What is this all about? Zipping and Unzipping? Sounds like dressing and undressing computers! No, it's all to do with using special software utilities to Compress files so that they take up much less space and is especially useful when sending files by e-mail or when downloading from the internet as the time required to send or receive is reduced. When files are created, like document files for example, as you know there are lots of spaces and they take up filesize room. A Zipping utility compresses the file by removing a lot of the space, then saving the file with a *.zip extension. Also saved is the information needed to restore the file back to the original form. So, before the file can be opened again it must be Unzipped using the same utility. Some types of file compress very well, for example text files compress well and also *.bmp (bitmap graphics) files compress very well. Other files like *.jpg (graphic) files, not so well. When downloading software from the internet many files will be zipped and must be unzipped before they are of use. The utility used in the workshop is called "WinZip" and you should become familiar with the process. Instead of just one file, WinZip can be used to create archives of many files and also Self Extracting files where for instance a program can be made to Unzip and Install with a couple of clicks. Sign up to do this workshop, it's a really useful skill to learn.