Zip or Compressed archives form a substantial part of backups or any thing either to save your disk hard space or to compress bulky emails etc. Previously to create compressed files we had to buy sharewares like WinZIp or WinRAR etc. But Windows XP has a built in program to manage your compressed archives of .zip format. (Yes compressed archives can be of different types like zip, rar, tar, gz, uha etc.). With this built in program in Windows XP you can work with a zipped archive as if you are working with a regular folder.

Creating a New Zip Archive

To create a new zip archive ensure you follow these steps..

Right Click on your Desktop and choose New and click on Compressed (Zip Folder)

Now an new icon similar to your folder appears. Enter the name of the folder. You will see something like this

To add a file to a zip folder you can do is as you do generally while working with folders like drag and drop or right click a file and click copy and open the zip folder, right click and click on paste

Creating a Zip Archive from a Folder

To create a new zip archive from a folder already created. Right Click on the folder, Choose Send To and click on Compressed (Zip Folder). Thats if you get your folder zipped and archived.

Adding a Password to a Zip Folder

Zip folders are some more secure compared to the normal folders adding an option for you to give your own password to the folder. To do this..

Open up the Zip folder and Right Click anywhere on the background and click on Add Password

A new Add Password dialog box open. Enter your desired password there and retype it in the next text box and click OK. The password is added

Extracting files from a Zip Folder

Extracting a single file from a zip folder can be done the same way you copy a file from a normal folder. However extracting all files of the current zip folder can be made simpler and faster by using Extract All Files function.

Click on Extract All FIles under Folder Tasks on the Left Side in the Zipped Folder and then click on Next on the window that appears

Now Browse the folder path where you want to extract, click on the password button and enter the password if the archive is secured with a password. Click Next and you’ll get all the items in the Zipped Folder Extracted

Hope you like this tutorials.. Comments please if we did it bad or good…

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