What is RAR and when should I use it?

RAR enables you to use its many powerful functions as it is the original Windows DOS text mode version that predates WinRAR and its regularly updated versions are still in everyday use worldwide as its many extra functions enable it to go way beyond WinRAR’s more limited functions.

RAR is available in downloadable customised versions for Windows, Linux, Mac and Android phones plus FreeBDS Operating Systems (OS).

Why would I want to use RAR?

Because it provides direct access into your OS, there is a much wider range of possible commands and switches available for both advanced users and those of us who are willing to learn how to make good use of RAR. As each of these text mode functions will provide us with more detailed and finer control than is possible with a graphical interface such as Windows.

When would I use RAR?

With RAR you will have full use of the many powerful “low level” functions inside your OS (Operating System).

So have you ever been a bit frustrated using WinRAR.exe, when its commands don’t quite do exactly what you require?

Then I suggest you try looking up the extensive list of RAR commands and switches that are available inside Help (at the top right of each WinRAR window), as well as the rar.txt document that is supplied with WinRAR.

In there you are sure to find at least one command for what you want to do.

But unless you are already quite familiar with the wide range of those commands and functions, you will find there is a learning curve to overcome.

How can I learn to use RAR.exe?

You could start learning by trial and error by working through the RAR functions, but that will take quite a chunk of your time to become proficient with using RAR.exe, so keep reading for more!

Here’s an overview:

In Windows if you first open the Command Prompt, Cmd, then you can enter one or more of RAR.exe’s commands and switches on one line. But you must remember to make a .txt copy of that file so you can reuse and modify those functions.

Once familiar with that, you could take it to the next level by including programming functions such as If … Then, on multiple lines, using Windows.bat.

By renaming that .txt file to .bat, you can then add a wide variety of Windows BATch file commands to create multi line mini-programs that are now capable of a much wider range of uses.

But there is also a higher level and little known ‘secret’ to using RAR!

Windows Powershell makes using RAR far more powerful by enabling us to create a wider range of useful mini apps.

Powershell is a far more capable programming utility than .BATch files, so that you can use it to automate regular, tedious, or time consuming tasks and then use them from inside Windows.

Powershell includes a command line shell and an advanced scripting language, making it extremely useful for those of us that need to get even more done with RAR.exe.

How do I start?

Does all this sound too difficult for you? Well, you’ve come to the right place. I can provide you with answers to these questions with either or both of my two RAR courses:

The RAR Command Line course was originally the introductory first hour of the full course (see below). This free 13 part email course is for WinRAR users who are interested in creating their own “mini app” lines of code with RAR.exe and Windows Cmd line.

This course starts from the beginning with students becoming familiar with many of the most used commands and switches available in RAR.exe and then uses examples to enable them to start using them Windows Cmd (Command Line) to create single line code projects.

The email content was originally the introductory part of the full 6 hour video based course, and is now free to anyone to get the introduction to what is possible with the full RAR Secrets Course.

The RAR Secrets Course

The full RAR Secrets Course that I am currently updating, is recommended for the more experienced RAR.exe, and WinRAR users.

During this course as you become familiar with the extensive RAR Commands and Switches you will also learn how to use them as the much more useful multi-line code in .BATch files.

The course then moves on to understanding how to efficiently use Windows PowerShell so that you can then customise and create your more useful ‘mini-apps’ to your exact requirements.

This extensive set of 10 minute video modules course is currently being updated and is scheduled to start in March 2023.

So for your opportunity to go on the priority list, before the general public gets to hear about it, click here. Simply by providing your full name and best email so that I will keep you informed about this very useful course!

If you are already familiar with the basics of .bat files, and would be prepared to provide your feedback with a select few on my Pilot course (scheduled to run in the next month) then do contact me, selwyn@WinRARHowTo.com with brief details of your experiences using RAR.exe with .bat and Powershell and I will contact you directly.

Selwyn Arrow, WinRAR How To

P.S. The latest version 6.20 of both WinRAR and RAR is always available here, for you to download.,

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RAR Beginnings

Back in the time before the internet appeared, I had already been running BBS’s (Bulletin Board Systems) for 10 years. These were spread around the world thanks to an ad hoc network called FidoNet. We used 300bps (bits per second) hand built modems to connect via telephone and toll calls. Each BBS had one or more file areas where you could upload or download documents and public domain programs etc. The vast majority of that data was stored in archive files.

