Zipping Files

If you've been on the Internet for any length of time, you've run into zipped files (a.k.a. filename.zip). Zipping files is a way to combine multiple files and even a directory structure into one single file that is compressed. Zipped files make the transfer of data files and programs not just simpler, but faster, too. PKZip 2.04g was a command-line utility which was used to create zip files. As zipping became popular, many third-parties created utilities to perform zipping operations through GUI interfaces. My favorite utility of these is WinZip. But with Windows XP, I may never use it again.

Windows XP includes built-in zipping capabilitiesviewing, creating, and extracting. Viewing zip files is easy. Windows XP treats .zip files as a compressed folder, no matter what utility was used to create them. They appear as folders with a zipper. You can view and access the contents just as if they were stored in any typical folder on the file system.

Zip files are created by issuing the New, Compressed (zipped) Folder command from either the File menu or the right-click menu in Windows Explorer or My Computer. After naming the folder (be sure to retain the .zip extension), you can drag and drop files or folder structures into it. Once your files are inside the "compressed folder," the .zip file can be manipulated like any other file, including attaching to emails or uploaded via FTP.

Extracting files from a .zip file via Windows XP is no different than moving or copying files from normal folders; just drag and drop. Or, while viewing the contents of a .zip file, issue the Extract command. This launches the Compressed (zipped) Folders Extraction Wizard, which walks you through the process of locating a destination for the contents and initiating the extraction.

It has taken a bit of getting used to. I'm so in the habit of viewing and extracting the contents of zip files through WinZip that I can't seem to remember that Windows XP will perform the tasks for me. I've had to uninstall WinZip, but now that it's gone I don't miss it.