PKZIP for Windows (Professional Version 6.0)

http://www.pkware.com

(Reviewed by Fred Sabin, President, NJCC)

Phil Katz, the Founder of PKWARE (from P_hil K_atz soft_WARE) in 1986, introduced the original .ZIP program PKZIP in 1989. It was a shareware program in assembly language designed for DOS based computers using a command line interface. It was simple to use, fast and produced the best-compressed files. In addition, he put the formats into the public domain for others to use. This resulted in .ZIP becoming the file compression standard for computers, and PKZIP the premier standard file compression software for PC’s.

Over the years there have been many features added to .ZIP file compression, including removable media device spanning; graphical user interfaces; self-extracting archives; file splitting or segmenting; applications integration; and encryption. The current PKZIP for Windows Professional Version 6.0 has all of these features and more. If you don’t need items like command line functionality and strong encryption there is also a lower priced PKZIP for Windows Standard Version 6.0 available for purchase. Finally, PKWARE has a free PKZIP Reader if all you need is the ability to uncompress or extract compressed .ZIP files.

The PKZIP CD installs the software in about 90 seconds without problems, and puts a PKZIP shortcut icon on the desktop. In addition, there are line items in the Start > Programs menu for Getting Started (PDF Manuals); Help; PKZIP (Windows); PKZIP Explorer; and PKZIP Authenticity Verification. 

The Help Topics have the normal Contents, Index and Search features. A “Quick Start Tutorial” is especially useful in taking you through the overall process in a step-by-step manner. In addition, there is a “Wizard” process to guide and help you in performing the most common tasks. Finally, there is the “Contents” menu to explain each task or procedure, and the “Index” menu for information on specific topics.

The self-extracting PKSFX feature (to create .EXE files) is especially useful. It is included with the software and allows you to make and send compressed archives that can be expanded on any windows computer without the need for any other software.

Another great feature is the ability to make both “segmented” files (splitting them into smaller pieces of any size >64 KB each) and “spanned” files (to allow automatic compression of a single large file onto multiple floppy disks). This is especially important if you need to move information between computers on floppy disks or are limited in the size of email attachments.

The Professional Version includes the ability to make secure .ZIP files with various encryption algorithms up to 256 bits, as well as to authenticate them with digital certificates. It also has a command line interface for advanced users to automate tasks.

PKZIP therefore remains a full featured compression software that I highly recommend to you (and I will be doing a presentation of it at our June 11, 2003, NJCC Regular Meeting). It runs on MS Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP systems with a CD-ROM; 64 MB RAM; and 12 MB hard drive space. The list price for PKZIP is $99.95 (plus S&H) for the Professional Version 6.0 and $29.95 (plus S&H) for the Standard Version 6.0 at http://www.pkware.com/.