Have You Tested Your Zip Files?

Hi, today I thought I’d let you know about a mistake that I made, in the hope that it saves you making the same one.

I’ve recently had to change my PC and needed WinZip on the new one. So I downloaded the evaluation version, which lasts for 45 days, I thought it was fantastic, as I do with anything that’s free.

I zipped a few files up and loaded them onto the internet for downloading, then I downloaded them and tested that they worked. They all appeared to be working as they should be, so I went about sending the links out.

On five occasions, with three different zip files I had people come back to me saying that they either couldn’t open the files, or when they did they only had part of the package that was meant to be there. So I tested them again, they all worked fine for me. I scratched my head, umm???

So I re-zipped all three of them, re-uploaded them, and then re-tested them. Again they all worked for me, so I emailed the people apologizing for the error and told them what I had done; i.e. re-zip, re-load & re-test and that they were all fine now.

Imagine my horror when they ALL got back to me saying that they were still having the same problems. I tested again and again they worked for me
.
I made a few web searches and found alternatives for the people that were waiting, I thought that was the least I could do for them. But I still had this problem that I couldn’t solve.

I couldn’t figure out why I could open them but nobody else could (well at least 5 very patient people). I then realised that I was do my testing on the same PC I was using to put them together, so I switched to a laptop and tested from there. Low and behold I had the same problems, I couldn’t open ANY of the zip files I’d recently put together. ALL that work would have to be re-done when I found and fixed the problem…..

After laying awake and thinking about it, I thought that maybe it was because I was using the evaluation version of WinZip to zip the files closed. Even though I had been using the evaluation version, without any problems, on my old PC. Thinking that WinZip may have made some adjustments to it, I purchased WinZip 12.1 and, after entering my registration details into the evaluation version, I deleted the existing zip files that were causing the problems, re-zipped and re-loaded them, again!

I switched over to the laptop and tested from there, and guess what….. They still didn’t work. How mad was I getting……?

I still had my WinZip purchase and registration details on the screen, along with the download link. So I uninstalled WinZip altogether, and then downloaded it again, from the page that had my details on it.

I again deleted all the offending zip files and then went through them one by one, re-zip, re-load and re-test (on the laptop). One by one I was at last having some success, and seem to have erased the problem.

So if you are loading zip files to your websites, be sure to test them from a different machine than the one used to put them together, especially if you’re using the evaluation version of WinZip. If you don’t have access to another computer, ask a friend to download them and try them out for you, before you send the download links out.

If giving away freebies you may have some leeway with the end user, but if you’re selling the files then you need to make sure that they are working exactly as they should be, or you’ll be refunding your customers and making yourself look unprofessional. Which is the last thing any of us need when we’re just starting out.

Until next time, take care

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Filed under: General • Getting Started

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