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You are. unrar's source is licensed under either a BSD-like license, or the GPL, your choice.

Or... neither?

Looking at the official UnRAR source code (from https://www.rarlab.com/rar_add... ), the license.txt is really a BSD-ish style license. No GPL at all. Basically you can use it to handle RAR archives, as long as you don't use it to reverse-engineer RAR compression. No warranty, blah blah blah, but you're free to included it in anything to handle RAR archives.

I have yet to find a newer copy of Winrar that is not packaged with malware.
Dowloaded from http://www.rarlab.com/ as of 10 minutes of this post.

File - WinRAR x64 (64 bit) 5.21

They keep updating their code every so many days to try to avoid detection. Once the AV guys catch up the malware list repopulates with bad stuff again from their program.
Most recent scan results:
Zillya!
Backdoor.DarkKomet.Win32.27531

So can WinRAR - you just extract the archive instead of running the executable.
See http://www.rarlab.com/vuln_sfx...

No? There are a lot of free open-source blog systems around. With very short descriptions of how to install it:
1. Just get a cheap hosting solution (preferably outside Mafia territory),
2. upload the decompressed archive using a FTP program,
3. point your browser to your domain,
4. set the few settings it asks you,
5. make the config file read-only on the server,
and you're done!

Takes just a couple of minutes, and neither effort nor skill. Plus, the hosting price is what you pay for the added feature of a bit more independence.

thegarbz, you are mistaken, rar is the one which is available only as a binary. The source code for unrar has been open from the beginning. Being in the non-oss repo merely indicates that the licence is not one of the OSI approved texts.

That being said, I agree with the parents' conclusion that having an rar unarchiver going from a very much MIT-like (with obnoxious "RAR is a proprietary algorithm" clause) to LGPL is not an improvement that makes me jump off my chair.

- * - * - * - * -

Dag, I love you a million times owing to your message board software, but wake me again when you have an rar archiver.

That site appears to be a reseller. Here's the official site:

http://www.rarlab.com/rar_archiver.htm

From that page:

"WinRAR offers you the benefit of industry strength archive encryption using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key of 128 bits."

I agree that if you know of something better and can use it, that's all good. But barring a flaw in WinRAR's implementation of AES, I'm simply questioning why it's not a decent choice for someone who doesn't need the features of something along the lines of TrueCrypt and similar software.

Here's a typical bit of Open Source design suckage.

I just installed the latest version of Blender, over an existing installation. The installer can't find the exact version of Python it wants (which, incidentally, is not a currently supported version.) The program itself can, it's just the installer that's broken. Typical.

Now I want to draw a spiral spring. Naturally, that's not built-in; I'll need a third-party plug-in. So I find the Blender Plug-In Repository using Google. That says "The main page for Blender python scripts is now: here. That gets "If you are not redirected within 5 seconds, click here", which then redirects to a dead link.

OK, let's try Blender's main site and search for "plugins". That leads to documentation on how to code a plugin. Another search result returns "Plugin functionalities varies so much that it is not possible to describe them here. Differently than Texture Plugins Sequence Plugins do not have a Buttons in any Button Window, but their parameters are usually accessed via NKEY." Really.

OK, let's just try "blender spiral" in Google. This gets a script for drawing spirals. That's nice. But it's a ".rar" file. That's not something Blender-specific. It's a proprietary Russian archiving format. The RAR site promotes something called "RegistryBooster", which is a strong indication of involvement with hostile code. So I probably don't want to buy the WinRAR product so I can decompress something which is a few lines of Python. This

Typical.

The full command-line RAR version is still shareware, for all supported platforms. You must be thinking about the unrar tool (which can only unpack RAR archives, and not create them) - it is the one that's freeware, and it also comes with source code (though not under a F/OSS license).

The full command-line RAR version is still shareware, for all supported platforms. You must be thinking about the unrar tool (which can only unpack RAR archives, and not create them) - it is the one that's freeware, and it also comes with source code (though not under a F/OSS license).

• EditPlus Programming editor
• IrfanView Image viewer with effects and image manipulation capabilities
• Putty so I can SSH to my Gentoo from winblows
• Ability Spreadsheet as opposed to the spreadsheets in microsoft office, open office, and gnumeric
• Proxomitron Web-filtering proxy
• Flashpaste Copy/Paste on steroids
• WinRAR as opposed to winzip
• uTorrent as opposed to azureus and other java based boulder-weight crap
• mIRC IRC client
• DVD Shrink Rip/decode/encode DVDs, etc.
• Tail for Win32 Wish tail under linux was this good
• RealAlternative as opposed to realplayer
• Virtual Dimension Virtual desktops, as opposed to microsoft's power toys

RAR - It's a proprietary compression algorithm with no open-source implementations.

