Brought to you each week by the PC Gurus, a loose collection of volunteers from around the Kentuckiana region.
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3-18-05
One of the perks of the technology writer (and I use that term rather loosely in my case) is that occasionally you get approached to review a new software program or piece of hardware. Such an opportunity popped up in my Inbox a few weeks ago with a request from the folks over at WinZip to review their new WinZip Companion for Outlook.
Given today’s security conscious email clients and POP servers I could immediately see how handy this thing would be. It integrates itself into Outlook 2000, XP and 2003 and either automatically zips outgoing attachments or offers to do so when you hit the Send button.
Sending raw attachments in this day and age is often a problematic endeavor. The default security settings in clients like Outlook Express prevent you from opening things like .doc or .xls files, which are crucial for businesses, and server side scanners often block other dangerous file types (like .exe) before they even get to your Inbox. In these cases sending a legitimate file attachment to a friend or colleague can become quite a chore.
The WinZip Companion overcomes the security issue by compressing all attachments into a security friendly .zip file, which nearly all clients and server side scanners will allow. You can even encrypt and password protect the outgoing attachments.
So much for the sales pitch, let’s get down to brass tacks.
I installed this program on Windows XP Pro using Office XP Pro. I installed WinZip first since I erroneously thought the Companion plug-in required it. It doesn’t. WinZip Companion has the WinZip compression algorithm built in but it’s limited to compressing attachments.
As usual when dealing with new software I scanned for spyware both before and after and neither program set off any alarms with Ad-Aware, SpyBot or MS AntiSpyware.
Installation of both WinZip and the Companion was pretty straightforward. Just the usual Yes, Next, Yes, Next shuffle. To simulate the average end user I didn’t bother to read the EULA ;)
After installation I opened Outlook and saw absolutely nothing different. You won’t see any indication of WinZip Companion until you actually create a new message (a reply, forward, new message… whatever). Even then it isn’t obvious on first blush, but if you click the Tools menu item you’ll see the new WinZip options.
You can set it to automatically zip outgoing attachments, never zip outgoing attachments (in which case you can manually compress them) or to ask before compressing. The prompt before compression is the default setting. After installation you won’t see any of this until you attach a file and hit the Send button.
That makes it one of the most seamless and unobtrusive plug-ins I’ve seen for Outlook but to average users they may wonder why they don’t have any new buttons or menu options from the main client console.
I would have to say WinZip Companion does exactly what it says it does, and does it quite well. For business users who often send multiple documents in emails it’s extremely useful and could save a lot of time and headaches, especially when dealing with new clients still using default security settings.
Cost shouldn’t be too much of a factor here since the standalone Companion is only $19.95. WinZip offers a combo package of WinZip 9.0 and Companion for $39.95 if you need more advanced functionality than freeware utilities like FreeZip.
My main complaint is the fact that the product doesn’t work with Outlook Express. Many if not most home users stick with Outlook Express and most new PCs don’t come preloaded with a version of Office so Outlook isn’t even available.
My minor gripes start with the fact that the Companion doesn’t work both ways. I think it would be extremely useful if it automatically unzipped compressed attachments when you save them, which would make it that much more productive for business users.
My other gripe is with the text file that Companion attaches to outgoing email by default. It says that the attached file has been compressed with WinZip Companion for Outlook, which is fine, but it goes on to say that the file “can be viewed with WinZip 9.0 or later.” and doesn’t mention that any other zip utility, even the built in XP compression agent, will open it as well.
I appreciate that WinZip is trying to sell its product here but I would like to see that statement read something like “can be viewed with WinZip 9.0 or later or other zip utilities.” or some such. Just to keep things honest.
Being the fair and balanced guy I am I sent my initial review to WinZip and the head of the technical staff addressed a couple of my gripes.
“(1) WinZip Companion cannot work with Outlook Express because Outlook Express itself does not support COM add-ins, (2) the purchased version of WinZip Companion gives you the ability to turn off sending the little accompanying text file, and (3) Windows XP Compressed Folders will not open up AES-encrypted Zip files, although it can open non-encrypted Zip files.”
