Zip Your Files for Transfer or Archive

How can I get on the zip file bandwagon?

This question was answered on September 16, 2005. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Compressing files are one of those things that you can get by just fine without, but can really make life easier Did you know the far majority of pictures you view – both on the web and from your digital camera – are compressed? The raw size of a picture can be huge in comparison to its compressed counterpart Oh, by the way, anything with a ‘.jpg’ extension is compressed to a certain degree.

Ok, back to zip files: The basic idea is that you can take any number of files and dump them into a single Zip file that will then commence squeezing every last bit of wasted space For a more in-depth discussion, take a look at Ken’s column here Windows XP has the default ability to read and create zip files and here’s how:

1. Find a file/folder (or combination of the two) that you wish to compress Your motivation could be anything from optimizing a series of files for transfer through e-mail or consolidating multiple files for backup or archiving In any case, highlight the files and/or folders by holding the Ctrl key and left-clicking the respective files and folders.

2. Right-click any one of the highlighted files and/or folders, go to Send To and click Compressed (zipped) Folder.

3. You might get a message asking you if you want to “designate Compressed (zipped) Folders as the application for handling ZIP files”; you’ll need to click Yes to proceed.

Depending on how many – and the size – of the files, the compression process can take a moment or two When it’s done, it will have created a zip file in the same location as the other files, and will probably share the name of one of the files or folders that was compressed, followed by a .zip extension You can double-click the zip file to view its contents.

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Posted by Chad of Data Doctors on September 16, 2005

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