It may not be a truly open license, but the source is freely available:
    http://files.rarlab.com/rar/unrarsrc-3.4.1.tar.gz
I built it on my Mac via "fink install unrar".

The license.txt file included in that tarball says:
  "The source code of unRAR utility is freeware."
and
  "The unRAR utility may be freely distributed."
However:
  "The unRAR sources ... cannot be used to re-create the RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary."

The source code of UnRAR utility is freeware. This means:

      1. All copyrights to RAR and the utility UnRAR are exclusively
            owned by the author - Alexander Roshal.

      2. The UnRAR sources may be used in any software to handle RAR
            archives without limitations free of charge, but cannot be used
            to re-create the RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary.
            Distribution of modified UnRAR sources in separate form or as a
            part of other software is permitted, provided that it is clearly
            stated in the documentation and source comments that the code may
            not be used to develop a RAR (WinRAR) compatible archiver.

      3. The UnRAR utility may be freely distributed. It is allowed
            to distribute UnRAR inside of other software packages.

If you really don't have any other option than backing up to DVDs, then how about this?

Install WinRAR, right-click the directories that you want to back up, click 'Add to archive...', choose the option to split into DVD-sized chunks*, select whichever compression method you'd like, and then wait while it creates the archive files.

Now install QuickPar, perhaps read a parity file tutorial if you're unfamiliar with the concept, and then create a set of parity files to restore any corrupt or damaged data.


* Or perhaps it would be better to create files of just under 45 MB each, and burn 100 of them to each DVD.

The _easiest_ way I can think of to do this without either spending a lot of money or switching operating systems, is probably just get an archiver, possibly http://www.rarlab.com/ winrar, and on the create archive screen, select to only store the data (no compression, runs faster and mp3's are already compressed anyway, why compress them again?), and tell it to split the archives into whatever size you want (depending on what kind of dvd's you use. single or double layer, etc, just input the number of bytes and it'll auto-split them into appropriate segments). Then just burn the archives to disc one at a time, which is a bit time consuming but by no means difficult to do.

This isn't the prettiest solution in the world, and it can't save a lot of things (like all your settings and such) but it works for personal files quite well. And you just need the appropriate unarchive program installed after you reinstall, so either winrar for windows, or unrar for *nix, should you ever decide to cross over. That is, assuming you choose the rar format. IMHO, as far as the windows-friendly archives go, it seems to work the best out of the common formats for this sort of backup work.

http://www.rarlab.com/rar/unrarsrc-3.6.7.tar.gz

The installer .exe from their site says that it's a win32 program and can't be run in dos if you try to use it in dosbox. It's been a while since I tried, I can't remember if Cedega could run the installer but not the game itself, or if it wouldn't even run the installer.

The installer executable from Bethesda is a simple self-extracting archive in RAR format. Any decompression tool that understands RAR should be able to read it (such as the shareware RAR for Linux). It should also run just fine under WINE or the Cedega branch of WINE. The game itself is a DOS executable, which I'd be surprised if WINE/Cedega could run that.

I'd bet that Oblivion will be mostly or entirely fuctional within 6 months.

That's assuming that Oblivion is functional at all :). Bethesda as a history of ambitious but buggy games, though they're also pretty good about patching the worst problems. Of course, I don't have a machine that's beefy enough to run Oblivion, so I'm playing it on my Xbox 360 instead. Very satisfying. Much better than Morrowind was on Xbox (I ended up getting that for PC since the Xbox version was so much crap).

Finder: No right-click > open command prompt here (well, neither does Windows, but easy to add with a Powertoy).

This contextual menu module for the Finder is exactly what you need. I use it all the time.
http://www.pyehouse.com/lynn/termopen.php


Finder: Can't easily know the size of the contents of a directory (without "get info"), or the total size of more than one selected item (even "get info" doesn't help there). Windows Explorer is superior here.

In list view mode, you can see the sizes of all folders by checking the "Calculate all sizes" option in the "View Options", available in the View menu. To see the total size of multiple selected item, hold down the option key (also known as alt) and choose "Show Inspector" from the File menu, or just press option-command-I.


Marking text and then attempting to drag the selected text elsewhere - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't (the drag operation simply selects some more text).

