The Monster that is Windows

[JaXanim]

In my fledgling attempts to understand the rudiments of the Win98 OS, I keep getting balked by my inability to open Zip files.

Whenever I click on a zipped archive, the system says it can't find 'Program'. I assume this is analogus to the Amiga's default tool, but my system doesn't have it it seems.

The Win98 system was installed to a freshly formatted drive, so I would have thought this tool and any other used by the OS would be included (?).

If that assumption is misguided (and I won't be surprised if it is), then where does one get this 'Program' tool - and where do you put it?

Cheers,

JaX

The Win98 system was installed to a freshly formatted drive, so I would have thought this tool and any other used by the OS would be included (?).

Zip and other compressed files weren't taken into consideration by the OS itself until Windows XP.  You will need a program like winzip (winzip.com) to uncompress zip files.

Besides, There are no circumstances on the entire planet which would cause me to recommend anything older than Windows NT 4.x (really, my preference for a lower-end system would be Windows 2000 while I heartily recommend XP).  It doesn't sound like you know Windows very well, so I'd recommend off the bat that you stick with 2000 Pro or XP Pro.

For all their faults, 2000 Pro and XP Pro are -- so far -- the most stable versions of Windows.  95 and 98 are laughable attempts to put a "skin" on MS-DOS.

Wayne

[KennyR]

Wayne wrote:
Zip and other compressed files weren't taken into consideration by the OS itself until Windows XP.

Not exactly true, I think. If I remember correctly Win98 has an optional component on the CD that allows you to browse the contents of zip files like they were normal drawers. WinZip is still better, however.

[SamuraiCrow]

Wayne wrote:
Zip and other compressed files weren't taken into consideration by the OS itself until Windows XP.  You will need a program like winzip (winzip.com) to uncompress zip files.

Actually Windows ME has that feature but I'll admit that it wasn't that necessary when WinZip unregistered has no expiration date (that I'm aware of).

WinRAR supports .ARJ and .ZIP files as well as its own .RAR files.  It costs about $30 to register but does a better job than WinZip.

[BouncingAyatollah]

Actually Windows ME has that feature but I'll admit that it wasn't that necessary when WinZip unregistered has no expiration date (that I'm aware of).

Aye, Windows Me had Compressed folders, that diappeared from Win2000 and came back with WinXP.

If you think you will ever be using various Amiga format archives, RARs and other filetypes, I'd have a look at PowerArchiver too - which similarly allows you to keep using it but nags more and more as time goes by.

Thanks.  Never touched ME.  Ever....  In network tech circles, ME was dead before it hit the floor.

[HopperJF]

My friend just told me when he backed up his ME system, it gave him 15000 viruses, the same virus multiplying again and again...

 :lol:

[mikeymike]

JaXanim wrote:
In my fledgling attempts to understand the rudiments of the Win98 OS, I keep getting balked by my inability to open Zip files.
Whenever I click on a zipped archive, the system says it can't find 'Program'. I assume this is analogus to the Amiga's default tool, but my system doesn't have it it seems.

Broken file association at a (albeit I'm really tired) guess.  Get an explorer window up, go into View > Options > File Types > find the zip file association, edit it.

If you're using WinZip, the command line being run should look something like:

C:\Program Files\WinZip\winzip32.exe "%1"

Failing that:

C:\Progra~1\WinZip\winzip32.exe "%1"

On my system its:

D:\apps\WinZip\winzip32.exe "%1"

Reinstalling WinZip should fix the association.

The Win98 system was installed to a freshly formatted drive, so I would have thought this tool and any other used by the OS would be included (?).

WinXP has zip file reading capabilities.  They're not very good.

If that assumption is misguided (and I won't be surprised if it is), then where does one get this 'Program' tool - and where do you put it?  JaX

www.winzip.com

Install that baby.

I quite like WinRAR though, handles Zip files too.

As for the good old "which version of Windows is best?" argument, my personal preference is Windows 2000 by far over any version of Windows currently available (though 2003 Server is supposed to be quite nice).

[Speelgoedmannetje]

bah, winzip :nervous:
tis only shareware
I got a freeware zip tool called "UltimateZip"
wich works far better, it supports more file formats and has more decompression options (wich can save you some RSI)


Dunno, maybe Winzip has become better lately, but the version I used sucked big time. But still it's no freeware.

[elendil]

I'd like to mention 'filzip' as well (www.download.com) which is also freeware and rather good.

Sincerely,

-Kenneth Straarup.

[ptek]

JaXanim, use instead Winrar.

It handle a LOT of archieving formats, like zip, ace, rar(!), and fully Amiga compatible lha!

The rar compression is superior but slower than zip.
But winrar can also create zip archives like winzip, and the compression speed seems the same.

It has a good feature the winzip sucks : file splitting.
Winzip only splits to removable media, like floppys (bah!) not to HD.

BTW: What specs have your PC ?
Win2000 can be very heavy for old machines. It also needs at least 64MB for working. with 128MB it performs quite nicely (as long your CPU is fast)

It needs a PII ou better PIII for good performance. With anything older it will surelly drag (correct me if i'm wrong).

If you have a modern P4 or AMD Athlon, go for XP !
I takes 4GB of your precious HD but I really recomend it.
It needs 256MB or more to avoid abusing the virtual memory.

It's quite stable and have some goods features win2000 lacks, like hibernation.

BTW2: If you really like the amiga mod music files, try deliplayer (http://www.deliplayer.com/) . It's the best mod player on the PC. It really sounds good (winamp also supports it, but the mods sometimes sounds bad)

[BouncingAyatollah]

Duh! I forgot about this one too - 7-Zip, it supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB and it's GPL.

7-Zip

which is also available on The Open CD, a great collection of Open Source goodness for Windows (OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, Filezilla, The GIMP etc. etc.):

The OpenCD

[mikeymike]

Win2k can do hibernation... if you like I'll even send a screenshot :-)

I'd recommend 128 - 256MB or more for Win2k or XP.  Both require some (but not particularly 'heavy hardcore' tweaking) to reduce the memory footprint by a huge amount, there are guides on my site of how to do that.  I had 256MB in my machine for some time without any performance issues, so I have since upgraded to 768MB so I could do recoverable ramdisk stuff (so I have 512MB physical as far as Windows is concerned).

384MB for Win2k/XP should give a decent bit of slack for the vast majority of users.

At boot time my system uses about 50 - 64MB RAM (as in I can't remember exactly how much).  With a web browser, email, mp3 player plus a couple of other windows I'm typically using about 100MB (give or take 50MB) RAM.

For the extra robustness, Win2k/XP is worth the upgrade cost (inc. licence and RAM).  I'd go as far as to say that they're the first offerings by MS that stand up well (and surpass in many respects) to the competition.  I did like NT4 rather a lot though, it had the same robustness, but it could be hard work for the average user.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

BouncingAyatollah wrote:
Duh! I forgot about this one too - 7-Zip, it supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB and it's GPL.

Well, UltimateZip supports:
ZIP, RAR, ACE, BH, CAB, JAR, LHA (LZH), GZIP, TAR, BZIP2, ARC, ARJ, XXE, UUE.

yup, also LHA and that's quite convenient if you use also an Amiga methinks

[Vincent]

Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
Well, UltimateZip supports:
ZIP, RAR, ACE, BH, CAB, JAR, LHA (LZH), GZIP, TAR, BZIP2, ARC, ARJ, XXE, UUE.

yup, also LHA and that's quite convenient if you use also an Amiga methinks

That's what I use :-D

Very handy for Aminet lha's :-D