Let’s say you want to keep the programs installed on you machine to the minimal possible number. You’re not interested in clogging your machine with all sorts of stuff that you do not need, and when it comes to compressing/archiving to zip you’re quite happy with the default windows support. Even the zipped folder icons look pretty cool straight off the bat on XP.

Rating: 4

Version tested: 4.29

The problem with this scenario, however, is that there is a proliferation of archive format on the net that you will come across and need to be able to extract, most notably the popular .rar format but also a handful of others.

Enter ExtractNow, a nifty little utility that supports the EXTRACTION (but not compression) of the most popular archive formats on the net. It also supports batch extractions so you do not have to do them one by one manually.
Here’s a feature list taken from the ExtractNow website:

• Supports ZIP, RAR, ISO, BIN, IMG, IMA, IMZ, 7Z, ACE, JAR, GZ, LZH, LHA, SIT archive formats
• Drag and drop files or folders from Windows Explorer to extract them
• Simple user interface and sleek design in a small package
• Recursively search through folders for archives (Just drag and drop them)
• Delete files or close program after extraction options
• Windows explorer file associations for all supported archive types
• Extract files into current directory, named folder, or favorite folder of choice
• System tray icon on Minimize and Always on top features Integrates with Windows Explorer via special context menu items

Download latest version here. The Developer’s ExtractNow Page.