WinRAR is a file compressor / archiver great for backing up data.  Download WinRAR at rarlab.com/download.htm.

WinRAR Tip #5:  Run with Multi-Threading:

(Note:  Multi-threading is only available in WinRAR Version 3.60 beta 1 (and later), released March 31st, 2006.  Download the latest version of WinRAR at rarlab.com/download.htm.)

Run WinRAR with multi-threading by following these steps:

Open WinRAR, click "Options" menu, and click "Settings...":

This brings you to the "Settings" window in the "General" tab:

In the "System" section, click to enable "Multithreading".
(Option not available?  Your WinRAR is not up-to-date.  Download a new version.)

Done!

From now on, WinRAR will run with multithreading by default.

By default, WinRAR turns on multithreading if the number of processors reported by operating system is more than one.  It turns out that this tip is mostly helpful to those who use an older version of WinRAR, have a dual-core or hyper-threaded CPU, and do not yet know that multithreading is supported in the latest version of WinRAR.

Does Multi-Threading Help Me?

Multi-threading only helps if your system has two or more logical processors.  The point of programming an application to use multiple threads, when speaking about a CPU intensive operation, is to split the work amongst the multiple CPUs.

To see how many logical processors you have, follow this step:

Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to open Windows Task Manager, view the "Performance" tab:

Then choose "View", "CPU History", and "One Graph Per CPU":
(Note:  "CPU History" will not be an option unless you are in the "Performance" tab.)

Now, after selecting "One Graph Per CPU",
the amount of "CPU Usage History" charts equals the amount of logical processors you have.
The screenshot above shows I have one logical processor.
(If I had two logical processors, you would clearly see two CPU graphs.)

If your "CPU Usage History" chart is split into two or more smaller charts (the "Page File Usage History" chart relates to memory usage, not CPU usage, so do not count that one), then you have two or more logical processors and WinRAR multithreading will give you improved performance.

Single logical processor systems will not gain performance increases via multithreading.

A quote from "WinRAR Help":

If enabled, WinRAR will use the multithreaded version of RAR compression algorithm providing the higher speed on multiprocessor architectures. This option it is ignored when compressing to ZIP format. By default this option is turned on if number of processors reported by operating system is more than one, but it is possible to enable it manually even in the single processor system.

Benchmark and Hardware Test:

You can use Benchmark and hardware test command to check if multithreading improves performance in your configuration.  The "Benchmark and hardware test" is found under the "Tools" menu.

My results from my Intel Pentium D 830 Dual Core 3.0Ghz (2x3.0Ghz) 800Mhz FSB workstation:

Single threading; Intel Pentium D 830 Dual Core 3.0Ghz; Results = 475 KB/s:

Multi-threading; Intel Pentium D 830 Dual Core 3.0Ghz; Results = 729KB/s:

That's it!

All WinRAR Tips:

• WinRAR Tip #1: Change Default Settings
• WinRAR Tip #2: Automatically Test Archived Files
• WinRAR Tip #3: Delete Multiple Files out of Multiple RAR Files
• WinRAR Tip #4: Run in Low Priority
• WinRAR Tip #5: Run with Multi-Threading
• WinRAR Tip #6: Make Additional WinRAR Copies Wait Their Turn
• WinRAR Tip #7: Batch File Backups

Have Any Tips To Add?

If you have WinRAR tips you would like to add, please contact us.

Also See:

• Windows XP Setup Tweaks & Tips

External Links:

• RARLAB (the makers of WinRAR)
• WinRAR (Wikipedia)
• RAR (file format)  (Wikipedia)
• Maximum Compression (shows maximum achievable compression ratio of 150+ compression programs )
• WinRAR (the company) (official publisher of RARLAB products, including WinRAR)

About the Author:  I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning, team-of-two indie studio concentrating on "intense retro" games (Xbox LIVE, PSN, WiiWare, and Windows PC). We've released Decimation X (XBLIG), a 1-4 player shmup, #1 best selling and #1 top rated XBLIG in Japan. We're working on Duality ZF (XBLA), a groundbreaking 1-4 player shmup, which placed #1 in Canada and #5 in the world in Microsoft's Dream Build Play 2010 contest. It features dual play, the ability to control two fighters at once, and a massively upgradable 32-stage spread/laser weapon system. 4 player dual play allows up to eight fighters at once.  Many of these features are never before seen shoot'em up firsts. Both games feature beautiful electronic Imphenzia soundtracks.  Help spread the word with our official dualityzf.com and decimationx.com websites.

P.S. Watch out for Score Rush (official website scorerush.com), another 1-4 player shmup. Coming soon to XBLIG.

*Shmup also known as: shoot'em up, 2D shooter, scrolling shooter, space shooter, spaceship shooter, retro shooter, etc.