Windows 11 should soon be faster at extracting files from compressed ZIPs
and its about time, frankly

Date:
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 11:26:53 +0000

Description:
Windows 11 is getting a speed boost when dealing with bulky ZIPs but this is more about fixing poor performance than providing super-snappy unzipping.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Windows 11 has a new preview build that improves performance with ZIPs Unzipping now happens faster in File Explorer, particularly with ZIPs crammed with a ton of small files Complaints about sluggish performance with unzipping have been around for quite some time, though, and this fix has been a long time coming

Windows 11 has a new preview out and it does some useful albeit long-awaited
work in terms of accelerating the rate at which files are pulled out of ZIPs within File Explorer, plus there are some handy bug fixes here and a minor feature thats been ditched.

All this is happening in Windows 11 preview build 27818 (which is in the Canary channel, the earliest external test build).

As mentioned, one of the more notable changes means youll be able to extract files from ZIPs, particularly large ZIP archives, at a quicker pace in File Explorer.

A ZIP is a collection of files that have been lumped together and compressed so they take up less space on your drive, and unzipping such a file is the process whereby you copy those files out of the ZIP.

File Explorer which is the name for the app in Windows 11 that allows you to view your folders and files ( check here for a more in-depth explanation ) has a built-in ability to deal with such ZIP files, and Microsoft has made this work faster.

Microsoft explains in the blog post for this preview build: Did some more
work to improve the performance of extracting zipped files in File Explorer, particularly where youre unzipping a large number of small files.

Its worth noting that this is a performance boost that only applies to File Explorers integrated unzipping powers, and not other file compression tools such as WinRAR or 7-Zip (which, in case you missed it, are now natively supported in Windows 11 ).

Elsewhere in build 27818, Microsoft has fixed some glitches with the
interface including one in File Explorer, where the home page fails to load and just shows some floating text that says Name (nasty) and a problem where the remote desktop could freeze up.

Theres also a cure for a bug that could cause some games to fail to launch after theyve been updated (due to a DirectX error), and some other smoothing over of general wonkiness like this.

Finally, Microsoft informs us that it has deprecated a minor feature here.
The suggested actions that popped up when you copied a phone number (or a future date) in Windows 11 have been disabled, so these suggestions are now
on borrowed time. (Image credit: Future / Jeremy Laird) Analysis: Curing sluggishness rather than ushering in super-zippy performance

Windows Latest noticed the change to ensure ZIP performance is better in
File Explorer with this preview, and tested the build, observing that speeds did indeed seem to be up to 10% faster with larger, file-packed ZIPs.

Clearly, thats good news and its great to see Microsofts assertion backed up by the tech site but at the same time, this is more about fixing poor performance levels, rather than providing super-snappy unzipping.

Complaints about File Explorers unzipping capabilities being woefully slow
in Windows 11 date back some time , particularly in scenarios where loads of small files are involved so really, this is work Microsoft needs to carry
out rather than any kind of bonus. If Windows Latests testing is on the
money, a 10% speed boost (at best) may not be enough to placate these complainers, either, but I guess Microsoft is going to continue to fine-tune this aspect of File Explorer.

There are plenty of other issues to iron out with File Explorer too, as Ive discussed recently there are a fair few complaints about its overall performance being lackluster in Windows 11, so this is a much broader problem than mere ZIP files.

Furthermore, Microsoft breaking File Explorer for some folks with last months February update doubtless didnt help any negative perceptions around this central element of the Windows 11 interface. You may also like... Shock, horror Im not going to argue with Microsofts latest bit of nagging in
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11s voice commands on Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon CPUs, and fine-tuning a
few Recall features Windows 11 fully streamlined in just two clicks? Talon utility promises to rip all the bloatware out of Microsofts OS in a hassle-free way



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/windows-11-should-soon-be-faster-a t-extracting-files-from-compressed-zips-and-its-about-time-frankly


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