Once you get comfortable with downloading, you may want to make a connection to the actual page. A hypertext link connects your computer to a site on the Internet through HTML coding. You can save a linked page without going to the link itself. Put your pointer over the link and click your right mouse button (or hold down the mouse button if you are a Mac user). From the popup menu that appears, select "Save Link As." That will give you the "Save As" dialog box where you can select a folder and drive for the page.
Program files on the Internet can be very big. If you could not shrink files, you would waste time sending and receiving huge files. Compressed files do just that, reducing files to as little as two percent of their normal size, depending on the type of file and the program you are using. Normally, compression reduces files between forty to seventy-five percent of their size. If you want to transfer a file or group of files across the Internet, it is a lot faster to transfer a compressed file than an uncompressed one.
How does it work? It gets kind of techno-geekish, but all compression programs rely on the fact that there are many instances of lengthy, repeated information in program code. They can all be abbreviated as they are being sent, and then restored when the item is decompressed. Most compressed DOS and Windows files are in .zip format, which were created by a program called PKZIP or WinZip. There are other compressed formats as well. If it is a UNIX program, .Z, .gz, and . tar are common archive formats. On the Macintosh, they are called .sit (Stuffit) and .pit (Packit).
One thing that makes compressed files valuable is that you can package many files inside one file. If a program, for example, needs ten files in order to run, it is convenient to compress them as a single file rather than transfer each of the ten files individually. Compression programs can also create files that can run themselves automatically. These are called self-extracting files and usually end with .exe. They are very useful for sending a compressed file to someone who you are not sure has the capability to decompress the file. So, if you receive a compressed file with an . exe extension, you can run that file directly from the DOS prompt or from the Run prompt in the Start menu, just by typing its folder and filename then pressing Enter or by double-clicking in the Windows Explorer File Management program.
When you do these tasks, all the compressed files pop out. If you know there are going to be several files inside the main compressed file, it is a good idea to create a temporary folder and copy the compressed file into it before unzipping or expanding it into its separate component pieces. On a Mac, the .sea (self-extracting archive) does the same thing. If you use a .zip file, you must have a program that can read zip files and extract the archived files from within. You may already have such a program. Some Windows file management programs can work with zip files. There are many places where you can download freeware and shareware that will unzip files. Among the most popular programs are PKZIP/UNZIP and WinZip.
Make sure you download a copy of the appropriate program so you have it in case you need it. If you are sending a compressed file to someone, first ask them if they have the capability to decompress the file - and if they know how to.
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