I've given this program an 8/10 rating because it is very easy to use and needs almost no messing about with to get it set up - in fact the default settings will allow you to right click on your zips and extract them to the folder they are in or any folder of your choosing. Additionally their support is simpler and more sympathetic to the less computer-savvy end user.

It loses 2 points, firstly because it isn't free, secondly because only the newest version supports rar files and it does not support 7zip - 7zip is currently a minority format, you'll not find many Sims sites using it but it is becoming increasingly popular across the internet in general because it has a very good compression of larger files. The third reason is that it is a large download and a chunky install, its now over 20Mb of data which is really silly for something that could be quite small!

If you are minded to spend $29.95 on a zip program I personally would recommend Winrar or Powerzip in preference to Winzip, it is certainly better if you want to create files to share with other people. If you don't have the cash to splash then my recommendation would be jZip or 7zip.

Older versions of Winzip can be used indefinitely without paying the registration fee but you should be aware that a) its illegal to do so and b) they do not support rar files or multiple zip extraction which gets irritating fast!

At this stage, click on the Associations button and make sure that rar is selected so that you can use Winzip to open any rar files you might download. Do note that OLD versions of Winzip not only do not have rar support but do not support multiple file extraction either so if you're hoping to avoid paying by getting an out of date Winzip you'd do better to go for one of the out and out free zip programs in our list!

Otherwise the default installation options will be correct for simple extraction of zips so simply follow the instructions

For installing Sims custom content, you can if you wish download your zip or rar files directly to the folder the files need to be in and then follow the right click, select Winzip > Extract to here to unzip the files into that folder.

You can unzip multiple files with the newer versions of Winzip, simply drag a selection box around all the files you want to extract, again right click and choose WINZIP > Extract to here or Extract to... to choose a different folder

http://www.winzip.com/faq.htm

If your question is not covered there or you have additional problems using Winzip please contact their support service - we cannot provide technical support for Winzip as we did not create the program.

If you do not LIKE Winzip then we can only advice that you try one of the other suggested zip programs - certainly we will not provide compensation if you PAY for this program and decide later you don't like it!