          ARC Files - What They are and How to Use Them

  ARCed files are basically normal files that are put together
  in one file and compressed in size at the same time.  The
  reason many files are put together is that they are related
  and form a system that would be incomplete if any were missing.
  They are compressed to save disk space.

  ARCed files are very popular on bulletin boards because callers
  have to download only one file to get all they need and because
  the compression reduces transmission time.

  For example, you might have:

 documentation  HELP.DOC  12,000 bytes \  (ARCing)
 main program   HELP.COM  35,000 bytes  --arced to -> HELP.ARC 31,000 bytes
 sample data    HELP.DAT   2,000 bytes /
                                 ------
                                 49,000 bytes squeezed to 31,000

After you get an ARC file, you must "un-arc" or "de-arc" the files,
which will separate the compononents and un-compress them.

Godd un-arcers are PKX... (by Phil Katz) and ARCE... by Vern Buerg.
The basic format for de-arcing an arced file <arcfile> is

            PKXARC <arcfile>  or  ARCE <arcfile>

e.g.  PKXARC HELP  to de-arc  HELP.ARC.
