WinRAR, the widely-used archiving software, has unveiled a beta update today, introducing a series of enhancements and bug fixes that are sure to delight users. Among the most notable improvements is the accelerated response time for the Windows 11 context menu, which now appears more swiftly when right-clicking on multiple selected archives. This enhancement aligns with a recent update from Microsoft (KB5046756) that similarly aimed to optimize the performance of the Windows 11 context menu.
In addition to the context menu improvements, users can expect a notable increase in compression speed, as the new version addresses a previously identified performance bug. The release notes highlight a range of updates, particularly in the app’s dark mode functionality, which has received numerous refinements. Below is a detailed changelog for WinRAR 7.10 Beta 2:
- Numerous dark mode improvements and fixes.
- “Dark mode” options in “Settings/Interface” are now referred to as “Color mode.”
- Reduced wait time for WinRAR items to appear in the Windows 11 context menu when right-clicking on multiple selected archives.
- The “Export settings to file” command in the “Options/Import and export” submenu no longer triggers User Account Control prompts.
- Command line mode now returns a “Bad archive” exit code 13 when attempting to unpack a non-RAR archive with a .rar file extension.
- The “External viewer name” field in “Settings/Viewer” now recognizes “”, “..” or “.” at the beginning of the path, allowing for relative path specifications. This feature is particularly useful for installations on USB drives without fixed drive letters.
- Bug fixes include:
- Compression speed improvements for specific combinations of source data in non-solid archives.
- Resolved an infinite loop issue in console RAR when processing user input prompts in Windows 7.
- Fixed an error that prevented running executables from archive subfolders.
- Addressed a reset issue with WinRAR.ini contents when multiple archives were opened in the same window with the “Reuse existing window” option enabled.
WinRAR is not alone in this wave of updates; earlier this week, both 7-Zip and NanaZip also rolled out their own enhancements. The latest version of 7-Zip, 24.09, features increased default dictionary size values for LZMA/LZMA2 compression, now reaching up to 256 MB for 64-bit versions and 64 MB for 32-bit versions. Additional improvements include checksum enhancements and more. The changelog for 7-Zip is as follows:
- The default dictionary size values for LZMA/LZMA2 compression methods have been increased:
dictionary size compression level v24.08 v24.09 v24.09 32-bit 64-bit 8 MB 16 MB 16 MB -mx4 16 MB 32 MB 32 MB -mx5 : Normal 32 MB 64 MB 64 MB -mx6 32 MB 64 MB 128 MB -mx7 : Maximum 64 MB 64 MB 256 MB -mx8 64 MB 64 MB 256 MB -mx9 : Ultra
- 7-Zip can now calculate additional hash checksums: SHA-512, SHA-384, SHA3-256, and MD5.
- Improvements have been made to APM and HFS support.
- When using a temporary archive folder for updates, 7-Zip now displays progress for moving large archive files.
- A bug fix ensures that the Zone.Identifier stream is properly propagated for extracted files from nested archives.
- Various other bugs have been addressed.
Meanwhile, NanaZip has addressed a Zstandard decompression remote code execution vulnerability tracked under CVE-2024-11477, a fix that 7-Zip had already implemented in version 24.07. The full changelog for NanaZip 5.0 Preview 0 (5.0.1188.0) includes the following updates:
- This release encompasses all improvements from NanaZip 3.1 (3.1.1080.0).
- Updated Brazilian Portuguese translation (contributed by maisondasilva).
- Ensured NanaZip Core (excluding Self Extracting Executables) uses ucrtbase.dll version 10.0.19041.0 or later.
- Updated Mile.Windows.Helpers to version 1.0.671.
- Relocated NanaZip console version to the NanaZip.Core project.
- Removed C++/WinRT dependency for NanaZip.Codecs and NanaZip.Frieren.
- Added GetDpiForWindowWrapper for NanaZip.Frieren.DarkMode to resolve legacy Windows compatibility issues.
- Eliminated VC-LTL dependency for Self Extracting Executables related projects.
- Optimized compilation configurations to reduce binary size for Self Extracting Executables.
- Switched to Mile.Windows.UniCrt instead of VC-LTL.
- Updated NanaZip.Specification.SevenZip header file.
- Initiated simplification of NanaZip specific decoders and encoders implementation.
- Aligned BLAKE3 implementation to version 1.5.5.
- Updated RHash implementation to the latest master branch post v1.4.5.
- Enabled the option to disable child process creation for NanaZip Self Extracting Executables (excluding installer mode).
For those interested in exploring these updates further, the official GitHub repositories for each software provide comprehensive details and access to the latest versions.
