Quick Guide to using .rar  .zip & .djvu files

The data in these file types has been compressed so that they take up less space

.rar files

To decompress the files: You must download all of the files in the series - part 1, part 2, and so on. You will need one of the free programs such as WinRar or ZipGenius to 'uncompress' them. Once you have finished downloading all the files, right-click on any one of them. A window with several options will come up. Choose extract here. All of the parts in that series will be returned to their original [pre-compression] format - often only 1 file, but sometimes many single pages. The ones on Cziffrania have usually been pdf'd by Rob or myself before they have been rar'd.

NB:  *If there is only one .rar file, then that is all you will need, but if there are several with the same name followed by a different 'part number', then you will need all of those for the program to decompress them correctly.  *It is not necessary to repeat the process for each 'part' - the program recombines all of the parts. If you try to repeat the process, you will get questions pop up about replacing files etc. *There is a link to ZipGenius in the Links section - get the latest version.

To create a rar file:  Using ZipGenius, right-click on the file you wish to 'rar' and left-click on "add to archive". In the bottom left corner of the pop-up window there is a box for "split to volumes, bytes" - enter a number followed by "k" and click "OK". [e.g. 950k will give you a series of files that will be 950k in size except for the final one.] That is all there is to creating rar files. (You must use 'k' or you will end up with hundreds of very tiny files that are a nuisance to delete :-)

.zip files

These work in a similar way to .rar files, but each .zip file is complete [unlike the .rar files]. You download the zipped file, right-click on it, choose an option and it will be 'unzipped' so that it returns to an uncompressed state. There are several programs that will do this - WinZip, ZipGenius, etc.

WinZip has a choice of 'classic' or 'wizard' - if you are a beginner, choose 'wizard' and follow the prompts. Remember to write down the name of the folder that your file has been unzipped into, so that you can find it easily.

With ZipGenius [the latest version is 7], you follow the same process as for .rar files: right-click  : select extract here. I prefer this because I don't need any other programs, it is very easy, and it is completely free. Elizabeth

 

.djvu files

These use a different form of compression again . Download the free program - DjVu Browser Plug-In - that you need to open these files from www.lizardtech.com  Once you have downloaded the program and installed it, you will be able to open any djvu file by just clicking on it.

 

Please note that this page is a 'work-in-progress' guide.