I've finally got a new PC with enough horsepower to handle Poser. Now, I've got a new set of problems! First, Windows XP and ZIP files. Windows XP is supposed to have ZIP file handling built in; but, the documentation isn't very clear. For instance, if I download a prop in ZIP format, do I have to download it to a folder I've defined as ZIP before I can unzip it? Also, is there a ZIP application that works with Windows XP? I used NETZIP with my old machine and Windows 98; but, I understand that NETZIP hasn't been even tested with Windows XP.

WinZip works fine. And as soon as it's installed it takes over WinXP's zip handling.

Dunno about XP handling zips, I use Winzip.

Hehehe. Crosspost! :)

I don't know about "Netzip" but I have XP and all I do is click onto the "zip" file and see what is in there. Then I copy it from there.........Not unzipping........but "edit" "copy all" and then create a new folder called what-ever and then I paste it all in there. From there I put the files where they need to go. I don't know if this is the easiest way to do it, but I save all my "zip" files to an external hard-drive, so when I want to use them, I load them this way.

WinRAR (from Rarsoft.com) also works very nicely with XP.

WinRAR is also what I recommend, bec ause of some really useful right-click options it adds.

This should about cover it: set up a folder for your downloads. when you dl the first zip point it to that folder in the dl dialog menu and it should point your other dls to that folder. (picts and documents you'll have to "point to" seperately.) to save as a zip file select what you want to zip and while your mouse is over the selection right click and select from the menu move to: compressed file. to check the contents without extracting them rightclick the zip and select open. to unzip contents of a zip file right click on the zip file and select extract. winrar is useful if the person you want to send zips to also has the utility, or are archiving for your own use.

The built in zipping capability works just fine on it's own. You download a zip file, right mouse click and select "extract all". It unzips into the same folder you downloaded it. No need for any other unzipping utility unless the file was zipped with stuffit. That is the only problem I've ever had. So....I use Stuffit (which is free I believe) to unzip stuff that my XP zip utility won't handle. I have XP Pro. Computer is about 2 years old.

I'd never let Stuffit near my computer. It totaly messed up one I had at a time, taking over ANY kind of compressed file whether or not that cr...py program could actually handle it or not :o( It's a Mac proggie, made to extract .sit files which are Mac format (mostly at least, I don't know if stuffit can make a .sit from a pc) My best advise to Stuffit is to... stuff it LOL

Hmmm....that's interesting! Never had those problems. I downloaded Stuffit for Windows 7.0, designed for XP. Apparently there was a bug in an earlier version that this version fixed whereby file associations for supported file types were automatically assigned to StuffIt. Mine let's me pick what to associate it with. I can't remember what files I had to use it for....could have been .sit or .rar. Some of the vue freebies (even those for windows) are zipped oddly :)

If you use zip in XP you need to realize that it opens it like a folder, and if you move anything in the folder that opens, you remove it from the zip file. (found out the hard way). Your best bet is to get winzip. Then you will keep the files intact. It works fine in XP. Marque

All you have to do is "extract all" as opposed to double clicking on the thing. When you extract, you create a copy of the folder (just like winzip)and retain the integrity of your compressed file. Been using it for about two years now and never lost any content at all. Winzip is great.....I used it for lord knows how long when I had Win 9X, but there's just no need for it in XP.

What I do with winRAR is, when installing it, on the file association dialog, uncheck "Zip", that way the WinXP default zip utility is still the default for zipping but I get the winRAR right-click extracting options that I find it impossible to live without...

I've used Winzip since V1 so I disabled the zip function of WinXP, why bother with an inferior version when the original is still best?

Attached Link: http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/tune-14.html

Attached Link: PowerDesk Free Version

Also if you would like a very intuitive desktop manager, yet light in use, I suggest purchasing Directory Opus licence. It's woth every buck you put in it. :) It has zip built-in support as well and works fine for me.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'll see what works best.