Knowledge Base

Works: Compression Utilities Used for File Transfer

Article ID: 110821

Article Last Modified on 11/15/2004

Microsoft Works 3.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Works 4.5 Standard Edition
Microsoft Works 4.5a
Microsoft Works 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Works 4.0a

This article was previously published under Q110821

SUMMARY

Most files downloaded from common bulletin board services (BBSs) are compressed using a third-party compression utility. The following are some of the most common compression utilities:

   File Extension        Manufacturer
   --------------        ------------
   ZIP                   Pkware
   ARJ                   Robert K. Jung
   LZH                   Haruyasu Yoshizaki ("Yoshi")
   ARC                   SEA (System Enhancements Associates)

Files compressed using one of these utilities can only be decompressed using that specific utility.

Compressed files can also have the extension .EXE, which usually indicates a self-extracting file. If a file is self-extracting, you can expand the file by typing the filename at the MS-DOS prompt.

MORE INFORMATION

To obtain the necessary compression utility to decompress a file, you may need to check with the system administrator from the BBS you downloaded it from.

Compression utilities serve two purposes:

Compressed files are smaller in size, therefore making the transfer of these files faster.
Most compression utilities have built-in error checking capabilities. Error checking looks for file corruption that may have occurred after uploading or downloading a file.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Additional query words: w_works kbhowto 3.00 4.00 4.00a 4.50 4.50a compress archive archiving decompress decompression comm communications communication archived extracted extract pkzip pkunzip pkarc extracting self

Keywords: kbinfo KB110821