WinRAR is the best known and most widely used file compressor that we can find in Windows. Despite the existence of excellent free compressors, such as 7Zip or PeaZip, users still prefer to use the RARLab compressor due, among other things, to the fact that it is the only one capable of compressing to RAR and RAR5 formats . This file compressor, for commercial use, usually receives regular updates with all kinds of corrections, improvements and new functions. And, a few hours ago, the users of this program have just received a new patch focused on security: WinRAR 6.02 .
Keeping the file compressor, whatever it is, updated to the latest version is very important since it is one of the first programs that interacts with the files we download from the Internet. Hackers are constantly looking for file compressor bugs that allow them, for example, to gain privileges on our system just by opening a compressed file created for this purpose. As WinRAR is one of the most used programs for this purpose, it is one of the ones that we must update with the greatest importance. Especially when the update is specifically marked as security.
What’s new in WinRAR 6.02
The list of changes of this version marks, mainly, two security improvements. The first one is that the compressor will now always use HTTPS instead of HTTP to display notifications to the user, load the home page and the various links found in the program. In addition, other improvements have been included that make generated notifications now more secure, preventing hackers from endangering users through different DNS techniques.
The second of the changes is in the way to extract the SFX archives . Until now, the compressor allowed to auto-extract these files without taking into account other factors, such as comments. Since these can be used to execute code on the system, what RARLab has done is to limit the function so that, when comments are found after the beginning of the Authenticode digital signature, the file cannot be extracted automatically. In addition, the program will display a description of said error, indicating “file in use” or “access denied” as appropriate.
Other changes that have also been included in WinRAR 6.02 are:
- The -idn parameter now works with the “v” and “l” commands.
- The -ibck -ri parameters can now be used together.
- WinRAR now remembers the last used file or directory.
- When unzipping a RAR5 archive with wrong password, we can now see the name of the archive.
- Fixed a bug when converting files to other formats.
- Fixed a bug when resizing the program interface.
Update right now
The new version of the file compressor is now available for download. Users who have it installed will be able to see a notice indicating the availability of this update. If we don’t have it installed, we can download the new WinRAR 6.02 from the following link .
Although the download is free, we remember that WinRAR is a paid program. RARLab offers us a 40-day trial version, after which we have to “go through the box” to continue using the program. A full license of this program, for one computer, costs 30 euros.
