1. RAR - What's new in the latest version
Version 3.51
1. Bugs fixed:
a) fixed two vulnerabilities, which could be exploited with
specially crafted ACE and UUE/XXE archives;
b) previous version did not delete some of temporary files;
c) WinRAR could crash when processing very long (more than
1024 characters) archive name parameter in the command line.
Version 3.50
1. Now it is possible to change WinRAR's look by installing
interface themes. Theme files are available on
http://www.rarlab.com/themes.htm
Theme files are RAR archives, just open them in WinRAR to install.
You can manage installed themes using "Options/Themes" menu.
2. WinRAR supports decompression of ZIP archives created using
Zip64 format extension. Zip64 was introduced to remove
original ZIP format limitations on archived file size.
3. Added support of multivolume (multipart) CAB archives.
4. New options in "Advanced" part of extraction dialog:
a) "Delete archive" options allow to delete extracted archives;
b) "Check authenticity information" option controls processing
of authenticity information in RAR archives.
5. "Wait if other WinRAR copies are active" option
in "Advanced" parts of archiving and extraction dialogs.
If enabled, it waits while other WinRAR copies are creating,
modifying or unpacking an archive and starts the operation
only when other WinRAR tasks are complete. If you are going
to perform several archiving or decompressing tasks, such queued
execution can help to reduce the amount of disk seeks and improve
overall performance.
6. WinRAR is able to integrate to Windows context menus also
on Windows x64 systems.
7. SFX modules:
a) SFX modules are not compressed by UPX anymore, so they are
larger now. UPX compression caused numerous false alerts
by antivirus software. If you wish to use compressed modules,
you can get UPX from http://upx.sourceforge.net and compress
*.sfx files in WinRAR folder;
b) The default SFX logo can be replaced by a custom bitmap file.
You can do it either with "Load SFX logo from the file" option
in "Text and icon" part of "Advanced SFX options" dialog

2. or using -iimg<name> command line switch. Note that -iimg is not
supported by console RAR, only GUI WinRAR recognizes it.
This option is not supported in Windows 95, 98 and Me.
Also you cannot use it if you compressed SFX modules by UPX.
c) It is possible to specify user defined SFX icons larger than
32x32 and with any color depth. Like the previous item,
this improvement is valid only if SFX modules are not compressed
by UPX and your operating system is not Windows 9x/Me;
d) DOS.SFX module moved to RAR/DOS32 distributive. If you need
to create DOS SFX archives using WinRAR, just copy DOS.SFX
to WinRAR folder.
8. "Wizard" command allows to specify a password when creating
or updating an archive.
9. Previous WinRAR versions unpacked the complete archive contents
if the user pressed Enter or double clicked on *.exe, *.htm and
*.html files. Now it is possible to define file masks to unpack
everything for. Such masks can be entered on the "Viewer" page
of the "Settings" dialog. For example, if you wish to unpack only
a file under the cursor when you double click on archived HTML file,
remove "*.htm *.html" from this field.
10. Additional file name extensions for archive formats supported
by WinRAR can be specified in the "User defined archive extensions"
field on the "Integration" page of the "Settings" dialog. For example,
if you have files with ".001" extension, which are in RAR format,
you can enter "001" here to associate WinRAR with such files.
11. New "Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color" option
in "File list" page of "Settings" dialog.
12. New "Lock toolbars" option in "General" page of "Settings" dialog
and in the menu displayed after clicking the right mouse button
on the toolbar. "Lock toolbars" prevents accidental toolbar moving
or resizing.
13. "Repair" and "Extract" commands replace invalid characters
(colon, question mark, etc.) by underscore also in file names
in ZIP archives. Previously WinRAR did it only for RAR archives.
14. New -n<mask> and -n@<listfile> switches set additional include
filters, so only files matching the mask will be processed.
15. New -id[c,d,p,q] switch. Additionally to previously available
-idp switch (disable percentage indicator), switches -idc, -idd
and -idq instruct the console RAR to hide the copyright message,
"Done" message and all information messages.
16. Switch -e+<attr> allows to specify file include attributes mask.
For example, you can use -e+h switch to compress only hidden files.
17. Switch -ver[n] supports the optional 'n' parameter also when
archiving. It limits the maximum number of file versions.
18. If the short name of an already existing file is equal to the long
name of an unpacking file, WinRAR changes the short name of the already
existing file before unpacking. In such situation previous versions
prompted to overwrite the existing file even though long file names
were not equal.
19. Security changes:

3. a) WinRAR shell does not allow to run *.pif files. Archived PIF
files is one of typical ways for computer viruses to distribute;
b) WinRAR shell does not allow to run files having 5 or more
continuous spaces in the name. For example, "calc.txt .exe".
Viruses frequently add such spaces to confuse users and hide
the real extension. WinRAR shell removes these continuous spaces
except first and last also when displaying names of such files
in the file list.
20. In Windows XP WinRAR highlights the sorted column in the file list
using the different color, like it is done in Windows Explorer.
Version 3.42
1. Fixed a buffer overflow bug in WinRAR GUI "Delete" command,
which could cause a crash when deleting a file in a corrupt
archive.
Version 3.41
1. Bugs corrected in this version:
a) when adding new files to an already existing RAR solid archive,
RAR 3.40 compression ratio was lower than in RAR 3.30;
b) WinRAR "Repair" command could crash when repairing
a corrupt ZIP archive.
2. If archived Unicode name is invalid, RAR 'l' and 'v' commands
display ASCII file name instead of corrupt Unicode.
Version 3.40
1. "Fastest" (-m1) RAR compression method has been modified
to provide much higher compression speed and lower ratio.
It may be useful for tasks requiring the high speed like
regular backups.
You may increase "Fastest" speed even more selecting 64KB
compression dictionary instead of default 4MB.
2. WinRAR is able to decompress archives created by Unix 'compress'
tool (.Z files). Like GZIP and BZIP2 archives, WinRAR opens
tar.Z and .taz files in one step, so users do not need to
unpack .tar manually.
3. WinRAR is able to decompress archives created by 7-Zip
(.7z files). "Find" command is not supported for this
archive type.
4. New "Security" dialog in WinRAR settings:
a) "File types to exclude from extracting" option to prevent
extracting of potentially dangerous files like .exe, .scr
and .pif;
b) "Propose to select virus scanner" option modifies behavior
of "Scan archive for viruses" command. You may turn it off
if you wish to skip the virus scanner selection dialog.

4. 5. New command line switch -ep3 allows to save and restore
full file paths including the drive letter.
WinRAR shell equivalent of -ep3 switch are options
"Store full paths including drive letter" in "Files/File paths"
page of archiving dialog and "Extract absolute paths"
in "Advanced/File paths" page of extracting dialog.
6. You may select and compress disks directly in "My Computer"
view in WinRAR shell. Just choose "My Computer" in WinRAR
address bar, select disks to compress and press "Add".
If you selected more than one item, WinRAR will automatically
set "Store full paths including drive letter" archiving mode.
7. If you have selected several disks in Windows Explorer "My Computer"
view and started archiving from the context menu, WinRAR will
automatically set the "Store full paths including drive letter"
mode when compressing them.
8. New command line switch -oc to restore NTFS "Compressed" attribute
when extracting files. RAR always saves "Compressed" attribute
when creating an archive, but does not restore it unless -oc switch
has been specified.
WinRAR shell equivalent of -oc switch is "Set attribute Compressed"
option in "Advanced" part of extracting dialog.
9. Starting from this version RAR volumes contain the volume number
field.
If the archive was created by WinRAR 3.40 or newer, you may
view the volume number in the top line of "Info" dialog
and in the address bar.
In the command line mode the volume number is displayed
by 'L' and 'V' commands in the line with the total volume
information.
This feature may be useful if original volume names are lost
and you need to rename volumes to correct names.
10. Commands 'L' and 'V' display NTFS "Compressed" attribute
in archive listing.
11. Switch -ag may include an optional text enclosed in '{' and '}'
characters. This text is inserted into the archive name.
For example: -agHH{hours}MM{minutes}
Same feature is supported in the "Generate archive name by mask"
field of WinRAR archiving dialog.
12. If switch -ac is specified, RAR will not reset the "Archive"
attribute of those files, which size or modification time
was changed after starting the archiving operation.
So files modified after placing them to an archive and before
clearing "Archive" attribute, will be included in next incremental
backup. The same is true for WinRAR "Clear attribute "Archive"
after compressing" GUI option.
13. If you use the "Add to favorites" command inside of an archive
subfolder, WinRAR will save the subfolder and restore it
when accessing this favorite item. Previous versions were able to

5. restore only the root archive folder.
14. When editing archived files, WinRAR proposes to update them
immediately after detecting that file was changed. Previous
versions waited until an external editor terminates before
updating a changed file.
15. If you drop an archive to the WinRAR address bar or toolbar,
WinRAR will display its contents even if an other archive
is opened right now. Previous versions proposed to add a dropped
archive to browsing one.
You may still drop an archive to WinRAR file list if you
need to add it to browsing archive.
16. Corrected processing of corrupt LZH archives to exclude
a possible crash when reading corrupt LZH file headers.
17. RAR and WinRAR display the operation progress while
repairing an archive containing the recovery record.

6. restore only the root archive folder.
14. When editing archived files, WinRAR proposes to update them
immediately after detecting that file was changed. Previous
versions waited until an external editor terminates before
updating a changed file.
15. If you drop an archive to the WinRAR address bar or toolbar,
WinRAR will display its contents even if an other archive
is opened right now. Previous versions proposed to add a dropped
archive to browsing one.
You may still drop an archive to WinRAR file list if you
need to add it to browsing archive.
16. Corrected processing of corrupt LZH archives to exclude
a possible crash when reading corrupt LZH file headers.
17. RAR and WinRAR display the operation progress while
repairing an archive containing the recovery record.