unFIR

Besides compressing large files to save some disk space, archives are pretty secure, since malicious content can’t infiltrate archived files. These are found under different formats, and don’t usually require special components for extraction. However, some types of archives might benefit from extraction capabilities of unFIR.

One of the application’s main advantages is that you don’t have to go through a setup to make it work. This enables you to carry it around on a USB flash drive to use on other computers, without having to worry about any stability issues, mostly because registries are not modified in the process.

Although it’s an archive extraction application, it can only process files created with its counterpart, namely FIR. Archives created by this program aren’t of usual kinds, and compress all target items under picture extensions. Attempting to extract from any other kind results in failure, so you need both application for a proper experience.

Moreover, the target archive file needs to be placed inside the source directory, because the application isn’t capable of reading the path you provide. Targeting a file is only possible if you write down the name and extension, with no browse dialog to help out.

There are several actions you can perform besides extraction. Listing files is one of them, and helps you check if the item of interest is in the selected archive. You can view description, and command to execute, with a password field to fill in if the archive is secured.

Descriptions can be saved to clipboard or file. The CRC checksum report can be viewed, but there’s no comparison component to match with an existing string to check file integrity. The application can be set to always overwrite any existing files in the destination, or to ignore drive, or folder paths.

In conclusion, unFIR comes with good intentions, but chances are you only land on this page as a result of using its mandatory counterpart FIR. Unfortunately, you only need to use these applications in pairs, with no support for regular types of archives, which has a considerable impact on overall practicality.