UNZIP a ZIP file

Many of the zip files i download for some mods for older games such as
freelancer, or starlancer will not unzip. And i cannot unzip a plan text
file. When i left click it, internet explorer window pops open, and then
close, thenopen then close, and i have to restart my system. I have updated
secruty software, and i even wiped my harddrive in reinstalled the OS from
the boot disk that came with computer. Vista won't let me right click and
have an "explore", or "extract" option for the file. Some of these files
require programs to open them, which i do have and have used, however VISTA
is not very friendly to any other program other then VISTA. And I have been
haveing lots of touble working with it. However I have used the same
programs, and have opened the same ZIP files on my other computer which runs
XP and everything works fine, no trouble at all. Is there anyway I can
downgrade from VISTA, or fix this problem.

See if this works.

How do I turn off Compressed Folders (built-in support for ZIP files) in
Windows Vista and XP?
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-202

KB

"boBby" wrote in message
news:E99B78F8-3171-465A-9F37-...
> Many of the zip files i download for some mods for older games such as
> freelancer, or starlancer will not unzip. And i cannot unzip a plan text
> file. When i left click it, internet explorer window pops open, and then
> close, thenopen then close, and i have to restart my system. I have
> updated
> secruty software, and i even wiped my harddrive in reinstalled the OS from
> the boot disk that came with computer. Vista won't let me right click and
> have an "explore", or "extract" option for the file. Some of these files
> require programs to open them, which i do have and have used, however
> VISTA
> is not very friendly to any other program other then VISTA. And I have
> been
> haveing lots of touble working with it. However I have used the same
> programs, and have opened the same ZIP files on my other computer which
> runs
> XP and everything works fine, no trouble at all. Is there anyway I can
> downgrade from VISTA, or fix this problem.

"boBby" <> wrote in message
news:E99B78F8-3171-465A-9F37-...
> Many of the zip files i download for some mods for older games such as
> freelancer, or starlancer will not unzip. And i cannot unzip a plan text
> file. When i left click it, internet explorer window pops open, and then
> close, thenopen then close, and i have to restart my system. I have
> updated
> secruty software, and i even wiped my harddrive in reinstalled the OS from
> the boot disk that came with computer. Vista won't let me right click and
> have an "explore", or "extract" option for the file. Some of these files
> require programs to open them, which i do have and have used, however
> VISTA
> is not very friendly to any other program other then VISTA. And I have
> been
> haveing lots of touble working with it. However I have used the same
> programs, and have opened the same ZIP files on my other computer which
> runs
> XP and everything works fine, no trouble at all. Is there anyway I can
> downgrade from VISTA, or fix this problem.

I've never used the built in archiver in either XP or Vista, because there
are better utilities available at $0.
Try 7Zip. It works great in both XP and Vista, and should get rid of all
your frustrations:

http://www.7-zip.org/