So as much as I would like, the Companion can’t work with OE and the text file can be turned off, although it is correct in that you need WinZip 9.0 or later if you encrypt your attachments. Fair enough, and I appreciate the feedback.
Final word, I like it. If you send lots of attachments, especially multiple files attached to a single email message, buy it. Believe me, you’ll love it. If you seldom send attachments or only send silly things like email jokes, forget it. It’s not worth the $20.
You can purchase WinZip and/or WinZip Companion from https://shop.winzip.com/cgi-bin/wzc1.cgi.
Calling ‘em as I see ‘em,
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Samsung may be
making a play to push Apple from the top of the
portable audio player heap
with the introduction of some slick new
models:
http://www.newsbug.net/news/2005-03-18/h.php
To
the surprise of many of us adults who play the occasional online
games, most
American parents DO set limits on how much time their kids
spend on the
internet:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/2067.html
Don't
want copy protection on the music you purchase? Now, a trio
of
programmers claims that they can strip DRM from iTunes music...but
you
can bet Apple will step up to bat soon:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5625991.html
Google
expands its interest in open source development with a new site
catering to
open source programming:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/news/41546.html
Copy
us on the good stuff ;-)
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
www.opaquelucidity.com
Reader Ken Jackey suggested we feature Belarc Advisor as a download this week. We mentioned this several years ago but it certainly bears repeating.
Belarc is a free audit tool that examines your PC and gives you a nice clean HTML page listing nearly every piece of information available about your hardware and software. Processor type and speed, bus speed, amount of RAM, Windows version and CD Key, hot fixes installed, hot fixes missing, amount of free space available on each hard drive partition and on and on. Print that report out and keep it in a safe place. Any time you want to inquire about upgrades or purchase RAM or other peripherals for your system. Just show it to your friendly neighborhood computer and he or she will be able to immediately make suggestions that are right for you.
You can download Belarc Advisor from http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html.
Thanks for the suggestion Ken!
Last week we featured our resident Marine. This week allow me to introduce out resident college student, Daniel Williams. A Computer Science major (go figure), Daniel helps us pick up the slack by answering emails from readers.
From http://www.thepcgurus.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1#daniel:
“Daniel A. Williams is an nineteen year old junior at Murray State University.
Daniel has been working with computers since he was 6 years old, starting out on an IBM Eduquest. Since sitting down at his first keyboard, he has been interested with what technology can do. Daniel has trained himself on most of the things that he knows, as well as being thrown into working with programs and working his way out of it. He loves to work on things and will generally not say no to anyone or any problem presented to him.
Daniel's specialties are troubleshooting problems and preventitive computer maintenance (anti-virus programs, spyware removal tools), but he will do almost anything hardware or software related. He's glad to be a part of the Gurus and is glad to help with any problems anyone might have.”
Q: My mom has previously sought your sage
computer advice and she asked me to see what I could find out about the
following error message she
received: "Pri Master Hard Disk: S.M.A.R.T.
Command Failed" (It
doesn't sound good). She said she tried the GoBack tool
and that
didn't work. Windows ME will begin loading (to the point of
all
desktop icons being present, just 1 or 2 missing on her task
bar),
lock up and then the screen goes dark and absolutely nothing
happens.
Before the screen goes dark, the mouse pointer will move, but won't
do
anything. HELP!!! And thank you in advance.
A: S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self Monitoring
Analysis and Reporting
Technology. It's a way for a hard drive to tell
the BIOS that it has
a problem and usually indicates failure in the near
future.
In your
Mom's case it sounds like the future is now.
The first
move is to stop trying to boot that machine
immediately.
The more
you try to access that drive the more damage you're likely
to do. If
you have the capability you can pull your Mom's drive and
slave it into your
machine and try to save files from it (Documents,
Address Book etc.).
If not a local shop could do it for her.
She'll need
a new hard drive regardless. If she has Restore CDs
she can just boot
from the first one and do a system restore on the
new drive. If not
just a base load of ME would work (the license key
is on a sticker on the
side or back of the machine).
Hope that helps
and keep us posted :)
Kevin Mefford
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