Windows XP and Windows Me has built-in compression and decompression support for ZIP format. However, the compression features are very basic and does not has a lot of functionality in third-party compression utilities such as creating self-extracting archives, set compression level and etc.

If you prefer to use third-party software for your compression and decompression in Windows XP and Windows Me, it’s best to disable compressed (zipped) folder feature (the name of compression utility) in Windows.

To disable the Compressed (ZIP) Folder feature:

1. Click on Start -> Run.

2. Enter the following command in the Run text box:

regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll

3. Restart the Windows for the change to be effective.

To enable Compressed (ZIP) Folder support in Windows:

1. Click on Start -> Run.

2. Enter the following command in the Run text box (same command with above, except without the /u switch):

regsvr32 %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll

3. Restart the Windows for change to take effect.

Note that by just running the command above, the ZIP support may be automatically turn back on. View this trick to permanently disable Compressed Folder and ZIP support in XP.

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