Program Name: ZipV - Bit Masons Zip Viewer ver 1.20
          BBS File Name: ZIPV120.ZIP
           Program Type: ZIP file viewer
                 Author: Gordon Haff
                 SW Reg: NONE
                Comment: Works with PKZIP 204
       
          Special Requirements: Vern  Buerg's  LIST and PKWare's ZIP
          programs.
       
            The new version of the  PKWare  ZIP  utilities  are  now
       available.   Although  there are many improvements, it didn't
       come without some problems.  Many programs that utilize PKZIP
       and  PKUNZIP  were  not  compatible  with  the  new  version.
       Various authors were  scrambling  to  release new versions of
       thier software to support the new compression techniques.   I
       had  one  small  utility  that  would read a text file within
       ZIPs, but that was one of  the programs that didn't get along
       with PKZIP 204.  So, I had  to  search  out  something  else.
       What  I  found was a great little FREE program by Gordon Haff
       called ZipV.
       
            The program is a  bit  dated,  (Dec, 1990), but it works
       just fine and it's free.  What more could you want?  ZipV was
       written to view the contents of a ZIP file and read any  text
       contained  in  it.  My main concern was having the ability to
       read the text, but it actually has a lot of information shown
       to you that can be  handy.   When you invoke the command: (ZV
       [path] filename.zip) you are given a list of the contents  of
       the  archive.   Besides the file name, you are shown the size
       before  and  after   compression,   the   method   and  %  of
       compression, the date and time, and the  CRC  of  that  file.
       NOTE:  You  will  need  to include the file extension as ZipV
       will also work on self-extracting ZIP files as well.
       
            Besides having PKWare's PKUNZIP, you will also need Vern
       Buerg's LIST  program  (You  DO  have  LIST,  don't you?).  I
       suppose if you used something besides LIST you  could  change
       the name, but you'd be better off getting the REAL thing.
       
            Once you have the contents of the ZIP file listed to the
       screen,  highlight  the  file you want to read and hit ENTER.
       ZipV will call up LIST and send the file to the screen.  Then
       you view the file just  as  you  would any other that you use
       LIST with, including sending it to the printer.  Also, as  an
       added  feature, you can even extract any file by just hitting
       the SPACE bar while the file is highlighted.
       
            I know there are  other  programs  that will do the same
       thing, but most of those are full-featured programs  that  do
       much  more  than  what we want here.  ZipV was designed to be
       used as a MACRO or  HOT  KEY  in programs such as the authors
       popular DOS Shell, Directory Freedom.  I'm sure glad I  found
       ZipV.  Try it, you might find it's all you need.