If you have upgraded to Windows XP, you have probably noticed that it has its own built-in ZIP support. So you no longer need third party software to open compressed files. You’ll notice when you right click a folder or file and point to Send to: that there is a Compressed (zipped) folder option. A nice feature if you do not use other software for compression.

However, if you are using third party software for compression, such as Winzip, you may find that this feature of Windows XP just gets in your way. If this is the case, you do have the option of disabling it and just using your favorite third party software. Keep in mind as well that the ZIP feature included with Windows XP is very basic and does not give you the functionality of other programs.

You can disable the built-in ZIP feature using the following process. Open the Run command from the Start Menu and type: regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll. You can re-enable this feature at any time using the same command without the /u switch (regsvr32 %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll). [Diana Huggins]