I downloaded and love Winrar, use it all the time. It says I have SIX days to purchase a license. Do I need to buy it in order to keep my CC and mods? If I don't purchase it, will it all be wiped and unable to use?

If it operates under the same policy it has done this past decade or so, then no, you do not need to buy it. What you will get when the trial period ends is a barrage of invites to purchase the full version whenever you open a rar folder. How much you can tolerate that in the long run will determine if you are willing to pay for full version and end the constant invites.

Oooh, okay. Thank you. So much. I was about to buy it but thought to simply ask first. I truly appreciate your response so quickly!

A good few years ago, I finally bought it (Fed up of the constant invites.) Especially because of modding and using rar to house all the mods I make and upload. I don' t know what the asking price for it now is. There's a few different versions. I paid for the cheapest, simplest version yonks ago and have never looked back. I can almost pity you if you are going to test the invites for a while. If you plan on doing much rar downloading, expect it to get on your nerves. (As intended.)

Fair enough. I think it's about $33 for the license. But I'm sure I'll cave eventually. Again, I really appreciate your help. <3

Keep in mind there are free alternatives, such as 7zip.

The actual question I believe seems to be will it stop anything you have *already* unzipped stop working, The answer is no, anything you have already unpacked will remain unpacked even if you delete your WinRAR or other unzipper.

Here's where my ignorance shows. The default zip that comes with Windows, can't that be set as the main thing for opening zipped packages? It's been so long since I've even considered it. If you set that to be the default for opening such folders, does it work? Otherwise why is it there at all? (Don't mind me, I'm still on Windows 7 OS. Got the Win 10 USB stick sitting here for the past couple of months, but I just don't want to face the upheaval. Please, don't make me!!!)

@coolspear1

The OP is talking about .rar files, not .zip files. These are two different file formats, even though they are both used for archives. It's like how both .rtf and .txt are text file formats, but Notepad only opens .txt files. Windows only has native support for .zip, if I recall correctly.

As for Win10, surely you've read up on the significant privacy concerns surrounding it, as well as the presence of actual ads for Microsoft subscription services in Windows Explorer? Best look before you leap.

Yeah, that was me, too. Haven't considered it for so long - half a lifetime ago! - so just couldn't recall correctly. But it all makes sense now with your refresher info.

And with Win 10, I've certainly been putting it off because of such concerns. Avoided the free update all the while like the plague. It's only marginally better than Win 8, and Win 8 is the plague. But just how much longer can Win 7 be stretched out? I'm already noticing slight giddiness in several newer programmes (Themselves are constantly being updated) that are now more fine-tuned to work with 10 rather than 7. And that divide is just going to keep on growing. I won't change-over until it's doctor's orders for the heart transplant time. But how long can that be put off before the inevitable transplant is needed? It's got to happen sometime. I can't seriously believe I'll be using 7 ten years from now. So why should I be using it ten months from now? Ten weeks from now? I don't know. It is all rather daunting. I'd like to imagine myself still happily using 7 ten centuries from now. But I just don't see my landlord letting me live here that long. (Not that I won't try...)

Don't worry. There will be a major EMP pulse (or something along those lines), sending us all back into the stone ages, before you have to worry about updating to 10. Enjoy 7 while you still can.

I feel your pain and am also avoiding "upgrading" Windows for as long as possible. Win 7 is already getting security updates only, but at least these will continue until 2020, so no biggie unless you need native support/drivers for new hardware. The more serious problem is that Microsoft have plans to block all Windows updates (security or otherwise) on systems with newer CPUs (anything post-Skylake), such that anyone running Win 7/8 on these newer system would never be able to update, not even for security patches, effectively rendering these two OSes unusable on systems with new processors going forward.

You always know the right thing to say. You fill me with confidence yet again. In fact, I'm going out to the park first thing tomorrow morn, to find myself two good sticks. I hear rubbing them together can spark a fire, and that will definitely be handy after such an EMP blast. I have the future covered, no matter what. Windows 10 or two good sticks? I know what I'm going for. How brilliant is that?!

No problem! I try to help where I can! In fact, I've got you covered. Here is everything that you need to know about making-fire-with-sticks technology:

I "upgraded" to Windows 10 because it really was an upgrade; I had the misfortune to be stuck with Windows 8 before that.

I have used it for free for ages and I never get any messages. I click extract here and it extracts here with no problems.

It's only if you open the WinRAR program it comes with the messages, but as Harvee says 7zip opens rar files as well, and is free. Some people have problems with rar opened files, they won't work.

I would uninstall and give up on WinRAR.

7-Zip is free, extremely lightweight, handles any imaginable archive from EXE to zip files, and will even open ts4script files.

If you really buy WinRAR, I'm gonna have to report you to /r/PaidForWinRAR.