Features:  

Like most file compression software programs, TurboZip Express can create and extract ZIP files. Additional features include the ability to password protect your archives, create multi-volume archives and email archives through Outlook.

TurboZip’s configuration menu is great for power users. There are a number of settings you can change or modify to suit your compression needs.

One obviously missing feature is the ability to create self-extracting archives. TurboZip is the only file compression program we reviewed that didn’t include this function. Additionally, TurboZip doesn’t include a feature to 'batch ZIP' files, but you can perform this function using Windows Explorer and hotkeys.

Compression:  

TurboZip performed well in our ZIP compression test. TurboZip’s main function is to compress files to ZIP archives. Although TurboZip’s compression ratios don’t stand a chance against WinZip’s “Best” compression configuration, TurboZip did perform slightly better than WinZip’s “Legacy” compression.

Compression Formats:  

TurboZip can only archive files into ZIP and CAB formats. Although ZIP is the most popular file archive used in computers today, we feel adding a few more options would make TurboZip a more complete program.

Extraction Formats:  

This is where TurboZip Express really falters. Like its compression options, TurboZip can only extract ZIP and CAB files. A good file compression program can get away with only compressing one or two archive types, but to be competitive in today’s market, they have to have extraction support for a varied selection of formats.

Ease of Use:  

We found it took a little while to get used to using TurboZip Express, even after using a number of other file compression programs.

TurboZip works a lot like Windows. When a file is open, you can simply click the small 'x' in the upper right-hand corner and the file will close, allowing you to create or open a new archive. However, there isn’t a 'close archive' option in the file menu.

Perhaps the easiest aspect of TurboZip is using the drag and drop function from Windows Explorer. After creating a new archive, you can just drag your files to the blank screen. You can also right-click a zipped file and send it to TurboZip.

Help and Support:  

TurboZip includes a comprehensive user guide and email support. We contacted customer support regarding the batch extract crashing issue and they responded within a day and although the customer service agent was nice, he was unable to help. Apparently, they have never experienced the same issues we did using that feature.

Additionally, the TurboZip website claims to have an FAQ but it’s really just a comparison between their two file compression products, TurboZip Express and TurboZip Suite.

TurboZip Express isn’t a horrible file compression program, but its lack of format support, quirky feature inconsistencies and occasional crashes make it too unstable for our liking.

For a more complete file compression program see one of our top three products WinZip, WinRAR or ALZip.