Posted by Pam/NM on 2/21/11 5:54pm
Msg #373587

Zip Utility

I did a search and the last time anyone posted about a free zip utility was in 2007. I am finding that winzip is a little cumbersome and my free trial is about to expire (again)
Does anyone have a truly free zip utility they use and like?

Reply by Harry [NR] on 2/21/11 6:55pm
Msg #373588

7-Zip is very full-featured and truly free. It's just not as pretty as some of the commercial programs. You can search for it at www.download.com.

Harry
Notary Rotary

Reply by John Schenk on 2/21/11 8:42pm
Msg #373602

Zip Utility and/or Windows Compression question

If I have about 20 files that were scanned into .pdf and I want to combine those into one (1) single .pdf file, will either of those do that. If not, do you know of a freebie program that will.

I scanned in, through my copier, about 250 pages of medical records to email and it broke them up into 20 separate emails with attachments. Sure would like to combine those before emailing them. I have another set that's 2500+ pages so that would be about 200 emails with .pdf attachments...that ain't gonna work! LOL

TIA

JJ

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/21/11 9:32pm
Msg #373612

Re: Zip Utility and/or Windows Compression question

JOhn, combing PDF files in to a single PDF can't really be done with a zip program. You need a full PDF editor for that, like Acrobat (not the reader, the full deal). Cute PDF Pro might be able to do that.

I do this all the time, but I have the full Acrobat.

Reply by John Schenk on 2/21/11 10:08pm
Msg #373616

Re: Zip Utility and/or Windows Compression question

Thanks! I think we have that but I haven't installed it on my puter. I know we have a .pdf writer. I'll have to check into that some more. Appreciate it!

JJ

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 2/21/11 10:20pm
Msg #373617

Try this ...

Create a new folder on your desktop, drag and drop the pdf files in question into that folder. Next, right click that folder, choose "send to" then choose "compressed (zipped) folder. What will happen, is the zip utility will combine all the pdf files into one compressed folder that you are able to upload and mail with one command rather than uploading the individual pdf files. The pdf files will unzip back into individual zip files. The only trick is not to exceed the size limits imposed by your email program.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/21/11 11:58pm
Msg #373624

Re: Try this ...

That will work... but what it won't do is combine all the individual pdf files in to a single psd file, which is seems he wants to do. That's a different monster.

Then, after cmbining them, I highly suggest optimizing it so it's not a gigantic file. But again, that takes certain software.

Reply by John Schenk on 2/22/11 8:42am
Msg #373643

Re: Try this ...

Thanks! As Marian says I was hoping to combine the .pdfs into a single file. This certainly would make them easier and faster to email. Might just have to email 2 files instead of 20.

JJ

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 2/22/11 11:09am
Msg #373658

Should be the same effect

as combining the pdf files. It compresses them to make them easier to email. The price is right . (Free)

Reply by Jodith/WA on 2/26/11 1:43am
Msg #374289

Re: Zip Utility and/or Windows Compression question

Cute PDF Pro does this and quite easily, too. And it's tons cheaper than Adobe Acrobat. When I got my copy last year, they were having a discount of 50%. Don't know if that is still in effect, but was $99 regular price, and that includes their Form Filler software that allows you to create PDF fill-in forms.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/21/11 9:30pm
Msg #373611

Agreed. 7-Zip is wonderful. I use it all the time. n/m

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/21/11 6:57pm
Msg #373590

Curious - what's wrong with Windows compression

utility?

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 2/21/11 7:57pm
Msg #373596

As Brenda says,

Your computer should have a compression utility that came with the operating system. Go to a zipped file, right click on the file, then choose "open with" . The windows compression utility will be listed if it is there. What might be throwing you off may be the name. You may be looking for a name with zip in it, and windows calls it a "compression utility". Same difference.

7-zip works just fine, though if you need to have the word "zip" in the name.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 2/21/11 8:02pm
Msg #373597

Also

Also, you can test by right clicking on any folder on the desktop, click on "sent to" and you will see an option "compressed (zipped) folder'. That way you have the full featured compression utility.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 2/21/11 10:24pm
Msg #373618

Hey Glenn...

