 2004 has been developed in Delphi 7.0.

Q: When did you start this project?
A: PowerArchiver was started in August, 1998 and the first public release was in March, 1999. It turned into Shareware in June 2001.