Do you need original zip file once downloaded

Our website has many large files available in zipped or compressed format. The result is a smaller file that downloads faster. If you haven't used zipped files before, or are having trouble working with them, this tutorial is to help you. Zipped files known by many names, see the table to the right, but in this document called "zipped files" are one or more files on a computer disk that have been combined into a single file in a space-efficient manner to reduce their total file size.

This is very useful when disk space is limited or when people download files. Since multiple files can be stored in a zipped file, a single file can be downloaded then unzipped to easily download many files at once.

You can think of a zipped file as a set of books on a shelf :. The set of books is arranged so that they take a very small amount of space, but you can't use or read them while arranged in this compressed manner. In order to work with zipped files, they must be unzipped or extracted first. Windows has a built in program called Windows Compressed Folders which can do this for you. If you follow the instructions below for Windows Compressed Folders, but a different program opens, you can still follow the instructions listed, and it should generally still work.

Other software programs exist for zipping and unzipping files. For more information, please visit this Help Center article:. Can I use my phone or tablet to access digital downloads?

If your. Zip file will not open, you should receive an error message which will explain what is happening. Here are three common causes for this problem which you can explore. Digital download file sizes can be very large, ranging from a few hundred MB for individual scenes, or over 6 GB for complete collections. That means it is not unusual for downloads to get interrupted, leaving you with an incomplete. Zip file which can not be opened.

In this case, your error message may say that your file is "corrupt". That sounds a bit more alarming than it should. All you need to do is try downloading your file again until it is complete. Here are some tips you can try for a more reliable download:. Opening a. I guess these zip files will slowly start clogging my hard disk. What do you do after extracting and seeing all the files that are in zip or rar files? Thats kinda an uncanny fear.

Maybe you just got to steel yourself and delete them! Lemme know if you run into trouble though!! Show more comments. You're right, unnecessary files will eventually slow down your computer.

I don't immediately delete zip files but I do computer housekeeping about once a month and they go then. Setup files and packages downloaded from the internet are just like the original installation media you received back in the day when you purchased software in physical form. Almost all software used to be sold and distributed on CD or DVD media or floppy disks, if you go back far enough.

You would run the setup program from the disc , and the software was copied onto your computer. After setup was complete, you removed the discs and began using the new software on your machine. When you run the downloaded setup program, it copies the software onto your hard disk.

I recommend you save that downloaded setup program somewhere before you delete it from your hard drive. When you have physical media, like an installation DVD, you can keep it somewhere and grab it when needed.

If you routinely delete set-up files before saving them somewhere else, when it comes time to set up that program again, you might be out of luck. The most common scenario for needing that download again is getting a new machine.

The second most common scenario? The instructions for a complete reinstall are pretty simple: reinstall Windows and then reinstall all your applications. It varies, of course, depending on how you organize your life. That could be a different machine, an external hard drive, your backup drive, cloud storage, or some other storage location dedicated to the task. When I download software to my machine I currently 1 :. I can also save space in OneDrive by making the folder, or just the file, cloud-only.

In my case, since I have several computers, this practice allows me to avoid downloading the same thing multiple times. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.

Download right-click, Save-As Duration: — 8. It might be different yet again by the time you read this. I have some OLD downloads that are 10 to 15 years old, some of those are bough softwares, from now out of business vendors, that I still use regularly.

Doing it twice, or more, a year is only for peoples that are doing researches, testing and other things that may corrupt the OS or worst or that demand a clean slate state. He just said that he, given his very special use of his computer, regularly did clean reinstalls.

Not twice a year, no, but periodically is indeed a good idea. You have great articles, and I read them often. Could you please make them less wordy. I have to read and read to get the answer.