H O W T O U N Z I P Z I P P E D F I L E S A zipped file is a file or a collection of files compressed into a smaller space. So, a zipped file is a compressed file, and people zip files to save hard drive space. Files that have a .ZIP extension are usually zipped using a program called PKZIP. Files with the .ZIP extension are unusable until you unzip them with a shareware program called PKUNZIP.EXE. In other words, you can't get to the goodies unless you unzip'em. It is usually best to unzip zipped files on the hard drive where they will have plenty of room to expand. It is not unusual for a zipped file to be one-half to one-third the size of the original file. When using a modem, you will find that most Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) store their files in zipped format. If you obtain the unzipping program from a shareware vendor, it may be in the form of a self-extracting file. A self-extracting file is also a compressed file. When a self-extracting file is run, other files pop out (or emerge) from it. It is best to run a self-extracting file from the hard drive, so it will have plenty of space to expand. Sometimes, if you try to run a self-extracting file from a floppy disk, the disk fills up before all the files can pop out. New computer users often make this mistake. If you make this mistake and do a directory on the disk, you will see that there is not enough space left on the floppy disk. If you order PKUNZIP from a shareware vendor and do a directory on the disk, you may see only one file called PKZ204G.EXE. The version number changes periodically. You will want the latest version to insure compatibility. This is a self-extracting file, so you will want to copy it to your hard drive before you run it. When you run the self-extracting program PKZ204G.EXE, a file called PKUNZIP.EXE will pop out of it, and other files, too. For our example you will want to have a copy of PKUNZIP.EXE on a floppy disk. For this example make a temporary directory on your hard drive called C:\TEMP. At the C> type: cd \ This takes you to the root directory of the C drive. Then make a directory using the MD command: md \temp Now place a disk that contains PKUNZIP.EXE in the floppy drive A and type: copy a:pkunzip.exe c:\temp PKUNZIP.EXE will be copied from the A drive to the TEMP subdirectory on the C drive. Next, copy the file or files that need to be unzipped to that directory. Put the disk which has the zipped file that you want to unzip in drive A and type: copy a:filename.zip c:\temp In the above example filename is the name of the zipped file, and ZIP will be the extension. If there are numerous zipped files on the A drive that you wanted to unzip, you could copy them all to C:\TEMP by issuing the following command: COPY A:*.ZIP C:\TEMP . Note that PKUNZIP.EXE and the file or files that need to be unzipped are now in the same subdirectory (C:\TEMP) on the hard drive. Now switch over to C:\TEMP to unzip the file(s) with a .ZIP extension. At the C> type: cd \temp dir When you issue the DIR command, you should see PKUNZIP.EXE and the file or files with the ZIP extension that you are going to unzip. Then type: pkunzip filename In this example, filename is the name of the zipped file. If the file was named PINBALL.ZIP, you would have typed: PKUNZIP PINBALL . A file or files will pop out of the zipped file. ZIP-ITY-DO-DA! It's like popcorn. Those files explode out of the original file! Don't be alarmed if you see EXPLODING... or INFLATING... on your screen when you unzip. This is normal. You can then run the files that appear in the usual manner. You will not have to unzip them again. If you have room, you can copy the files to a floppy disk or somewhere else on your hard drive. You may want to delete the file with the .ZIP extension in C:\TEMP at this time to save room on your hard drive. SUMMARY HOW TO UNZIP ZIPPED FILES 1. Make a directory on your hard drive using the MD command. 2. Copy the file with the .ZIP extension (the file you want to unzip) to the directory you just made in Step 1. 3. Copy PKUNZIP.EXE to the directory you made in Step 1. 4. Change to the directory you made in Step 1. This makes it the active directory. It should now contain PKUNZIP.EXE and the file you want to unzip. 5. Type: pkunzip filename Note that filename is the name of the file that you want to unzip. This file will have a .ZIP extension. For example, if you had a file called CHESS.ZIP, you would type: PKUNZIP CHESS TIP You can unzip zipped files from any directory when PKUNZIP.EXE is in a directory that is in your computer's PATH. Then you can eliminate Step 3 above. Why not make a directory called C:\UTILS and copy PKUNZIP.EXE to it? For help on how to set your PATH, get my book, Learning DOS for the Complete Novice, 2nd edition, by Steven Woas, published by Celestial Press. =========================================================