So all those years ago in January 1994, RAR version 1.0 was released and archiving was then changed forever as up until then each and every text of downloadable file was individually compressed as a zip file.

RAR.exe was created by a brilliant software programmer, Eugene Roschal, who released version 1.0 of RAR (Roschal ARchiver). A project he had been working on with using advanced mathematics for a while as he had used that as his university doctoral dissertation and had released the local Beta version in late 1993.

To provide some background to that time, the Personal Computer IBM style, was then all of 12 years old. When it first appeared in August 1981 it ran at the then dizzying speed of 4.77MHz (that’s less than 0.0016% of 3GHz multiprocessors!). Its 8088 or Z80 processor communicated via 8 bits (todays 64-bit processors have taken over from 32-bit). Their cost started from US$1,565 and came ‘complete’ with 16 to 256MB of RAM, a 11.5″ green screen (16 colors was extra), one 160KB 5 .25″ diskette drive, and Microsoft DOS.

Despite (slightly) faster processors, DOS was still king in 1993, particularly among enthusiasts. Even though Windows 1, 2 and then 3.0 had been around since late 1985, Windows didn’t even begin to go mainstream until after Windows 3.1 was released in April 1992 and then Windows 95 arrived – in 1995.

At that time there was no publicly available free Internet as we know it today, as that was still several years away and only businesses (and some enthusiasts) could afford CompuServe’s ground-breaking dial up service. So for computer enthusiasts around the world BBS’s (Bulletin Board Systems) were the best (and lowest cost) option, often using hand built modems to connect via telephone and toll calls.

At first BBS’s were just available locally, that is until 1983 when Tom Jennings released FidoNet software. So at last local BBS’s could swap data, including forum chats and software apps, country wide and globally, with other likeminded groups. So that by the 1990’s we had a worldwide hobbyist BBS network in full swing.

For this, a dedicated computer was required to run each BBS, usually 24 hours a day, along with its own dedicated telephone line. All the toll calls to exchange the local data interstate, nationally and internationally had to be paid for by someone, usually by individual hobbyists, local computer clubs and groups, or better still by sponsors allowing us access to their nationwide, and preferably international toll links after hours.

As you might have guessed by now, I was definitely involved in the New Zealand BBS scene from very early on, due to my background as a telecom technician for over 20 years at that time. So by then I was well and truly hooked on computers and communications, and had been writing about BBS possibilities since 1981. So I became the first Sysop (System Operator) of the New Zealand Microcomputer Club BBS ‘NZ MICRO’, FidoNet 3:772/1. Then in 1992 started I started my own computer troubleshooting business and started ARROW BBS, FidoNet 3:772/185.

So what has that historical digression got to do with RAR and WinRAR? Well BBS’s needed a more efficient archiver than Pkzip etc. to send all of our data from place to place after archiving into large topic files. But toll calls and even local calls were an ongoing cost, in most areas (but not in New Zealand as local calls were free!), so were usually paid for by the BBS owners, though sponsorship definitely helped. While transferring all that data (very slowly) through the ad hoc BBS network meant that the BBS, and its telephone line, was not available for local callers – so a dedicated phone line was also essential.

So Eugene Roschal’s answer to reducing the data transfer costs was to compress the data to make it smaller and therefore quicker to send. Previously ARC and then PKZip archivers had been used but they only archived individual messages and files. So when RAR.exe arrived with Eugene’s uniquely optimised code it meant that our groups of files were now smaller due to his unique compression algorithm. Even better, he had designed his text compression code specifically for use with the multiple text BBS forum files. As until then each text ‘chat’ file had to be individually compressed with Pkzip, and of course each of those compressed files needed  their own individual indexes. But RAR could archive thousands of text or program files and only require a total index, so saving disk storage space, and of course much reduced transmission time. Combine that with its more efficient program file compression, and of course RAR became an instant hit!

In January 1994, RAR v1.0 was released and only a week or so later I found it among the shared files on Arrow BBS, I immediately purchased my business license (by snail mail). And was promptly invited by the then international distributor for RAR, Ron Dwight (1944 – 2002), an American living in Finland, to join their international team of distributors as the New Zealand and Australia distributor for RAR, as I ran my own computer support company.

Then a year later WinRAR for Windows was released in mid 1995, so WinRAR soon became even more popular as users then did not need to become familiar with using Microsoft DOS, or MS-DOS, even though WinRAR only provided a subset of RAR’s Commands and Switches.

These are examples of my “BBS online adverts” for RAR!

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