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I understand what are SFX archives, but what does WinRAR installer means when it asks "where to check for SFX archives" :

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Windows Vista Home Premium sp2

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From Winrar information page:

"Where to check for SFX archives" options group in "Settings/Integration/Context menus items" dialog lets you to control processing of SFX archives in context menus. For example, if you frequently right click ".exe" files on slow network disks, you can turn off "Network disks" options to minimize the delay before displaying the context menu.

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Yeah, and the file access will trigger an antivirus check each time you right click on an exe, etc. This option should stay disabled in my opinion, unless you really need it. – haimg Oct 13 '11 at 17:11
Are you saying that the delay in context menu is dependant on the network disc and not the computer (processor) ? – Pacerier Oct 13 '11 at 17:29
The delay is caused by WinRAR's Shell Extension having to open the file and scan it for known SFX headers. Opening and reading a file over the network (or on a CD/DVD-ROM) tends to be slower than on local hard disks, and other filter drivers might get triggered (e.g. anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc.). If the code is complex, then you might burn CPU (use extra power). File cache thrashing is an issue too. There's a reason shell extensions aren't supposed to go about accessing files. – afrazier Oct 13 '11 at 19:00
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