7 zip

I have seen this thing called 7 zip and would like more info on it perhaps in terms a 12 year old can comprehend. I have been at their web site and I get none of it. what a shame. I guess what I really want to know is does it work like winzip and/or winRAR? I use them but dont get them either. Also, what is the best way to use it to compress files. I have had some problems in the past with compressing large photo files I use for school for distrabution so I normally just chunk it after frustration levels get out of whack. I figure this has got to be a good program though if Ax is going to have it as a part of a signature thanks

Hello dangedcoyote,

And it is indeed a good program! 7-Zip is one of the best free zip utilities available. Along with IZArc your [file] zipping and unzipping needs will be satiated . Don't get caught up too much in the technobabble, just consider these tools ones that can take many files and convert them into one nicely compacted file. This file can later be transferred via email or other means to another destination where it can be securely converted back to many files again.

Basically after you install, it's pretty simple to use. Just highlight the file(s) you want to zip, right-click one of them, go to 7-Zip | Add to archive…, stick with the default settings until you get the hang of things, and click OK. You now have a zip file with the file(s) that you selected.

Let me know if you need anything else,

Ax

thanks AX, a couple of things. Does the receipient of the zip need to have 7 zip to open it? Also one of the problems we just encountered last night was this: A fella with National Park service came and gave a talk left the slide show for us to use so we were going to email it out to three people. We tried MS office 2003, Yahoo, and gmail. We tried to send it in regular form and then as a winzip file and all apps refused for whatever reason to send it. they either gave errors or went to a web page that said cant do it or something to that effect. so I guess I am asking is this compressed enough to send larger files and not get stopped? Again Thanks.

Hello dangedcoyote,

No, they do not need 7-Zip to open the files (as long as you save them as *.zip). The files can be opened by any zipper utility. In fact, Windows XP and Vista come with their own unzipping functionality.

For your second question, although you can increase compression rates, you can only do so to a certain extent. For example, there's not much way for me to convert a 300 MB file into a 300 KB file. When you encounter issues like this, you resort to file hosting sites, such as MediaFire and the like.

Regards,

Ax