You just need to hold down the mouse button for a brief while (equal to your double-click recognition period, IIRC).


Finder pollutes write-enabled SMB shares it accesses with garbage files like .DS_Store and perhaps others. I don't want these files on my Windows machine!

There are many utilities available that help with this problem, for example TinkerTool.
http://www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html


StuffIt expander will choke on RAR files containing Hebrew file names. Says "Invalid File Format".

Have you tried using the free command-line utilities available from RAR Lab?
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

Since the original site seems to be really slow and split into a billion pages, those who aren't aware of it might want to look at MaximumCompression since it has tests for several file formats and also has a multiple file compression test that is sorted by efficiency. A program called SBC does the best, but the much more common WinRAR comes in a respectable third.

Create multiple copies of your base data and include error recovery codes.

RAR has error recovery features built in, there are also add-on tools to create parity/error correction blocks from whatever data you throw at it.

Of course if multiple copies from different sources are all damaged, you probably have bigger problems than getting your "important" data back.

The TCO of this software is pretty high. If you read the end user agreement, you are agree that you own at least 3 different pieces of software. Here it is:

MimarSinan CompreXX mark4 (GALACTICA Release)
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

0. Agreement

By installing and/or using this product, you (the end-user) are entering a binding legal agreement with MimarSinan International. You acknowledge that you have read, understand, and agree to comply with all of the terms of this license agreement.

I. Shareware

This product is shareware. You are entitled to a thirty (30) day trial period for evaluating this product. This evaluation period has the following restrictions:

a. You may NOT distribute any applications created with the API and/or SDK included in the product.
b. You MUST cease using the product at the end of the evaluation period.

Upon completion of the evaluation period, if you wish to continue using the product, you MUST purchase a license from MimarSinan International. Visit http://www.comprexx.com/ for more information on purchasing a license.

II. Distribution

This product may be distributed ONLY in the original form in which you have received it. You are expressly denied permission to distribute any parts of this product, or to repackage and distribute the entire product in any form. You are granted permission to distribute this product only in the "MimarSinan InstallAware" self extracting and installing executable form.

III. Bundled Third Party Components

This product contains the third party components described below:

a. 7-Zip command line modules, provided by http://www.7-zip.org/

MimarSinan International is NOT associated in any way with the vendors named above. The third party components included in this product are PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE ONLY. You must already hold valid (evaluation) licenses to use these third party components. By installing MimarSinan CompreXX mark4, you indicate that you already hold valid (evaluation) licenses for these third party products.

IV. Borrowed Third Party Components

This product, if it finds the third party components described below, will borrow portions of the named components, to extend its functionality:

a. WinRAR command line modules, provided by http://www.rarlab.com/

MimarSinan International is NOT associated in any way with the vendors named above. The third party components are NOT included in this product, and are only borrowed from an existing installation IF THEY ARE ALREADY PRESENT ON YOUR SYSTEM. You must already hold valid (evaluation) licenses to use these third party components. By installing MimarSinan CompreXX mark4, you indicate that you already hold valid (evaluation) licenses for these third party products.

V. Plug-In and Application Development

This product contains an SDK and API which you may use to engineer your own Codex Compliant plug-ins and applications. You may freely distribute all plug-ins and applications created with this product, without any royalties, provided you hold a valid non-evaluation license for this product.

VI. Downloaded Third Party Components

This product, if chosen by the user, is capable of downloading third party compression providers directly from their vendor websites. If the download succeeds, the product will then install a plug-in bridge enabling Codex applications to invoke proprietory compression functionality. This is not a mechanism intended to circumvent the licensing procedures required for the legal use of such proprietory third party technology.

THIS INSTALLER, IF CHOSEN, WILL SIMPLY DOWNLOAD SUCH THIRD PARTY TECHNOLOGY, DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLIC THIRD PARTY WEBSITES, AS A CONVENIENCE TO THE END-USER. THE PROCEDURES THE INSTALLER

From my experience, WinRAR (when producing .rar files, of course) provides the best compression-to-compression-and-extracting-time ratio. 7z files, when smaller than .rar files, do not show any significant advantages, while taking a considerably longer time to compress and decompress. Bz2 really excells at raw uncompressed data (like pure text, .bmp and .wav files), but operates quite slowly and tends to give less satisfactory results if the data already has some kind of compression on its own. Zip (and gzip) are quite fast, but don't compress as much as the former methods.

