Netter said:
Are you saying that Word.exe (or whatever the executable file is
called) is not compressed if it is not used?
No. When you said "...it will compress some of the Word files," I had
assumed you were talking about Word *documents*. Sorry if I misinterpreted
what you meant.
If it is compressed, is it ever uncompressed later?
Any file that is compresseed has to be uncompressed in order to use it. That
uncompression happens automatically when you open it, but occurs only in
memory. The file on disk remains compressed unless *you* uncompress it. You
can uncompress it by right-clicking it and choosing Properties. On the
General tab, click Advanced, and uncheck the "Compress contents..." box
Suppose I read a data file but do not resave it will it stay
compressed.
Like any file, compressed or not, and data or not, a compressed file is a
bunch of magnetic bits on the drive. Reading a file doesn't change any of
those bits, and can not uncompress it. It stay compressed until you
uncompress it.