An occasion popped up yesterday when I needed to unzip a gzipped file. A file with the extension of .gz or .tgz is a collection of files that have been packaged for easy transport on the Internet.
After scanning the downloaded gzip file for viruses and other nasties I tried to open it but my Windows Vista Home Premium did not come with software that would do the trick. Surprise, surprise.
At least Vista gave a little assistance on the Open With dialog page by offering to find an application on the Internet that would open the gzip file, described as a compressed archive file.
Clicking the look for the appropriate program on the Web link at the bottom of the Open With dialog produced this page via the Internet:
Let’s look at several links to file compression utility programs:
- StuffIt for Windows
- StuffIt offers a free download of their expander software. Very popular and useful!
- WinAce
- The WinAce web site reported its forums were down due to technical and organizational difficulties, so it’s not a likely winner (as of 23Oct07).
- WinImp
- Not sure where the WinImp name comes from as this link takes you to the PowerArchiver website, although that does have some great reviews.
- WinZip
- Latest version supports Windows Vista.
Not wanting to make a purchase just yet I searched for an free, open source alternative. Using the download feature at PCWorld.com I found two freebies and about five trial software packages for file compression.
First, I downloaded the lightest one, called FreeZip. Scanned it, installed it and tried to unzip the .gz file with it, but a syntax error indicated that FreeZip could not open the file. As Vista can open and extract files from a .zip file, I decided to uninstall FreeZip. Besides, these really cheesy FZ icons were attached to all my zip files which made my desktop look pretty ugly. Uninstalling FreeZip via Control Panel/Programs/Uninstall a Program left behind all those ugly icons.
Second, I wanted to try ZipCentral, the other free program located by PCWorld, so I downloaded, scanned and installed it, but unfortunately the .gzip program could not be unzipped by ZipCentral. I didn’t much like the icons of that ZipCentral associated with my .zip files either, so I uninstalled it and the ugly icons vanished. Hooray!
Guess I’ll try the trial of Stuffit, which, by the way, explicitly states that it works with Vista. Seems to have way more features than I’ll ever need and that’s usually a good sign.
I downloaded the trial program of Stuffit for Windows, scanned and installed it, then used it to easily unzip the .gz file that started me on this quest for file compression and archiving software. StuffIt is a very easy and standard solution for unzipping archives.
A further search of the Internet for open source unzip .gzip lead me to 7-zip, an open source archiver software program. Less than 1MB in size, 7-zip was a fast download and easy install.
Right-clicking the icon for the .gz file gave 7-zip as a menu item with options to open the archive, extract files, test the archive or add to the archive. Clicking on open archive produced the 7-zip file manager which listed the .gz file to open.
Highlighting the .gz file and clicking on extract popped up a “copy to” window where you select a location or create a new folder where the extracted files will be stored. Worked like a charm!
So now you know that we have several choices for unzipping, zipping and working with archive files and .gz archives in Windows Vista.