In the end, as much as I like open-source, I still use .rar for most of my archives. But 7zip is my favorite self-extracting generator.

Or you could just get WinRar. Free upgrades and a better format to boot.

And if all you need is to be able to read RAR archives, then you can download free-as-in-beer extraction programs for most major platforms here. There's even source code available.*

People are welcome not to like WinRAR for being a proprietary product using proprietary algorithms, but nobody can complain that RAR archives are inaccessible to them.

* Under a slightly restrictive license, but it's still source code.

Althought really obsolete, WinZip is extremely popular with uneducated computers users.

I, for one... recommend these alternatives: winrar and winace, wich are vastly superiors in performance, but shareware, and 7-Zip wich has good perfomance with a poor interface, but it's free.


--
Dreamhost superb hosting.
Kunowalls!!! Random sexy wallpapers (NSFW!).

Russian software market is pretty endemic. Ie. you won't know anything about most of quality Russian software. For example, do you know about FAR - one of the best file managers in the world? Or how about RAR? And certainly you haven't heard about the superb mailer "The Bat!".

Besides, lots of software is written in Russia: Microsoft Flight Simulator, IDEA (the best Java IDE) , etc.

For my own personal archives, I have taken the methods from the masters in USENET.

OS X & UNIX: I'm lazy just: tar.gz

For Win32, I back-up a lot more files under win32 than *nix.

Compression
WinRAR
Compression Method: Best
Split to Volumes: 20MB
Parity
QuickPar
With general settings.

I back-up to decent quality DVD media, as I have had a lot of problems with CD media rotting after about a year.

Yes, there is.

Honey, which compression should I use to shrink this one, Rar, ace or 7z?

Being geek is fun when even humans look like source codes when digitalized. Maybe we should code "womb emulator" and using it, fork human gene making vacuum resistant, amphibious and tiny versions... uhh, then stable and unstable releases and nightly builds.

Gulp, it just occurred to me that I might be a nightly build...

This is a great idea for a thread. I'm assuming this is after I've downloaded the eight jillion patches for Windows I need, but in no particular order:

• A virus scanner (This definitely comes first!)
• WinRAR (I should look into 7-Zip, though.)
• Firefox (and a few choice extensions)
• Thunderbird (I love sharing one mailbox between two operating systems.)
• Filezilla
• Trillian
• iTunes
• Various programs for web development
• OpenOffice.org
• Real Alternative (Screw you, Real! I don't need to take your crap any more!)

• Aida32, hardware display and diagnotics
• CoolTaskBar to sort out the mess (particularly in Windows 2000)
• FreshUI, tweaking utility
• TweakUI, same as FreshUi, but different options, these two combined give you a lot of different options.
• PowerToys, tweaking utilities. In particular the [Send file name to clipboard] and other options which I cannot work on Windows without.
• Get everything from SysInternals, a ton of wonderful stuff here, too much to mention, but will let you track every file access, every registry write, every debugging message. Tons of great command line tools too. For instance, ever wanted to delete a file only to get a "There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use" message ? Where Windows doesn't even know for sure if the file is in use or not. Get Process Explorer from SysInternals.com and type the file name in its [Find][Find Handle] menu. Close or kill the appropriate process if necessary.
• Desktop Manager or FlashDesktops, gives you 4 desktops just like on Linux.
• Alt-Tab Replacement, Gives a screenshot of window Alt-Tabbing, useful when you have multiple unsaved docs open, etc...
• OpenCommandWindowHere, right-click on folder option to open command prompt window at that folder, useful for deep or complicated folder names
• Memstat XP, lets you monitor memory usage in tray, small and simple but not that useful.
• NetMeter, lets you monitor network usage in the tray, small and simple but does not seem to work on all types of network interfaces. Online Eye Pro works better and has lots more options, it's based on WinPCap just like Ethereal (see below).
• TrayMeter, lets you monitor cpu usage in the tray, small and simple.
• WinRAR, unzip anything you want, supports tar.gz, zip, rar, arc, and much more.

