Software: Sqz! Plus. (Sqz successor compresses and backs up files, records macros, recovers damaged worksheets) (evaluation)

SOFTWARE: SQZ! PLUS

Want to store from three to ten times as many worksheets in the same disk space you now use? Sqz! Plus makes that possible, and so, to varying extents, do many of its competitors. In fact, the race for your file-compression dollar is so close that who wins depends on what is in your worksheets.

If you have Sqz! Version 1.5, were recommend that you upgrade to Sqz! Plus for $30. Sqz! Plus will compress your files to about the same size as Sqz! does, but it will also back up your worksheets, recover data from damaged worksheets, keep track of how often a worksheet has been modified, automatically save your worksheet at specified intervals, and create macros.

If you are choosing between Sqz! Plus and The Worksheet Utilities (Funk Software, Cambridge, Mass.), you can't decide as easily. The Worksheet Utilities also compresses files; its other utilities differ (see the review in the July issue).

If you're concerned primarily with compressing worksheets and those worksheets contain mostly values and formulas, Sqz! Plus will ordinarily do a better job. In a representative application, Sqz! Plus compressed a large business-analysis worksheet by between 78% and 90%. The …