My hard disk is a 20GB of which I am using only 3GB. What do you think I am using WinZip for? Am I a miser? None of these you see. WinZip here is a compression tool that has many other uses besides compression…teenagers have a special reference here! If you know features of WinZip and would like to know the OTHER uses, check the last paragraph. But I assure you that the features are worth reading.
I had a presentation to be made in Hyderabad for INSULEC 2000 conference and my PowerPoint file was 2MB. Here in India, zip drives like Iomega makes are not so common and I do not have a CD Writer (by the way do you know someone who uses a 650 MB CD-R and writes a 2MB file?- though now it’s quite affordable too) Hey guys/gals, what was I to do in such circumstances. “Use file compression software – PkZip” was one reply, but I have retired from DOS long time back. “Try WinZip” was by far the most common help I got and I downloaded Winzip8.00 from CNET. A few clicks and all smiles. That’s the end of story, folks. The zip file was 700KB and the 1.22 MB; 3 and 1/2” disk could be used.
Moral of story: WinZip is a utility, which is part and parcel of life.
The amazing thing was a word document of 2.4MB, which was compressed by 360KB (85% compression!). WinZip and Windows integrate extremely well and it wouldn’t surprise if Windows 2001 ships with WinZip built in (Windows XP has a compression utility too). Of course, there is not much compression with compressed formats such as jpeg or mp3.
The compression utility is extremely user friendly with a “Classic” interface with large buttons. Further friendliness is also provided for first time users with a “Wizard’ interface wherein you interact to questions it asks and then it zips or unzips accordingly. I would recommend the classic interface so that the drag and drop feature can be used.
Just look at the number of ways you can zip (compress) and unzip (extract) the files.
1)Open the utility form double clicking (single click in case of web interface for Windows) the WinZip icon on desktop or from Start button. To create a new zip file click “New”, to open an existing file click “Open”. (Oh come on! I am not challenging your brains here!”)
2)Right click on a files or folders to be zipped and select “Add to zip” wherein you specify the path and zip file name or select “Add to {filename}.zip” where your zip file has same name as file to be zipped and it is created in the same folder. To unzip right click on zip file and select “Extract to” or “Extract to {folder}” options.
3)This one may be new. Open classic interface. Simply drag and drop files to be zipped in the WinZip window and it prompts for file name etc. Drag and drop a zip file in the WinZip window and it opens it.
4)This may a shocker and I too discovered it accidentally. Drag a file to WinZip ICON on desktop and it prompts the same add dialog box where the filename etc is specified. Drag a zip file to that icon and it is opened, though in this case a double click will also work.
5)Suppose you have files 1,2 and 3 in a file number.zip. You have opened explorer and are wondering how too add the 4th file to number.zip. Just drag it and place it on the file number.zip and release the mouse button. The same add file to archive pops up. Other way is to open number.zip and click on add button and specify the file name and path etc.
6)Oh this particular method …is not yet discovered! But I am sure it exists.
Believe me I never expected such user-friendly features from a compression utility. But there is more….
1)WinZip has support for nearly all other archives like
a)arc, arj, lzh, tape formats like z, gz, tar,
b)binary files over internet in UUencoded, XXencoded, MIME formats can be opened too.
c)CAB formats used by Visual Basic programmers and LZEXPAND format for Windows API programmers are also supported.
2)The files inside a zipped archive can be opened directly from within archive without the need to extract the file. Here it makes use of associations in Winfile. i.e. *.doc will open in Word, *.xls will open in Excel. It has a default viewer called Quick view for files that are not associated with any particular application. If its some arbitrary file that is tried to be opened it flashes “No default viewer”.
3)If the original files are not required after zipping them one can select “Move files” instead of “Add and replace files” in a combo box labeled as action in the zip add file to archive window that normally appears. This is particularly useful for those who compress files just to save disk space.
4)WinZip 8.00 also uses the anti-virus scan software installed in your system to scan for viruses in files that are zipped or being zipped.
Other uses:
1)Make self extracting exe files: If you are developer and make installable versions just add files to zip archive and make an exe (only in registered versions, I believe) wherein you can also set some default path where the files are supposed to be extracted. If one doesn’t give this path then a location is asked for during extracting. Of course extracting files is done simply by executing the exe by double clicking or even from dos prompt.
2)WinZip 8.00 can directly zip and mail the file using the email clients that are MAPI compliant such as Outlook, Eudora but oops! not AOL.
3)Password protection: Often one may across situations where there are some files or important documents (teenagers read jpegs or mpegs) shouldn’t be accessed by other user (teenagers read dad, mom, teacher) on same PC or even over a shared network and a boot-up password cannot be given. One wishes for some utility where a folder or file can be locked. Does such a utility exist? (Yes! There is Gatekeeper). WinZip can do it for you. While zipping a file, there is a button called password in the window where the filename etc is specified. Just click on it, give your password twice and then click on “Add” button and your secrecy is ensured. Please note that while trying to open the zip file the classic interface displays the filenames. But it cannot be opened or extracted without the password. GREAT isn’t it?
Ameet Choughule
achougoo@indbazaar.com
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.
