Testing Windows file Compression Utilities

So, after recalling a debate about which file compression utility was the best (WinRar vs 7zip, I think it was) I have decided to test this in the most accurate way I can think of. I am going to write an application that will run WinZip, WinRar, and 7zip on the same set of files, with the same settings (if possible, I haven’t looked at WinRar yet, but WinZip’s CLI is pretty sparse).

A few pages I found for reference:

• http://www.memecode.com/docs/winzip.html
• http://alonesworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-use-7-zip-on-command-line-prompt.html
• http://www.respower.com/page_tutorial_unrar

It seems that if I use the same files, run each from the command line through a .NET application and time it from start to finish, I think we can get some pretty accurate results. Check back in a little while and we’ll see what I come up with.

Saving your Putty Session information

I have found a few nifty ways to copy your settings for Putty. Putty is a windows SSH client allowing a secure cli (command line interface) to *nix based servers. I use it daily for various tasks related to managing the Ideas Unleashed servers. I do have a habit of formatting my systems semi-frequently, at least once a year, so keeping track of bookmarks, Filezilla settings (a topic for a future blog), Putty settings, and many other things difficult.

However, saving and restoring your Putty Settings is a snap! From the Start -> run dialog, run this command to place a .reg file on your desktop that you can merge on another windows system to copy your putty settings.

regedit /e “%userprofile%\desktop\putty.reg” HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Simontatham

Thanks to Joe Mansfield’s comment for the shortcut!

Greetings Sentients!

I am not sure what all will end up in this blog. I can assure you it will be random at times. I will try to keep up on it but that has been my biggest challenge to keeping one going for more than a few months. I am sure it will be interesting to say the least.

If you have any thoughts or suggestion don’t hesitate to throw a comment out there and let me know!