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Windows treats ZIP files like folders

Windows treats ZIP files like folders, you say, right?

If you still believe in such bullshit then try to:

  • open some ZIP file,
  • select some or all files,
  • press Ctrl+X to cut them,
  • navigate to some destination folder and
  • press Ctrl+V to paste copied files.

This simple operation can take hours on Windows!

I tried to move files having enormous 6,36 MB in size, from ZIP file to a folder. I was shocked and terrified to find out that on dual-core processor with 4 GB og RAM it took three minutes under Windows 7 to accomplish such task. Moving seven megabytes in three minutes! Can you imagine such on real folders?

Don't you never, ever try to copy file from ZIP archive to a folder using Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V in Windows shell (Computer or Windows Explorer programs)! Unless you want to have a total system hang-up (you won't be even able to call up Task Manager!) for around 30-60 seconds!

If you really need to use ZIP files as folders try to use Total Commander or some other ZIP-dedicated tool, not Windows shell (Explorer). If you really, really need to use Windows Explorer, try to limit yourself to only copying of files (i.e. Ctrl+C instead of Ctrl+X) and then delete unnecessary ZIP folder, instead of moving files out of it.

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