> this is the stuff I wanted to know. Many thanks. Sounds like we will stick with PKZip. Like you, I really like having that CRC check. We don't use WinZip. We use the old DOS PKZip. (We actually purchased it about 10 years ago.) This way we don't have to install yet another windows program. Our customers are all small auto body repair shops with little or no tech support so the less the better. You just have to be sure you don't have any file names longer than 8.3. We install the public domain copy when we install our system so it's aways there.

PKZip2.5 (downloadable from their site) works with long file names. The syntax is somewhat different (not so unix-like, rather vax-like, with /parameter=value instead of -a -b -c) but it runs exactly as you'd expect. I'm using it around here for batch packing of stuff. Clicking around is nice, but for automating stuff (you know, like on a computer) I still prefer an utility with a long sausage on the command line).