14 DAY TRIAL // I am still waiting for a wonder archiver, free and having all the features I need, and most of all, fast and with optimal file support. For now, 7-Zip does its job wonderfully, but I had the chance to find out that despite being an excellent program, this is not perfect either.
Seeking perfection in everything you have around is a nice goal, although the results are usually pretty bad. The cure I have found for this is to always expect nothing, or even worse, something bad, in order to avoid disappointments.
The archiver that I have here now is called OverZip and its latest version is 3.0. What I have here is a 30 days trial without any functional limitations, and the price required for this program is 19.95$. The setup package has 1.2MB in size and I must say that installing the program was a piece of cake for me and I am sure it's going to be the same for you too. These being said, let's move on and discover this program's interface and features, as usual...
OverZip's interface is simple and easy to use. To be honest, I find it too simple, and it doesn't look that good either, considering the large banner thrown inside the main window that ruins the program's looks completely. Of course that this is my opinion, but I know I am not that far from the truth...
The menu bar has only two menus, File and Help, the toolbar has three oversized buttons, below it, you can find the banner that I just told you about and the work area closes the interface chapter with four tabs that lead to each of the main operations available here, so let's see those now!
Before everything else, first thing I need to know now is how many file types are supported, and I must say that OverZip didn't blow me away with this. ZIP archives and the proprietary format, OZ, are the only archive formats supported here. This is dangerously close to nothing, especially when thinking about the fact that this program is not free at all.
There are four areas that take care of two operations: packing and unpacking, fairly easy to use, and each area has two file browsers, one to use for finding the source and the other for choosing the destination of your task. The tabs available are Zip and OverZip Compress and Expand.
The options available in this program's settings area are minimalist, and there's nothing special to be done about this. The advanced features are not only few, but they are completely absent. There are no wizards here, no archive emailer, no ZIP repair tool and the list could go on...and unfortunately, I wouldn't add any white balls to the pot.
Need I say more? To be honest, I really expected more from this program. I am not saying "much more", but only more. After all, how bad can be a commercial program that already reached its third final version? Let's check the conclusions and see...
The Good
OverZip is easy to use and fast, and you can try it for an entire month without any functional limitations.
The Bad
File support is practically void, the Help file can't be considered more than just a joke, while testing the program it stuck and froze two times, and the price asked by the producers is too high if we think about what we get.
The Truth
I am glad I got to spot this program, so now I can warn you: stay away from it. If you want to spend 20$ for nothing, donate them, at least you'll have something to please your soul, helping other people. Unfortunately, I can't advise you anything else than to move on and maybe check this program again when it reaches version 15.0 and hope it gets things right until then!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
