Here is a concise tutorial on how to unzip a compressed file in a Windows environment.
Step 1: Find out if your operating system is 32 or 64 bit
This is important, because the programs we recommend you to download usually have two different versions of the same program - 32 bit as well as a 64 bit version. Here is how you find out what your operating system (OS) is:
First, you right click on the icon called ‘Computer’ (or sometimes called ‘My Computer’), then choose ‘Properties’ -
The following window will show up, and you need to look in the ‘System Type’ field, as indicated below -
In this example, the OS is a 64-bit. So we will proceed to download the 64-bit version of the unzipping software.
Step 2: Proceed to download a file unzipping utility (i.e. the program)
We recommend downloading 7-ZIP (http://www.7-zip.org/) as the unzipping utility. It is free, and easy to use.
When you get to the 7-ZIP website, you should see the following screen -
Choose one of the two top options, whichever is the correct number of bits for your system. In our example, it is 64 bit, so I will proceed to download the 64 bit version -
The installation file will download, click on it (if you are using a different web browser than the one in the example and/or can’t seem to find the downloaded file, press ‘CTRL + J’, and you will be directed to your list of downloads) -
Proceed with the installation -
That should install it without issues on your computer. By default, all compressed files should easily get opened by 7-ZIP now. Sometimes though, you may run into the following issue -
Uh oh! Windows does not know how to open up a zipped folder! Even after you just installed the program we suggested! No fear! Here’s the solution:
Step 1 - Choose ‘Browse’
Step 2 - Choose 7-ZIP from your list of programs (it will usually be at the top)
Step 3 - Choose the 7-ZIP File Manager (usually shortened to ‘7zFM’)
And that’s it! We covered how to unzip folders and what to do if you cannot open the zipped file with 7-ZIP program by default.