Network Utilities

• Xmanager, excellent X-windows manager.
• FreshDownload, Download Manager
• ssh, scp, wget, rsync... comes on CYGWIN
• Putty (and friends), ssh client and other utils (but ssh is part of cygwin and works just as well)
• WinSCP, a wonderful SCP/SFTP client for windows (scp is part of Cygwin but this is easier to use)
• NetScanTools a GUI interface for most command line tools also found in cygwin
• WebDrive, mount various types of network protocols (ftp, http, ssh) as local drives, buggy but useful (RiverFront)
• POPfile the best spam remover I've found so far (works with outlook express and any app)

For a Windows install my choices are :

1. ZoneAlarm Basic - Mandatory firewall
2. Windows Update - Mandatory updates
3. Mozilla - Why would you use Internet Explorer any longer?
4. Winrar - This little program is doing its job
5. Winamp
6. Acrobat reader
7. Putty - An efficient ssh client to communicate with your Linux boxes
8. OpenOffice.org - Word processing
9. Microsoft Office - Sometimes OpenOffice.org can't do the job...
10. Adobe PhotoShop

For Linux my choices are :

1. Update your installation - yum, apt or up2date
2. xmms-mp3 - Enable mp3 playback (freshrpms.net)
3. mplayer - The best video player (mpg, avi, dvd) (freshrpms.net)
4. perl-Video-DVDRip - Add a movie collection beside your music collection (freshrpms.net)
5. CodeWeavers CrossOver Plugin - Enable Microsoft plugins in Mozilla
6. Quicktime (via CrossOver Plugin)
7. Windows media player (via CrossOver Plugin)
8. Shockwave player (via CrossOver Plugin)
9. CodeWeavers CrossOver Office - Run Windows application in Linux
10. Microsoft Office (via CrossOver Office)

Kerio Personal Firewall - great software firewall, a must on any Windows box
F-Prot AntiVirus - another must have, antivirus software
Tray Wizard - extentions to 2K system tray
DAEMON Tools - mount ISO images off your harddrive to virtual CD drives
FlashFXP - FTP Client with loads of nice features
UltraEdit - must have text editor, nice features such as syntax highlighting
IrfranView - multi-format image viewer
Media Player Classic - replacement for WMP that blows it out of the water
WinRAR - multi-format archive app
PuTTY

• HT Editor
• Far on Windows / Midnight Commander on Linux

• #1. Get FlashDesktops, you have to pay for it, but it is utterly wonderful. Multiple desktops on windows as fast as Xwindows.
  http://flashdesktops.com/
• #2. Get UxUtils, NATIVE ports of lots of great unix apps.
  http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
• #3. Get The Bat!, it is a wonderful email client, fast, simple, can be totally driven by keyboard. http://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/
• #4. Get FireFox, it is a wonderful browser on linux AND windows (I actually prefer the windows version). http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
• #5. Get gVim, vim is great on linux, great on windows too! http://www.vim.org/
• #6. Get OpenOffice, great on both platforms. http://www.openoffice.org/
• #7. Get WinSCP, a wonderful SCP/SFTP client for windows. http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng/
• #8. Get Putty (and friends), wonderful ssh client and other utils. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
• #9. Get everything from sysinternals, a ton of wonderful stuff here, too much to mention, but will let you track every file access, every registry write, every debugging message. Look around, it gives you control of your box like you expect on a *nix. Ton of great command line tools too. http://www.sysinternals.com/
• #10. ClearTweak, a tool to let you customize your ClearType settings (a must for LCDs). http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak/
• #11. Daemon Tools, lets you mount up to 4 ISO's as drives, and can emulate security protection. http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php
• #12. Memstat XP, lets you monitor memory usage in tray, small and simple. http://memstat.sourceforge.net/
• #13. NetMeter, lets you monitor network usage in the tray, small and simple. http://readerror.gmxhome.de/
• #14. TrayMeter, lets you monitor cpu usage in the tray, small and simple. http://www.thmundt.com/traymeter/
• #15. TweakUI, get control over some things you might want (like hover-to-focus, autologin, other). http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/p owertoys.asp
• #16. WinRoll, lets you roll up windows just like in lots of windows managers on linux. http://www.palma.com.au/winroll/
• #17. XP Log Reader, lets you watch the XP firewall logs. http://www.winxpcentral.com/windowsxp/fwlog.php
• #18. WinRAR, unzip anything you want, supports tar.gz, zip, rar, arc, and much more. http://www.rarlab.com/
• #19. Beyond Compare, best tool for comparing directories or files, great for syncing backups. http://www.scootersoftware.com/
• #20. Nero, the best CD writer for windows. http://www.nero.com/us/index.html
• #21. WinDVD, watch movies! http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Home.jsp
• #22. WinImage, create images from CDs, very

Here are my most favorite windows apps. Some are free. All at least have trials. They are in no particular order.

