>>>>Hi,
>>>>
>>>>I used to extract all the ZIP files using old (but trusted) pkzip25.exe But now I got one update from a 3P vendor and this .zip file does not work with the pkzip25.exe (it says wrong password). So, I need to download and install either WinZip or 7Zip. Which one is truly free and does not bring a bunch of "freeware" offers? I would appreciate any recommendations.
>>>>TIA
>>>
>>>I've been using WinRAR ( https://www.rarlab.com/ ) -- just $30.
>>>The main problem I've had with WinRAR and PKZIP for Windows (an old version -- 9.00.0010) is the concern that the ZIP files I would be creating may not be usable by other people (due to these software having options not being available in the built-in "compressed folder" feature of Windows). To get rid of any doubt I've been resorting to using a VM with a "vanilla" (i.e. devoid of any add-in software) installation of Windows XP and creating the ZIP files there (using the built-in "compressed folder" feature). The downside of course is that I lose ability to create ZIP files that have been broken into smaller "chunks" (i.e. to avoid having the individual ZIP from exceeding the capacity of some common storage medium -- e.g. 1.44MB 3.5" floppy, 100MB IoMega ZIP, 650MB CD-ROM, 4.5GB DVD-ROM, etc.)
>>
>>Thank you for your input.
>
>Aside from the format compatibility from different options in the ZIP archive format, there's another item that I sometimes run into -- language (or more specifically having to quriks from "code pages"). There are generally no problems with ZIP files that I send, but I do come across an occasional archive file that I'd received from someone that I can't open or extract its contents because it was created under a different "code page" (usually some East Asian language such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean). In this case I usually have to temporarily switch the system to a different language (i.e. match the environment from which the compressed archive originated) to extract the contents (a bit of a pain, as it would involve having to reboot each time I change the system language). On the upside is that this problem doesn't occur often (actually relatively rare occurrence) nowadays -- mostly from "legacy" systems being retired.

Thank you for your input.