PowerArchiver is my favorite general purpose archiving program which I use to compress multiple files into one archive package and also to extract compressed archive files. There are many types of archiving software but I prefer to use PowerArchiver because the graphical user interface is very similar to WinZIP which I am very comfortable with and also its native support for most popular compressed and encoded formats such as ZIP, 7-ZIP, CAB, LHA (LZH), TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, BH, XXE, UUE, yENC, and MIME (Base 64), RAR, ARJ, ARC, ACE, ZOO plus ISO, BIN, IMG and NRG disc image formats.

However when I am away at my client’s place, there were a few times when I needed to extract a RAR file but Windows natively doesn’t support RAR format. I always try my best not to mess around or install any unneeded software on my client’s PC or server but I had no choice and had to download and install WinRAR just to extract one file. There is a PowerArchiver 2007 for U3 USB Drives which I can install on my SanDisk U3 Titanium smart drive but I’ve already uninstalled/removed U3 LaunchPad. Moreover, the latest PowerArchiver is 2009 and I don’t want to use the old version 2007 version.

I found the ultimate universal archive extractor which is portable and I can carry around in my USB flash drive.

Universal Extractor is a program do to exactly what it says: extract files from any type of archive, whether it’s a simple zip file, an installation program, or even a Windows Installer (.msi) package. This application is not intended to be a general purpose archiving program. It will never replace WinRAR, 7-Zip, etc. What it will do is allow you to extract files from virtually any type of archive, regardless of source, compression method, etc.

Universal Extractor

The original motivation behind this project was that the author wanted an easy, convenient way to extract files from installation packages, such as Inno Setup or Windows Installer packages, without pulling up a command line every time. In the process he got a little carried away and ended up throwing in support for every kind of archive format he possibly could find. Universal Extractor is written in AutoIt, a powerful open source scripting language. Universal Extractor itself, however, is just a front-end that uses many other programs to do the dirty work. If you’re curious about the “other” programs that is doing the dirty work, check out the BIN folder.

Basically Universal Extractor is NOT an extracting program. It is only a script that automates the whole process. When I want to extract a RAR file with Universal Extractor, it will begin by scanning the file with TrID. If the file format matches the RAR format, it immediately begins extraction from the archive using the tools located in BIN folder.

Universal Extractor is free and a very handy tool to carry along with me in my USB flash drive. As a computer guy, it is important for us to carry the right tools all the time so we will be prepared to face any kind of situation without wasting extra time.

[ Download Portable Universal Extractor v1.6 ]


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