Firewall: BlackIce
Virus Scanner: AVG Anti-Virus
Instant Messaging: Trillian
Movie Player: BSPlayer
Web Browser: Slim Browser
Mail Client: The Bat!
Taskbar Improvement: True Launcher Bar
SpyWare Protection: Spybot Search & Destroy
File Compression: Win Rar
Hex Editor: Hex Workshop
Audio Player: Winamp
Ternimal Emulator (telnet/ssh/etc): SecureCRT

--

> Error resistant (a small error won't affect the whole stream)?

Answer: Recovery record and recovery volumes allow to reconstruct even physically damaged archives. -RAR Lab

So, the answer to your question is "yes". I'm pretty sure it has both error detection AND error correction built in. I believe that it does so with some sort of extra parity files iirc, but I cannot find an actual site with the RAR file format discussed. :P

the rest of us will use RAR, after all who wants to get in the way of ego's ?

BTW can PK take back the .zip extension (and prevent winzip from calling their compression a zipfile) if WinZip go their own way with their own format ?

If you just need to expand archives, Aladdin Expander is very nice, and does Mac formats like sit and hqx as well as most PC and Unix ones.

Most likely because it compresses multimedia files smaller, has strong encryption and is ideal for multipart (multivolume) archives. SeeAbout RAR.

There are any number of freeware ftp clients. Go to a site like freewareweb and find several.

Personally, I use the ftp client built in to Far, which is shareware, but doesn't expire. (I guess the Win version of Midnight Commander has it too, if you use that on Linux.)

Want to write a PDF file? People in my office needed to, asked me to find something free online. After spending a couple of hours looking for something for windows, I ended up giving them a knoppix cd.

Or you could have used Ghostscript, i.e. the same app as in Knoppix.

And trust me, paying for software is far more abhorrent to these co-workers of mine than any piracy issues. In fact my boss always makes a joke every time someone comes in to get some software, "but you still have to pay the software company for the license to use the software". Heh.

Well, just go to Astalavista for all your serialz and crackz.

I hate Windows myself, but I stick with it for most of my work exactly because I can find just about any app I need, free (as in beer). There are many cool apps, it's the OS that sucks.

• A Win98 Boot Disk with
• CD of Windows 98SE
• Burned CD with Win98SE service packs/patches
• AVG Free Anti Virus (Free - as good as Norton IMHO)
• Winrar (Shareware - handles most archive formats)
• Ranish Partition Manager (Free - runs from bootable floppy)
• Pc Inspector File Recovery software (Free)
• Spybot search & destroy (Free - removes spy ware / Trojans ,ect)
• SpywareBlaster (Free - prevents most spyware, trojan, and "browser help objects(I.E. Gator and Lop.com) from ever being installed in the first place)

RAR will never be free, but you can decompress RAR files with the non-free open source unrar.

I've still got NC for when I have to boot to DOS and/or from a floppy. Its main drawback these days is that it doesn't understand long file names, so if you move files around with it you get a lot of ~1 names. However, there are many very good apps that mimic it to a greater or lesser extent. I like Far which runs under Win32 (but not DOS). On *.ix there's MC (Midnight Commander) which also has a DOS version, though it's a bit clunky there. A full survey of what the author calls Orthodox File Managers is here. Many seem to from Russia, home of hard core functional hackers.

For comparison purposes, I downloaded cs94_002.zip and recompressed it with the latest version of WinRAR (3.10 beta 3), set to maximum compression. The result:

cs94_002.rar (Source) 9.4MB (9,407,157 bytes)

WinRAR appears to compress much better than bzip2; however, it isn't free. Interestingly, as good as WinRAR is, even it doesn't come that close to having the best compression ratio out there.

For lots of useful statistics on the relative capabilities of virtually every compression engine in the world, check out Jeff Gilchrist's Archive Comparison Test. A lot of progress is still being made in compression technology, so the state of the art keeps changing.

Failing that, the more direct approach is to copy and paste the following links into your edonkey or overnet client's console (aka message) window:
dllink ed2k://|file|doom3.e3-demo.README.ShareReactor.txt |302|01c39f4c97aae55beab8f9517aed8740|
(.. for the README instruction file)
and
dllink ed2k://|file|doom3.e3-demo.ShareReactor.rar|381781 972|1d67104ded376842d34827573abcdc64|
(.. for the actual EXE demo for PC).

The demo file is in RAR format. You will need the WinRAR utility installed to decompress it. The download is a trial version that is time-limited, but it will work for you.