I think we need classes on how to compress long questions into a thread title.
I’ve got this really obscure problem, more of an annoyance, actually- and while I’m generally very good at finding the answer on the Net, this one’s got me stumped. I’ve had this problem off and on (currently on, grrr…), both on this computer and my previous. It’s not just WinZip, but other zip programs as well. I’m using Win2K.
If I try to “Open” a zip file directly from a webpage, the file, once it’s downloaded to my machine, is empty. But if I “Save” that same zip to a folder on my machine, and then open it, the file works just fine.
Anyone have a clue on just what the hell would cause this? As I said, it’s really just an annoyance, as I can easily save the file… but then I have to remember to delete the zip file once I extract from it… sigh.
I’m not an expert on this, but… I think we might need more info… Scenario #1 is you open the file from the browser, and “once it’s downloaded” it’s empty. I would think the process would first download it to your temp directory and then open it? Where’s it downloading to? Scenario #2 is you explicitly download it and then open it in the usual way (not via the browser), and it looks ok.
More questions – Was this over a corporate intranet or remote internet? And do you have this problem with any zip file on any web page, or just this one? Also, what browser are you using? (I may still not be able to answer your question but at least this info would be helpful to other dopers who will be reading this thread.)
I see a file on a website I wish to download- say, a font. It’s zipped.
If I click on it, I’m given two choices: Save the file to my computer, or Open the file directly from the website.
If I go for the most convenient (Open), the file seems to download to my computer just fine- but once the file transfer is done, and the zip file opens, it’s empty. No files are found in the zip.
If I Save the file to my computer, and then manually go to that file and try to open, the file’s just fine- I can easily extract the files.
In each case, there was the same amount of time downloading the file- even though the “opened” one was blank once I opened it, it still took just as long to transfer to my computer as the “saved” one.
This isn’t the way it normally works- usually, it doesn’t matter whether I “save” or “open”- the files are in the zip. Currently, though, no matter where I try to open a zip from (online), the file’s empty. Opening from my hard drive works just fine.
Your browser can display using fonts, it’s not equipped to display the font itself, which is in a format like TTF or Postscript. You might get garbage or you might get nothing. If your browser does manage to open it, it might make it available for use or even install it, but there won’t be anything to display on your browser screen.
A font is like the ball of an old IBM Selectric. You can read a message typed with it, but you can’t read the ball itself. It doesn’t ‘say’ anything. In this case, you can’t even see the letters because they are not physical objects, but format descriptions that your browser can use, but can’t display directly.
If you face this specific situation often, try setting some sort of font management software as the helper app for this MIME type or file extension.
BTW, opening a ZIP file directly is unwise. The Zip file might contain an executable script or other Bad Thing.
I’m having the same problem as the OP, and the rest of you are making it grossly overcomplicated and misunderstood.
Mine hasn’t always done this (I’m running XP Pro). It’s doing it now, though:
If you open the .zip file directly from the browser, it appears to download normally, but the contents aren’t there when WinZip opens it. KP was paying way too much attention to the font file in the example. The OP isn’t saying that WinZip isn’t automatically extracting and displaying the contents of the archive. He’s saying the contents disappear. The fact that it’s a font file isn’t important. It could be a zipped .jpg, .txt, .exe, or whatever. In any case, WinZip will display an empty archive.
If you click the link, and download by clicking “Save” and use WinZip to open the file in its saved location, it displays the contents of the archive properly.
As some additional information, I have another problem that I think is related. For as long as I’ve noticed my own WinZip problem, I have had an issue with movie and sound files on the Internet played in Winamp. If I click on the link, Winamp will open and the media file will play fine…but only once! If I hit play again, the program acts as if the file is gone. If I right click and save the file, then point Winamp to it, it plays fine. I can then hit play again, and it starts over with no problem.
Maybe Lightnin’ can try the same thing, and let me know if he has the same problem.
I suspect it has something to do with the Temporary Internet Files folder, but I don’t understand what could be happening to the files.
Audilover has the right of it- any zipped file, font or not, is empty when I open it directly from the browser… but if I download it to my machine, first, the file works just fine. It’s very annoying, especially when I download files to be installed onto my smartphone.
It’s also extremely difficult to search for this problem on the web.
