In this day of age, it's very practical to have a Windows 7 installation on your USB key, for many netbooks and devices don't come with CD/DVD drives anymore.
Zip files are compressed archives containing documents, images, folders, basically any type of files on your computer. We create them to save space and make them more practical for sending via email or file sharing services.
Windows 8 also brings a very transparent tool for examining global indices, where you can also optionally keep track of the value of individual shares.
If you are tired of waiting for your Windows 7 computer to shutdown or restart, you can create a new shortcut that will speed up the process considerably.