something STRANGE

By default, Windows XP treats ZIP files like folders. If you’re not familiar with ZIP files, this can be convenient.

However, if you’ve already prefer to use another utility to manage your ZIP archives (such as WinZip or WinRAR), this new feature can just get in the way.  For example, Windows will search inside ZIP files when using “Search For Files or Folders”, a process that not only causes searches to take longer, but one that may cause incomplete information to be displayed in the In Folder column of the search results.

Naturally, Microsoft hasn’t provided any easy way to turn this feature off.  Here’s how to do it:

• Select Run from the Start Menu
• Type “regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll” at the prompt, and click [OK]
• You should IMMEDIATELY re-associate ZIP files with your ZIP manager.  If instead, you double-click on a ZIP file, Windows XP will automatically reassociate the ZIP file extension with the ZIPFLDR.DLL.
• The change will take effect immediately, but you may have to restart Windows for all traces of the built-in ZIP support to disappear

If, at any time, you wish to re-enable Windows XP’s built-in ZIP support, just follow these steps:

• Select Run from the Start Menu
• Type “regsvr32 %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll” at the prompt, and click [OK]
• The change will take effect immediately, but you may have to restart Windows for all features of the built-in ZIP support to be available