WinZip

Can anyone tell me about WinZip? I downloaded an evaluation file, but when I create a new zip, my file is still 7+MB and isn't compressed. Am I doing something wrong, or are there limitations on evaluations?

In my experience you get compression varying from 1.2:1 up to around 5:1. It depends on what you are zipping. Some files are obviously wasteful of space and can be hugely compressed. Executables seem to get very low compression ratios.

I created a slide slow in PowerPoint. I wanted to email it to family members. When I tried to zip it, it still is large. I emailed it to myself to test and when I got my email back with the "supposedly" zipped file, it wouldn't open. It looks like a paint file, and the message says "it isn't a true bitmap file". I'm no confused.

In PowerPoint files can grow huge if "Allow fast Saves" is enabled.

If you select the "Allow fast saves" check box which is on the Save tab in the Tools, Options dialog box, you save only the changes to a presentation. This takes less time than a full save, where you save the complete, revised presentation.

A full save, however, requires a lot less disk space than a fast save, so always do a full save when you finish working on a presentation and save it for the last time.

This problem especially applies if you have a lot of pictures in your presentation.

You may also want to take a look at a free zip program called Zip Central: http://www.cns.yorku.ca/computing/apps/zipcentral/

The 4.1 is the latest. I've been using this program for several years and like it very much for it's ease of use and versatility...;)