Cant unzip zip files.

Using win 7.  Previously my zip files unzipped ok, when I tried to do one last night it stated my winzip had expired and would need to upgrade (at a cost) I uninstalled that one as I am sure it must have been a 3rd party unzip and not sure how this ended up on my pc.

When I right click on a zip file I dont get the option to extract the files.  My understanding is there should be an unzipper as part of win 7.

How do I get the original (windows) one back?

TBH just get and use 7-Zip, it has 32bit and 64bit versions, it's free, offers numerous right click options for extracting and compressing, is very lightweight, and one of the best tools out there, it also has a great compression rate, making files smaller than most other such tools, and can handle pretty much any format of compression out there, I won't use anything else these days.

Only point to note is file properties, if you install this it will associate itself to certain file types, sometimes you may need to tell it to associate a file type to it, eg .rar, if the zipped file is showing as anything other than a compressed file, right click on it and select Properties, there is a button near the top that sets the association, click that, and browse to 7-Zip, select the 7zFM and apply it, this will then change that file type to open with 7-Zip, you only need do this just once for each file type as or if needed, but you should find this a great tool to use, hope it helps.

Thanks 8210, I have downloaded it and will have a play.

Thank you

NP, the thing I like the most is you can extract to a folder, sometimes you get a download with a lot of elements within the zipped file, but if you select to "Extract Here" you could end up with many files, often complicated by users having gaps within their icons, you will spend ages trying to find the files from within your files.

The MVPS Hosts file download is a small example of what I mean, select extract here and you get 5 files (could be loads more with some cases from other places), but select extract to "hosts\" (this name changes to whatever the file name it is each time)and it contains the loose files in a folder, makes life so much easier deleting them when you have done what you need.

So either look inside the file before extracting it, and see if it is within a folder, if it is not, then select to extract to "It's Name\" so the files are contained within the single folder of that files name, the alternate is to select this method of extraction for every file, it just means it will present as a folder within the folder, hard to explain clearly, but hopefully you will see what I mean.

Great explanation of a wonderfully efficient and simple to use program Guy.

You know something has really "made it" when it turns from a noun to a commonly used verb ( "7 zipped"). "Photo-shopped" probably being the most famous.

7zip is one of the first programs I install on any new OS install or new computer