Original Zip Program Revamped

PKWare, which invented the .zip file-compression format back in 1986, has released PKZip 6 for Windows. New features reflect PKWare's focus on the business market, including support for Lotus Notes and improved encryption.

But customers have a wide choice. Having lost its primary user base to WinZip in the early days of Windows, PKWare now concentrates on business applications. However, the company also offers a range of editions for different types of users.

The $30 Standard edition (currently discounted to $25) can decrypt but not encrypt the new, more secure files. To get Notes support (but still no fancy encryption), you'll have to buy at least the $50 Standard Edition Plus with Lotus Notes Integration (currently discounted to $40). Full encryption and e-mail capabilities come in the $100 Professional Edition (currently $70).

One new feature in all of the fresh editions is BZIP2 compression. According to PKWare, this new algorithm improves standard .zip compression by up to 20 percent. BZIP2 is backward compatible with other .zip programs.

Taking Notes

PKZip 6 does for Lotus Notes what earlier versions already do for Microsoft Outlook. Once the program is installed, e-mail attachments by default get zipped before they go out over the network; the user doesn't even have to think about it. According to PKWare, this results in an overall reduction in e-mail traffic.

Of course, you don't need this feature to zip your mail attachments. Like WinZip, PKZip has a "Zip and Mail" feature that you access by right-clicking a file in Windows Explorer. But the integrated approach is intended to be easier.

PKWare representatives say the company expects to support 90 percent of all corporate e-mail, between its support for Outlook and for Notes.

Encryption Quandary

Encrypted .zip files are nothing new. Files in the format--and just about all .zip programs--have included optional password protection for years. But .zip's encryption has never been particularly dependable, and knowledgeable users can crack it relatively easily.

So PKWare is continuing its policy of adding more-powerful encryption options to PKZip. For version 6, the company uses RSA Security's BSAFE technology to add 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard encryption, which was developed by the U.S. government for unclassified information. The new version supports both password- and certificate-based encryption.

The basic problem with improved encryption, of course, is that it conflicts with the established, ubiquitous .zip file format. If you create an encrypted .zip file in PKZip and use an encryption option other than traditional PKWare Encryption, you've got a file no other .zip program can read.

To solve this problem, PKWare has released a free PKZip Reader that can decrypt and uncompress the new files. This still means that if you aren't using PKZip most of your .zip files will be handled by the compression program of your choice, but your Reader will have to open some of them.

PKWare plans to publish the specs for new format at some point this year, according to Steve Crawford, chief marketing officer. Other companies will be free to make their .zip programs compatible with it. However, the company has published similar specs in the past without others adopting them.