winrar & unzipping files

I presume winrar is a similar application to unrarx but designed for a windows platform. I wouldn't expect it to unzip in a MacOS platform.

I downloaded unrarx to test it and it automatically unzipped placing the download file in the trash and showing the unzipped application in the Downloads folder. All that is needed is to drag this icon into the folder you want to operate from - Applications or Utilities I would guess.

I notice your profile shows that you have 10.6 installed but not the update to 10.6.2. I've made similar omissions from my profile in the past too!

Neville

I'm kind of confused about your terminology. Are the files .zip files or .rar files? MacOSX (since Tiger) can both create and unzip .zip files.
http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/zip.html

If you are having trouble decoding a file, try the free [Stuffit Expander|http://www.stuffit.com/mac/index.html]. It can handle most compression formats.

as it was my friend who was using a window pc that asked me to unzip it with winrar.

Yep, it's kind of up to you on how you want to unzip a file on a Mac. Listening to a PC user, whose Mac skills are probably not too great to begin with, can cause you some grief. Users can right click on a .zip file in Windows (XP or higher) or double click in MacOS (Tiger or higher) and the files will be natively processed by the OS. I see a lot of PC users still installing unnecessary programs like Winrar or PKZip for no reason. Unless you are trying to make segmented archives in multiple pieces like we used to do for newgroup uploads, or smaller email attachments, there's no need for any program at all. It's built into the OS's.

.rar files, on the other hand, are another form of compression and do require a program to 'unrar' the file. Here you would need to install one of many free programs for the Mac that will handle the .rar file type. The same goes for the old .sit or .sitx files that were very common on the Mac platform until Tiger. Stuffit Expander is still free for those older compressed files and will process many other types of Unix based compression formats.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10653042

But as you are saying, i need not have to install any program at all to open .zip file since mine is version 10.6.2? It is built into OSx already?

When I right click on the zip file(icon), i don't see any “Archive.zip'' option.
Might i know why is it so?

On a Mac you just double click on a .zip file to decompress it to the same location as the original (on your desktop, or in a folder). It will either show up as a regular file with a icon based on the file's extension, or as a folder that contains several uncompressed files. Windows users can either right-click on the file and choose the "Expand" menu option, or double click on the .zip file to see what's inside and then drag the files inside to their desktop to unzip the files manually. This works best in windows if the user has not installed a 3rd party zipping program like Winzip or PKzip which will associate a .zip file to that program instead of just letting the OS handle it.

When you right-click on a uncompressed file or folder on a Mac you will should see an entry that says - *Compress "name-of-file.xxx"* - If you then left-click to choose that selection your Mac will create a new file with the same name and a .zip extension. That is a regular zipped file that can be opened on another Mac or Windows machine with a current OS.

Note: JPG, Gif, MP3 are file types that are already in a form of compression, so zipping one of these files will rarely shrink it at all, in fact it can sometimes make them a little larger due to the added overhead of a .zip header added to the file. Text files gain the most from compression.

Hope this makes sense, I tend to write like I talk when I'm trying to describe something. I haven't figured out how to wave my hands around with type though...

I've not actually used the program other than to check that it opens.

What I saw was that the download from the unrarx website (a .zip file) automatically unzipped itself and placed the actual application in my Downloads folder and moved the downloaded .zip file to the Trash. All that was needed was to drag it from Downloads to where you want it to be. Presumably you can then drop rar files onto its icon or open them from unrar's File menu and they will be dealt with by the application.

Unfortunately there's been some confusion in this thread because we commonly use the term unzip for expansion of any kind of compressed file, not just .zip files.

Beyond this I know nothing!

Neville