.ZIP,.RAR,.ARJ,.SIT???
  1. What Is A ZIP File, Anyhow?
    ZIP files are "archives" used for distributing and storing files. ZIP files contain one or more files. Usually the files "archived" in a ZIP are compressed to save space. ZIP files make it easy to group files and make transporting and copying these files faster.
  2. What About ARJ, SIT, LZH, Gzip, TAR, And Unix Compress Files?
    These files provide most of the benefits of ZIP files, but use different file formats. WinZip can handle ZIP, TAR, gzip, and Unix compress format files by itself. External programs are required for the less frequently used ARJ, ARC, and LZH formats.
  3. Why Do People Use ZIP Files?
    ZIP files save time and space, and make downloading software and transferring email attachments faster. Typical uses for ZIP files include:
    • Most files available on ftp sites, and the rest of the Net are distributed as archives. Two benefits of using archives for electronic file distribution are that only one file transfer operation ("download") is required to obtain all related files, and file transfer time is minimized because the files in an archive are compressed.
    • It is often useful to send a group of related files to an associate. Rather than distributing individual files it is often easier to distribute the files as an archive to benefit from the file grouping and compression.
    • Some files are important but used infrequently. To save disk space simply compress these files into an archive when they are not used, and decompress them only when needed.
  4. Where Does WinZip Fit In?
    WinZip makes it easy for Windows and Windows 95 users to work with archives. WinZip features an intuitive point-and-click drag-and-drop interface for viewing, running, extracting, adding, deleting, and testing files in archives with a standard Windows interface. WinZip provides the same "friendly face" for all the aforementioned archive formats.
  5. Can You Tell Me More About Archive Formats?
    • ZIP files are the most common archive format. WinZip does not require external programs for basic archive operations (PKZIP and PKUNZIP are, however, required for two advanced options: disk spanning and encryption).
    • ARJ files are another popular archive format. ARJ files are manipulated by the ARJ program.
    • LZH files are manipulated by the LHA program.
    • ARC is an older format. ARC files can be manipulated by several programs, including the original ARC, ARCE (also known as ARC-E), PKXARC, and PKUNPAK. Since almost all new archives are created in other formats and there is no single widely available program to manipulate ARC files, WinZip does not provide facilities to add to ARC files (however, all other WinZip functions are supported).
    • TAR, Z, GZ, TAZ, and TGZ files are often found on Unix-based Internet sites. The relationship between these file types is less straight forward than the aforementioned file formats. The important thing to remember is that WinZip handles all these formats the same way as ZIP files, so you don't need to know the details. Here is more information on these formats: TAR stands for "Tape ARchive". This is an old file format and does not provide compression; it is used only to group files. Z files are compressed with the gzip or the older Unix "compress" program. GZ files are gzip files. Z and GZ files cannot contain multiple files. TAZ and TGZ files are TAR files compressed in "Z" or "GZ" format. Since almost all new archives are created in ZIP format, WinZip does not provide facilities to add to or create files in these formats (however, all other WinZip functions are supported). WinZip does not require external programs when working with files in these formats.
  6. I can't unzip the file I downloaded? Why not?
    The most common problem: make sure that your ftp transfer was in binary mode.
    To extract the file, use: Pkunzip or WinZip
    Example: pkunzip filename.zip
     
  7. I am trying to download a file, when I try to download it, my computer says it is an unrecognized file (zip). How do I download the file?
    When you go to download the file, and it gives you the message "Warning: unrecognized encoding: 'zip'.", click on OK, then click on "Save File...". It will prompt you for the location where you wish to download it. The default will the your Netscape | Program directory. Just change directories as to where you want to download it and click on "Save".
  8. Where can I find more information about Zip?
    Go to the WinZip Home Page. They have all the information you need there.