How to open rar files? I have already tried 3 different programs

[annonymous]

I downloaded some rar files, I used winrar and 7zipfree but the extracted
files had same icon as original rar files and when I double clicked on it, I
got some error message that either files are of unknown format or they are
damaged.After that I downloaded winzip, after downloading, icons of rar files
changed to those of winzip. I tried again and same thing happened again, the
extracted files have the icon of winzip and when tried to open there was
again an error message. thanks a lot for any help.

 

[Johnw]

annonymous explained on 3/05/2009 :

I downloaded some rar files, I used winrar and 7zipfree but the extracted
files had same icon as original rar files and when I double clicked on it, I
got some error message that either files are of unknown format or they are
damaged.After that I downloaded winzip, after downloading, icons of rar files
changed to those of winzip. I tried again and same thing happened again, the
extracted files have the icon of winzip and when tried to open there was
again an error message. thanks a lot for any help.

Right click on the rar files > Properties & check the format.

 

[VanguardLH]

I downloaded some rar files, I used winrar and 7zipfree but the extracted
files had same icon as original rar files and when I double clicked on it, I
got some error message that either files are of unknown format or they are
damaged.After that I downloaded winzip, after downloading, icons of rar files
changed to those of winzip. I tried again and same thing happened again, the
extracted files have the icon of winzip and when tried to open there was
again an error message. thanks a lot for any help.

The use of different unarchive or extractor utilities will not change
that an archive file is corrupted. It the rar file is corrupt then you
need to delete it and download a non-corrupted copy. Could be the copy
on the download site is corrupt so you cannot get it from there. Find
it elsewhere or tell the site owner that the rar file is corrupt.

If you are using a download manager, disable it and re-retrieve the rar
file to see if it is then okay.

 

[The Seabat]

Your rar files seem to be borked! Re-download and try again with this
little free app = http://www.extractnow.com/
HTH