System and method for manipulating and managing computer archive files

Abstract

A computer program for managing and manipulating archive zip files of a computer. The program includes a system and method for opening, creating, 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 managing and manipulating computer archive files comprising: 
 a user interface integrated with Microsoft Windows Explorer interfacing to a central directory;    an file manager including the central directory interfacing with archive files and data object files;    a compression/extraction engine interfacing with the file manager for compressing, extracting, encrypting and decrypting archive files and data object files.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the user interface includes a shell, a graphical user interface and a call level interface.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the file manager includes the central directory which holds the archived files.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the compression/extraction engine includes compression and extraction algorithms.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the user interface, file manager and compression/extraction engine are integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a mail attachment compressor module for automatically compressing email attachments.  
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the mail attachment compressor module is implemented within Microsoft Outlook and integrated with the compression/extraction engine.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the mail attachment compressor module integrates compression into the standard Microsoft Outlook mail message edit form.  
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the mail attachment compressor module provides the ability to digitally sign attachments as they are sent.  
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the mail attachment compressor module adds a Toggle Compression button and an Options button to Microsoft Outlook's standard toolbar.  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the Options button includes parameters for configuration of digital certificates, passwords and compression method options.  
     
     
         12 . A method of managing and manipulating computer archive files, the method comprising the steps of: 
 integrating a software utility program into Microsoft Windows Explorer; and    accessing the software utility program to manage and manipulate compressed archive files stored in computer memory.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein managing archive files includes opening and viewing the contents of the archive files.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein manipulating archive files includes creating a new archive file.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12  wherein manipulating archive files includes modifying an existing archive file.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12  wherein manipulating archive files includes extracting archive files.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12  wherein manipulating archive files includes encrypting archive files.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising the steps of: installing a mail attachment compression module onto a user's computer; initiating Microsoft Outlook; and enabling the mail attachment feature.