
 ۻ   ۻ  ۻ
 ۻ ۻ ۻ     RAR - What's new in the latest version
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   Version 2.00 beta 3 for Windows

   1. Interface changes in the Winrar95.

   2. Changes in the installation SFX.
      New %%" macro may be used to denote the quote symbol inside strings.
      The dialogs default color is changed from the gray to the Windows
      default.

   3. The switches -ierr and -ialt are implemented in the console
      RAR version.

   4. The "Cannot open default.sfx" problem is fixed in the GUI versions.


   Version 2.00 beta 2 for Windows


   1. The general compression algorithm has been significantly improved:
      Compression ratio and speed are both improved under normal
      conditions and adapt better to available memory.

   2. A special "multimedia" compression method has been added. It is
      intended primarily to be used when compressing digital audio data
      and graphics (true color bitmaps).  An improvement in the
      compression ratio, of up to 30%, can be expected over the normal
      compression algorithm.

      The use of multimedia compression is optional and may be switched
      on by the "Use multimedia compression" item in the configuration
      menu or by the command line switch -mm[f]. RAR performs intelligent
      data analysis and uses the general compression algorithm when
      multimedia compression provides no improvement. Optimum performance
      occurs when different data types are combined in the same archive.
      The switch -m<N> "Set compression method" may also be used with
      multimedia compression.

      When multimedia compression is required for the entire archive
      (switch off data analysis when compressing certain multimedia
      files), the -mmf switch may be used "Force Multimedia Compression".

   3. The 32-bit versions of RAR 2.00 contains an option for changing the
      size of the sliding dictionary created when files are compressed.
      This may be set to 64Kb, 128Kb, 256Kb (default), 512Kb or 1Mb and
      results in a corresponding (significant) decrease in the size of
      the output archive, particularly when compressing large files. When
      compressing using a large (more than 64Kb) sliding dictionary,
      compression time will increase.

   4. The RAR 2.00 version for Dos may be used to unpack archives created
      with RAR 2.00 on other platforms where the sliding dictionary size
      is greater than 64 Kb. As much memory (Conventional and EMS)
      as possible should be made available to the Dos version of RAR when
      unpacking archives created using a large sliding dictionary,
      in order to improve unpacking speed. Archives created with a large
      dictionary cannot be converted to SFX with the default SFX module
      in the Dos version.

   5. Password encryption has been improved.

   6. A Data Recovery facility has been implemented. Optionally,
      redundant information may be added to a RAR archive, incurring a
      small penalty in archive size, which will help to recover archived
      files in the case of floppy disk failure or other data losses. Use
      the option "Put recovery record" in the configuration or the Alt-F6
      key in RAR to place the redundant recovery information into a
      created archive. The corresponding command lines switch is -rr[N],
      where N is the number of redundant data sectors (1 to 8). Default
      values are:

                   Archive size     Number of RR-sectors
                     < 50Kb                   2
                     50Kb-500Kb               4
                     > 500Kb                  8

      A damaged archive may be reconstructed using the "Repair" function
      of RAR (Alt/F8 key combination in RAR or the command line option
      "r"). The recovered archive will be named _RECOVER.RAR. If the old,
      pre-2.00 repair procedure was used (without data recovery records)
      or recovering was not completed, the reconstructed archive will be
      named _RECONST.RAR.

      The chance of successful archive reconstruction, using recovery
      records, is very high if the size of the continuous portion of
      damaged data is not greater than N*512 bytes, where N is number of
      RR-sectors initially placed into the archive.

   7. RAR 2.00 is compatible with previous releases and handles archives
      created by older versions of RAR. The sole limitation of backward
      compatibility: you will need the old external SFX module to convert
      an old style archive to SFX or simply build it using RAR 1.5x.
      Archives created with RAR 2.00 cannot be unpacked by older versions
      of RAR.

   8. The 32-bit versions of RAR 2.00 have a new feature "Set task priority
      and sleep time".  Use "General options" dialog in full-screen or the
      switch - ri<P>[:<S>] on the command line to activate this option.

      The possible task priority values are from 0 to 15. When <p> is equal
      to 0, the default task priority is used, 1 corresponding to the lowest
      task priority, 15 - to the highest.

      The sleep time <s> is a value from 0 to 1000 (milliseconds). This is
      the period of time that WinRAR will give back to Windows after every
      read or write during the packing or unpacking operation. The sleep
      time setting is useful when several tasks with the same priority are
      running in the system.

   9. Names of files produced by the 'R' command have been changed from
      $RECOVER.RAR and $RECONST.RAR to _RECOVER.RAR and _RECONST.RAR
      for better portability with future RAR/Unix with Unix shell.

  10. In the console version commands 'V' and 'L' can be suplied with
      the '-v' switch meaning "process all volumes starting from the
      specified". If these commands cause processing more than one archive
      (volume), total information concerning all archives will be shown.

  11. The file order list for solid archiving in file RARFILES.LST is
      introduced. There you may set up the user-defined sorting order for
      specific files or group of files.

  12. The bug detected, located in old portable version 1.01 of unRAR
      source only, which caused CRC errors in some cases. If you are using
      unRAR 1.01 to unpack old archives (created with RAR prior to version
      2.00) then fix the problem applying the following patch:

       Replace string 353 in the unpack.c:

        if (Distance > D->MaxDist3)
          Length++;

       with:

        if (Distance >= D->MaxDist3)
          Length++;

  13. RCVT 1.01 is released. The scheme of processing archives is changed:
      first the program performs 'Del', then 'Add' operation.

  14. Installation SFX module IWIN.SFX, common SFX module DEFAULT.SFX
      and console SFX module WINCON.SFX (all Windows 32-bit) are now
      available. See SFX.DOC for installation script language
      description. DEFAULT.SFX produced from IWIN.SFX by adding
      the appropriate script.

  15. Dynamic-link library UNRAR.DLL is included.
      See UNRARDLL.DOC for details.

  16. WINRAR95.EXE - WinRAR version with Windows 95 style user interface
      has been added.

  17. A special multiple selection mode is implemented in the WinRAR.
      It allows multiple selections of files in the main window
      and activates usage of Space button to select and deselect files
      This option is absent in the WinRAR 95, but it always allows
      to make permanent selection with Space.
