Andy's Windows XP series presents
Disable Zip Folders
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Here's a pain in the arse for you. By default, Windows XP treats .ZIP files like folders. If you're not familiar with ZIP files, I suppose this could be construed as convenient, if not consistent with other Windows versions. But if you've already got a utility in place to manage your ZIP files (such as WinZip), this new feature just gets in your face.
In Windows Explorer's left hand pane, zip files appear as if they were individual folders. Ugghh! In the above screenshot, Win Explorer implies that the .zip files are in the Norton Antivirus directory; they are in fact in the root x:\ directory above. Talk about inconsistency. Who thinks up this stuff anyway - Microsoft's Marketing Monkeys?
Also Windows will search inside ZIP files when doing a search, 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
- Copy and paste the following into the Run | Open: prompt and then click OK:
regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\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, during a moment of transient insanity, you wish to re-enable Windows XP's built-in ZIP support, just follow these steps:
- Select Run from the Start Menu
- Cope and paste regsvr32 %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll into the prompt, click Ok
Reboot for full effect.
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