Compressed/Zipped folders

[john lennon]

hello,
When my friend sends me a file/cd, why do they come compressed or zipped. When some of my other friends get them, they dont come compressed/zipped to them. And when I try to open the file up, it says its either corrupt or invalid. Do I need some sort of program for the files to not come compressed or zipped?

 

[Elvandil]

This may be an artifact of virus-checking somewhere along the way. Try renaming the zip files with the file endings of the original files to see if they work.

Ask your friend to send the files in real zip format and see if they come through.

 

[john lennon]

elvandile, how would I Try renaming the zip files with the file endings of the original files to see if they work.
Could you explain....

Oh and when I right click on the file and it says Extract All, and I go through the whole thing, it says that there are no files to extract, what is going on?

 

[Elvandil]

If you know, for example, that one of the files was a jpg image, try renaming the file from whatever.zip to whatever.jpg. This would require you to know what the original files were, of course.

 

[john lennon]

yeah but how do I rename the ending of it.
Oh and when I right click on the file and it says Extract All, and I go through the whole thing, it says that there are no files to extract, what is going on?
Also, the whole file didnt apparently come through, the original file is like 60 MB and I only ended up downloading 25 MB, why is that?

 

[Elvandil]

Can you not see the ending? If not, then you need to go to Control Panel, Folder Options, View tab, and make sure that you don't have common file endings hidden. Then you should be able to see the endings and rename them.

The reason you can't unzip them is that they are not really zip files. I suspect that some antivirus assumed they were zips, scanned them, and then attached a zip ending by mistake. That is why they might come through OK if they were sent in zip format originally.

As far as the size difference, no idea. Though that is an extraordinary size for a mailed file. Maybe one of the ISP's doesn't allow files that large.

 

[john lennon]

Well my friend sent them through yousendit.com where you can send up to 1 GB. I dont know why computer cannot ever open these files properly when all my other friends can. Do you think if I took it to like Enternet (my online provider), they could help get these files working?

 

[Elvandil]

Thay may be able to answer some of your questions, at least. Well worth a try.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

From your first post, you also mention getting them by CD.

What are the file extensions when you receive them that way?

Also just for clarity, I think the exact wording of the box you want to uncheck in the Folders / View option is "Hide Extensions for known file types".

 

[Elvandil]

Since these files/CD's you receive by email have the zip file ending (for those who didn't catch it the first time), clearly that ending is being changed somewhere in the email system. Your ISP would be the best person to explain that, especially if you have a different ISP than your friends who receive the mail intact.

Do you have a different email antivirus scanner installed on your computer than all of the others who receive this email intact?

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Since these files/CD's you receive by email have the zip file ending (for those who didn't catch it the first time

In reading it again, I'm not sure how you could get a CD by e-mail since it is a physical thing. You can get files that are on a CD e-mailed but I have yet to see the actual CD done that way, except on a Star Trek episode ;-) Reminds me of someone who wanted to fax my wife a particular type of paper she wanted. She somehow figured by putting in the actual paper at her end, my wife would actually the same paper via the fax machine !!

But if your first post is true -"When my friend sends me a file/cd" - you said are getting a CD so I am going on that you actually have a physical CD that you are putting in your CD ROM drive. From there apparently there are problems opening up whatever files are on the CD. If that is not true, could you please be more specific.

That is why the suggestion to check what is on the CD. Then you can at least eliminate any issues with the ISP and all those unknowns. Generally the simpler the configuration the easier it is to find the solution. So for now, let's eliminate all the stuff about e-mail, ISP's etc since so much is not know.

So what is on the CD's?
What is the extension of the files on the CD's?

 

[Elvandil]

PS. Please let us know what your ISP tells you. Many people could benefit from knowing how to send such large files through email successfully.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

CD's you receive by email

And if you really are receiving CD's by email?

If you are not getting them from a CD but only with e-mail, what e-mail program are you using?

Does your ISP allow such large file attachments? Even though "yousendit.com" might allow large files, your ISP might not.

What size file attachments are they?

As a test, can you have your friend send a relatively small file attachment of a known file type.

 

[john lennon]

I'm not recieving actual cd's!!! Im recieving files that is a cd. I have Macafee virus service or whatever. Would that do it?

 

[Bob Cerelli]

The clarification is helpful.

Usually files that are CD's are .iso files.

Can you confirm what file types you are actually being sent.

How large are the files?

If you are not getting them from a CD but only with e-mail, what e-mail program are you using?

Does your ISP allow such large file attachments? Even hough "yousendit.com" might allow large files, your ISP might not.