You're an old-time IT guy like me (i.e., > 20 years...) - do you remember the origin of the ZIP files?

Interesting story; we can take this off-line if you'd like.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/22/11 6:52am
Msg #373630

I would like to hear the Zip file story! n/m

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 2/22/11 11:06am
Msg #373656

Re: Hey Glenn...

Tell it here. I am sure no one will mind. I really am not sure to be honest. I bought my first home computer more than 30 years ago, so that make me a fossil.

Remember using a hard drive disk compression utility to increase the capacity of our 10mb hard drive? Did it have anything to do with that?

I was in hog heaven when I paid $399.00 for my super big 100mb hard drive. Then using that same disk compression utility to increase the capacity to nearly double. Wow!!! Such power!!!!

Reply by Art_MD on 2/22/11 2:58pm
Msg #373712

Glenn remember winchester drives??

Had a winchester "20-20" removeable storage - 20 Meg 15" square, 1" thick !!!!

Reply by bagger on 2/22/11 3:12pm
Msg #373714

OK, I'm going to date myself

First computer?
Commodore 64!!!!
64K of RAM

Reply by MikeC/NY on 2/22/11 6:24pm
Msg #373729

Zip files - very long....

Here you go, Glenn - and anyone else who is interested...

Back in the mid 80's, before Al Gore invented the Internet and PCs ran DOS as an operating system, there was a company called System Enhancement Associates (SEA) that had a compression program called ARC. It was intended for UNIX (commercially), but they ported a version for DOS that was free for personal use. Compression was also good for storing files on a hard disk, but back then it wasn't disk compression - it was just file compression.

This was when personal computer users were just starting to communicate with each other on Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and starting to share files. ARC became the standard method of compressing large files in order to transmit them across phone lines, which was necessary since the high-speed modem of the day operated at 1200 baud. Files compressed this way had a .ARC extension. One program did both functions - compression and extraction - which was the way it's usually done in UNIX.

Along comes a guy named Phil Katz, who developed two programs that compressed files faster and smaller than SEA's single program, and also extracted them faster. He called them PKARC and PKXARC, and they quickly started to become a favorite in the BBS community. Thom Henderson, the guy behind SEA, decided to sue Katz for copyright violations. At trial, it was determined that Katz had plagiarized the software (when his source code was examined, even some of the comments in the code were duplicated). SEA and Phil's company, PKWARE, reached a settlement which included the right for Katz to license the ARC software for a few years, after which he would not be allowed to ever use it again.

Katz complied with that, but went on to develop better software and a file format that was not tied to ARC - he called it a ZIP file. His PKZIP and PKUNZIP immediately started a heated debate among BBS users about which program and which file format was better (ZIP files were almost always smaller than ARC files). SEA took him back to court, but this time they lost and Katz was able to continue his business. SEA also lost in the court of public opinion, because they were seen as the bad guy trying to bully Katz into submission.

I met both Phil Katz and Thom Henderson at a conference in the early 90's. Phil was your classic geek - absolutely brilliant, but socially inept. He joined a group of us for drinks one night, but it was obviously uncomfortable for him. Thom, on the other hand, came across as an arrogant know-it-all, and it showed in the way his company tried to handle the situation. They eventually drew back from the PC market, and the ARC file format went the way of the dinosaurs.

At that time, Microsoft had recently released the early versions of Windows, which was meant to replace DOS as an operating system. Phil didn't like Windows and his attempts to finally port PKZIP and PKUNZIP to Windows were too late and too little. The ZIP file format had already been released so that others could use it, and a guy named Nikko Mak developed WinZIP - it may not have been the first, but at the time it was the best implementation of ZIP file compression for Windows. Since then, ZIP files have become THE file compression standard for Windows and are now part of the operating system.

The sad part of the story is that, as brilliant as he was, Phil Katz struggled with alcoholism. He was found dead in a hotel room about 10 years ago.... I recall reading about it on the techie web sites at the time, but I don't remember the details. The guy never really got to experience the success of what he created.

Reply by Pam/NM on 2/23/11 12:48pm
Msg #373830

Thanks so much for all the help! Will give it a try. John--for emailing really large files, you can use yousendit for free, with a few limitations. You can send up to 100MB in a single email without using FTP