PKZIP for Windows

PKZIP (portable file compression/ decompression software) is a software utility, quite influential for introducing the now popular ZIP file type to the world. PKZIP was first written by Phil Katz and sold by his business partner PKWARE, Inc., with both of them holding both his initials - 'PK'. The name PKZIP (in both languages) is a reference to the Zip and lip-stick logo used by the software. In other words, the ZIP codes that are sent through emails are converted into'PKZ' code, and this is how it is accessed and read on Windows based computers.

Although this sounds rather complicated, in simple terms, PKZIP works on the basis of 'ZIP and lip-stick format' files. Basically, these are just files that have been arranged differently and have had the extension. PKZIP files, as they are commonly known, are just these compressed files, compressed and organized differently. In other words, when you email a document with a.txt extension, the file ends up as a.txt file along with an extension of. PKZIP files are just plain text files with the extension. PKZIP files carry the same format, but have been compressed into a.zip archive. What makes this all possible is the fact that many computer systems compress documents using the Zip method. Therefore, all you need to do to open such a file is to double click on it and view the compressed file, as seen in Figure 1.

Compressed files are usually stored in the user's temporary files and are then sent to the destination. To send a file in this manner, the user simply uninstalls the Zip application and then re-opens the Zip file. This will cause the directory where the converted files are kept to become available. At this point, you can either go ahead and decompress the files to their normal state, or you can save them for future use by zipping them up. Using the decompression software required to do this is generally very easy.