ZipScan
Archive Search Software - Search Zip Files, Search CAB files
© Adrian Bhagat 1999-
General info on Zip Files
If you don't know what a zip file is then the ZipScan program is not for you. However, the following information may be of interest to you:
Zip files are a way of packaging lots of smaller files together into a single file. There are several reasons why you may want to do this:
- Zip files compress the data and store them efficiently so they take up less disk space and can be mailed and downloaded more quickly
- If you are mailing lots of files to someone, it is often easier to send them as a single zip file rather than individually.
- Zip files can be password protected so only you can get at the files inside them.
If you want to create zip files, or extract the data from inside a zip file that you have downloaded, I would suggest visiting www.winzip.com and downloading a free demo of the WinZip program. There are other programs that do the same thing, some of which are freeware.
ZipScan is for more advanced users who use Zip files to store lots of files. It enables the user to search a collection of zip files for a particular file which is stored within them. Suppose, for example, I had write a lot of letters and each month I store them in a zip file so they don't take up too much space. After a while, I'll have quite a collection of such zip files. Now, if I want to find a particular letter, perhaps called "David2.doc", I may not know in which Zip file it is kept. Ordinarily, the only way to find out would be to open each zip file in turn and look at the contents. With ZipScan, I can search through all the zip files in one go to find the letter I want.
ZipScan also works with CAB and JAR files. These are very similar to Zip files. When you install a new program on your computer, the program itself is often stored within CAB files. JAR files are used only by Java programmers.