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PentaZip
by By Terry Currier NOCCC, tcurrier@aol.com - April 20, 2000 at 18:05:12:
Everybody needs a Zip program, whether they know it or not. This is an absolute need if you go on the internet. A Zip program allows the files to be compressed to a smaller size and to group all needed files into one file for ease and speed of down or uploading. PentaZip is a Zip program with some extra features that you really appreciate. The installation program was smooth but it did one of the things I hate, putting a shortcut on the desktop without asking. Diskspace-wise PentaZip takes up about 11Mb while WinZip takes about 2.1Mb, but again there are more features in PentaZip. Both have a viewing option to allow you to view text or graphic files. Clicking on such a file in WinZip brings up a dialog box asking how you want to look at it. The default is the Windows Quickview, you click ok it is presented to you. With PentaZip right-clicking on such a file gives you various options, among them is to view the file. It has its own viewer to show it quicker, and if it’s a graphic file there is even a zoom-in or out feature. View graphics and other files including; JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, EPS, CMS, PCX, TGA, PCD, DXF, ICO, WMF, TIFF, AVI, MOV, RMI, MDI, WAV, TXT and others. Within the view function you can use its find feature to find a certain word or phrase you are looking for without unzipping first. Speaking of find, you can have PentaZip look for any file including ones within Zip files. Both of these “find” features are not in WinZip. PentaZip can read other types of compressed files, it just that Zip is much the standard for Windows. Many, including Microsoft do use CAB files to store the various program components. Use PentaZip to search and extract only the files you need to update or repair your system easily. If you have an Antivirus program you can have it scan the file. Within the Zip file itself you can have it run a selected file, so you don’t have to unzip first. You can also add or modify a comment to the Zip, test it, or even print out a list of the files within the zip. One more handy function, not in WinZip, is the ability to have two or more Zip files open at the same time. In fact I was able to look at Zips on two different drives with no problem. Want to copy a file from one Zip to another? Just drag and drop files between them, or add new files to them right from within PentaZip. When you install PentaZip it sets up Windows Explorer so you can right-click a file on your drive to create a new Zip archive or add it to an existing one.You can use Zip archives to store your files to save space. When you need to modify the file just access the Zip archive, and select modify. The file will open in the associated program. For example clicking to modify a Excel file will open Excel and load the file. You can then make your changes and save as normal. The file will automatically insert itself back into the Zip archive. It says it can test and repair damaged Zip files, but I did not have any to test it on. The Zip files PentaZip creates are backward compatible to PkZip version 2.04g so any other Zip program will be able to access them.
Some of the other features are
MultiVolume—(Disk Spanning) ZIP archives. This allows you to save files that require more than one diskette or multiple high capacity removable disks.
Unzip—(decompress) all files in a ZIP archive or only the files required.
Command Line Mode—under DOS using a Windows 95 or later version shell.
Encode and Decode e-mail—attachments created using UUencode, MIME-64, XXencode and BinHex without needing additional software.
Lock files—using standard password protection.
There is a Script feature of PentaZip which will allow you to create self-running programs that will perform routine commands automatically. Once a script is written, a program file icon is created and placed in the PentaZip Script 4.0 program group. Scripts can be programmed to run automatically by using the built-in PentaZip Scheduler. The PentaZip scripting allows you to automate recurring compression and decompression tasks. These scripts can run independently of the PentaZip program. This is useful, for example, where backups are routinely made of the same files. Once you have created a script you can modify it easily using the PentaZip script wizard. Refresh the files within a Zip and automatically copy to a backup device. You can also create self-extracting Zip files, and view the files within them. They also include a System Information program which will tell you all the files running associated with PentaZip and all the listings of it in the Windows Registry.
You can get PentaZip by going to htpp://www.pentazip.com The download version is (round-up) $30 and boxed is $40.
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