Windows 7 - WinZip

I think Windows 7 Pro may have an inbuilt zip facility. If I install WinZip Pro will I cause any problems? Also do I need WinZip to handle simple compression and uncompression or will Windows t do the job?

The inbuilt extraction utility in Windows 7 is very basic, E.g. it cant handle .iso and .rar files. Installing winzip if you already have a license is a good idea otherwise there are free utilities like 7zip available which are excellent.

I use 7zip. Opens virtually everything including vhds, wims....
But I also use Izarc. Strangley 7zip doesn't open spanned zips which a lot of 3rd party backup programs use yet the basic windows zip utility and Izarc do!

WinZip is bloated now, I prefer WinRAR which is about 1.2MB in size

+1

I believe you also have to pay for Winrar and doesn't look to offer anything over the free and popular 7-zip and Izarc. for a description and link see the forums free program list
FREE Great Programs for Windows 7

Be warned Izarc is around a massive 10MB and 7-zip 4MB.

7-zip has limited support for advanced features compared to the paid products, but its a good alternative for free users

Another is PeaZIP, a very nice peace of open source.

Winzip Pro works fine together with the Windows 7 zip utility.

I'm a 7zip user as well. I don't have a need to pay for either WinRAR or WinZIP. While I understand the trials of these more or less last forever, in honoring the license of the product, I choose to not use them.

But to answer your question, you can load whatever zip utility you want and it won't interfere or break anything with the built-in tools.