Systems and methods for manipulating and managing computer archive files
A computer program for managing and manipulating archive zip files of a computer. The program includes a system and method for opening, creating, and modifying, and extracting zip archive files. The program is fully integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer and is accessed via Explorer menus, toolbars, and/or drag and drop operations. An important feature of the program is the archive manager which may be used to open a zip file, create a new zip file, extract zip files, modify zip files, etc. The program is integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer using the shell name space extension application program interface developed by Microsoft.
1 . A system for providing a user-accessible shortcut to a file in a file archive, said system including:
a file archive including a data file;
a graphical user interface provided by a browser; and
a file archive management application, wherein said file archive management application allows a user to establish a user-accessible shortcut to said data file using said graphical user interface.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein said file archive is a .zip archive and said file archive management application is a .zip archive management application.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein said browser is Microsoft Windows Explorer.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein said file archive is compressed.
5 . The system of claim 4 wherein said file archive is decompressed when said user-accessible shortcut is selected.
6 . The system of claim 4 wherein said data file is decompressed when said user-accessible shortcut is selected.
7 . The system of claim 1 wherein said file archive is encrypted.
8 . The system of claim 7 wherein said file archive is decrypted when said user-accessible shortcut is selected.
9 . The system of claim 7 wherein said data file is decrypted when said user-accessible shortcut is selected.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein said file archive management application allows a user to establish a user-accessible shortcuts.
11 . The system of claim 10 wherein at least one of said user-accessible shortcuts is a shortcut to said data file using said graphical user interface.
12 . The system of claim 10 wherein at least one of said user-accessible shortcuts is a shortcut to said file archive using said graphical user interface.
13 . A method for providing a user-accessible shortcut to a file in a .zip archive, said method including:
providing a .zip archive including a data file;
providing a graphical user interface using Microsoft Windows Explorer; and
providing a .zip archive management application, wherein said .zip archive management application allows a user to establish a user-accessible shortcut to said data file using said graphical user interface.
14 . A method for accessing a file in a .zip archive, said method including:
providing a .zip archive including a data file;
providing a graphical user interface using Microsoft Windows Explorer; and
accessing said data file through said graphical user interface using a user-accessible shortcut.
15 . A method for supplementing Microsoft Windows Explorer, said method including:
providing Microsoft Windows Explorer;
providing a .zip archive management application;
installing said .zip archive management application into Microsoft Windows Explorer to form a supplemented version of Microsoft Windows Explorer;
providing a .zip archive including a data file; and
providing a user-accessible shortcut to said data file using said supplemented version of Microsoft Windows Explorer.