Prev: Spencerberus System Nucleus
Next: The Pricelessware/ACF Satisfaction Survey - Voting thread - Please here
From: VanguardLH on 29 Jul 2010 14:15
No Spam wrote:

> http://www.softpedia.com/get/Compression-tools/PowerArchiver-Free.shtml
>
> Compress and extract Zip, Zipx, 7zip, Cab, Iso, RAR with this powerful
> tool

Does not "extract and compress" all formats as claimed. It extracts
using the listed formats. It will only compress using the .zip format.
So you can't use it to generate .rar files but you can use it to extract
from them.

I didn't waste time to determine from which other formats it will
extract but will not generate. From their Tools -> Archive Converter
menu, the only destination filetypes listed (the types of archive files
you can generate) are:

.zip, 7-zip, .cab, .lha, .bh, and .tar

> Pro versions of PowerArchiver add even more features:
<PAID features are irrelevant since this is a FREEWARE newsgroup>
<suspect this was a spammer which is another reason NOT to use this app>

This is definitely lureware (or nagware) to draw "free" users to the
paid version. Even if you close their ad panel, it reappear everytime
you reload the app to display its UI. In addition, it splays "(Personal
Use Only!)" across its window titlebar. No thanks. I don't even bother
using Sandboxie due to its once-per-month nag to lure users into buying
their payware version.

I disabled the NIC during the install. After the install completes, it
wants to connect to:

http://www.powerarchiver.com/test/redirect/pa1163freeun.html

Because it is nagware, it was removed immediately after the trial so I
don't know if the product phones home at regular intervals (other than
mentioned below).

Although it pretends to give you the option of selecting the Novice or
Power interface (the later copies Microsoft's ribbon bar scheme), you
don't get a choice. You only get the Novice UI. If you select the
Modern view (which is what they called their Power scheme in their setup
window), you're told you need to upgrade to their paid Std version.
They include all entries in their menus, including those for only the
paid Std or Pro versions. Rather than hide the non-usable entries, they
want to ensure you click on them to see their ad window to buy their Pro
version. They do add "(Std)" or "(Pro)" at the end of the menu entry's
title to indicate that they left the entry visible in the free version
but you can't use it.

Auto-update is enabled by default. Once per week it phones home. Also
enabled by default is for it to phone-home to report "usage statistics".

With the install-time defaults, I created a .zip and .7z archive of the
MovieMaker files. I didn't get their advertized 50% smaller 7-zip file
compared to the .zip file. I got a .7z file that was 79% smaller than
the default compression level used for the .zip file (and later selected
Ultra compression for .zip but got the same file size). Maybe it would
do as advertized with 7z versus .zip without including .exe and .dll
files in the file set.

Nope, not interested in this lureware/nagware. Exited the VM where I
tested it and had it revert to its baseline snapshot to get rid of this.
From: Caesar Romano on 29 Jul 2010 15:47
On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:15:05 -0500, VanguardLH <V(a)nguard.LH> wrote Re
Re: PowerArchiver 2010 Free 11.63.12.:

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

>Nope, not interested in this lureware/nagware. Exited the VM where I
>tested it and had it revert to its baseline snapshot to get rid of this.

Just curious. What VM software do you use? Are use satisfied with
it?
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.
From: Caesar Romano on 30 Jul 2010 07:39
On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:45:36 -0500, VanguardLH <V(a)nguard.LH> wrote Re
Re: PowerArchiver 2010 Free 11.63.12.:

>Microsoft's Hyper-V holds some interest but not until I build a new host
>with far superior hardware than I have now. You can read some
>comparison info at:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_platform_virtual_machines

Thanks for the detailed and informative analysis.

Regards,
C.R.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.
First  |  Prev  | 
Pages: 1 2
Prev: Spencerberus System Nucleus
Next: The Pricelessware/ACF Satisfaction Survey - Voting thread - Please here